Ewelina Ciszewska and Monika Konieczna, "Not a Single Thing That Belongs to Him", SURVIVAL 6 Review in Wrocław, 2008. Photo: Justyna Fedec
London's Shoreditch Town Hall hosts an event introducing Polish Art in the Public Space, analysing actions prior to 1989 and tracing artists work beyond the art establishment.
The exhibition reflects on how the role of Polish art's in public society has changed, from socio-politically charged work in the early 1990s to the contemporary context. It examines how art relates to viewers, and vice-versa. Based on projects by the Orange Alternative, Ewa Partum, Paweł Althamer and other artists active in the realm of performance and protest art, the London exhibit surveys the genre's significant works since 1970.
Curators Michał Bieniek, president of the ART TRANSPARENT Foundation, and Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz address the viewer's participatory role with art in the public space, and the form's shift from commentary to engaged, empathetic worldview. Most actions before 1989 were characterised by "surreal gestures of opposition to the political system", documented to be shown in exhibits. Today, art in the public space strives for a social viewpoint, attempting to effect positive change. The curators of the exhibition aim to trace the roots of this empowering aspect of engaged creative work to the activites pursued by artists from Poland up until the year that brought about the fall of the communist regime.
The Orange Alternative's actions during the period of martial law, painting dwarves on walls where political slogans had been whitewashed and issuing their Surrealist Socialist Maifesto, are an early part of the exhibit's timeline. The exhibit title comes from Ewa Partum's "Active Poetry", and signifies the shift from a passive audience to a primary audience of participants who engage in an artistic project spontaneously.
Active Poetry in Poland takes place at the Shoreditch Town Hall between the 6th and 13th of December 2012. The presentation is accompanied by an ‘assemblage’ catalogue, which the visitors are able to put together as they tour the exhibition. This engaging DIY catalogue brings together a series of critical texts as well as the documentation of some artistic actions, the reactions of the authorities and fragments of interviews with the artists. A one-day symposium on the 6th of December at the Courtauld Institute of Art features Kuba Szreder (Loughborough University), Joanna Erbel (Warsaw University, Krytyka Polityczna magazine) and Dr Gavin Grindon (Kingston University). Speakers will discuss the role of incidental participants, the aims of public art, and issues of documentation and permanence.
Full list of artists: Jerzy Bereś, Ewa Partum, the Orange Alternative, Paweł Althamer, Robert Rumas, Jacek Niegoda, Michał Skoczek, Grupa Łuhuu!, Hanna Śliwińska, Marcin Polak & MiejMiejsce (in co-operation with Łukasz Ogórek, Anna Marczyk and Michał Sobolewski), Ewelina Ciszewska & Monika Konieczna, and Curatorial Collective (TCC): Markus Bader, Oliver Baurhenn, Kuba Szreder, Raluca Voinea.
For more information, see: www.arttransparent.org
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: Press information