Monika Drożyńska, Less Is Enough, photo: press materials
The work of artist Monika Drożyńska will be exhibited in an underground passageway of the business district in Switzerland’s largest city. After a few weeks in public, the show will join Deutsche Bank's contemporary art collection.
Monika Drożyńska is the first Polish artist to qualify for participation in the 17ZWEI project in Zurich. She will present Less Is Enough, a series of handmade reprints in various mediums of embroidery. Of her project, the artist says:
“I have previously used the idea of including embroidery in urban spaces for the project Urban Embroidery. Anonymous graffiti tends to be invisible, but is often wise, true, sometimes banal and always authentic. To adopt similar techniques to embroidery and relocate it from their space of origin to a space where it can be seen allows it to be an independent voice in the public sphere.”
The 17ZWEI project will showcase six artists from around the world in an exhibition in Zurich. Each will be assigned a space on the wall measuring 17 metres by 2 metres (hence the name of the project) in the Hardbrücke subway. They will remain on display for weeks then will be incorporated into the Deutsche Bank collection, which currently contains 57,000 objects and is one of the largest collections of contemporary art in the world. It was founded in 1979 to support German artists. Its most prized display hangs in the DB branch lobby on Wall Street, the three paintings Abstrakt Bild (Faust) / Abstract Picture by Gerhard Richter.
Monika Drożyńska is a designer, performer, curator and culture creator. She observes urban enviornments, paying attention to the words that connect the public and private spheres of life and crocheting these insights into the work she produces. Drożyńska has participated in national and international exhibitions in galleries like MuseumsQuartier, Zachęta, Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Łaźnia (Centre of Contemporary Art), and Bunkier Sztuki (Art Bunker). The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Visegrad Artist Residency Program have both awarded her scholarships. Her pieces can be found in collections held at Bunkier Sztuki and the National Museum, as well as in many private collections.
The opening for Monika Drożyńskiej: September 3, 2013, 17:00, Hardbrücke underpass next to the small Café Segafredo, Zurich, Switzerland.
You can see the whole project Haft Miejski on her webpage: www.haft-miejski.blogspot.com
Project 17ZWEI web page: 17zwei.ch
Sources: submitted materials, author: JN, 27/08/2013
Translation: SMG 28/08/2013