Paweł Althamer, "Boat and Diving Bell", 1991, installation, Zachęta National Gallery collection
Taking an obvious cue from the airport location, the show expands upon the topic and hand to take a broader view of travel and the journey taken, particularly within the context of Poland and the Polish artistic vision. Whether one is traveling across the world of commuting to work, travel is an everyday part of human existence, at times exciting, other times quite ordinary. Some journeys take place only in the spirit or in the mind through fantasy and imagination.
Miłosz Benedyktowicz’s painting The Tramway portrays an typical tram ride, while Paweł Althamer’s video shows a choir singing in the Moscow Underground - a memorable sight. Wilhelm Sasnal takes visitors on a trip through the Polish countryside, through the most personal, ephemeral, and familiar experiences. There is excitement in these pieces, such as in Roman Banaszewski's mysterious lithograph Where Are You Going? And Agnieszka Polska's video Vacation with the Professor. Bogna Burska's The Road takes on the more dangerous aspects of the road - with unexplained traces of blood on the snow.
All the works in the show come from the museum's contemporary collection, one of the most wide-ranging and valuable collections in Poland.
Curator Małgorzata Bogdańska-Krzyżanek
On a Journey is on at the Chopin Airport between the 21st of March - 25th of April 2012
Source: www.zacheta.art.pl