This is the first major attempt to bring together a range of works devoted to Warsaw since 1945. A Photo of the City is curated by Adam Mazur.
The exhibition consists of photography of contemporary artists including Mikołaj Długosz, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Nicolas Grospierre, Zbigniew Libera, Konrad Pustoła, Joanna Rajkowska and classic works by Leonard Sempoliński, Zbigniew Dłubak, Mariusz Hermanowicz and Zofia Chomętowska. Works set in this historical context capture the change that, over recent decades, has taken place in the city's image. The exhibition includes also films of the Academy of Movement, Tomasz Sikorski, Krzysztof Bendkowski, Krystyna Piotrowska and the newest work of Mikołaj Długosz. These cinematic visions of Warsaw complement a neon work by Maurycy Gomulicki and a mural by Monika Zawadzki.
The changing image of the city through the past decade has taken place with a major contribution from urban activists, non-governmental institutions related to social activists, artists and Varsovians. The exhibition presents iconic images ranging from the postwar ruins and ashes through the rebirth of civilian life and reconstruction, to the creation of concepts of urban planning based on dictates of social realism and social modernism. It depicts the process of a growing fascination of artists and Varsovianists with the subject of socialist modernism - and even socialist realism.
Over the duration of the exhibition, the bookstore of the Bęc Zmiana Foundation will operate in the Nowy Teatr's workshop hall, covering mainly Varsovian and design profiles. The event is not the only recent reference to the subject by the Nowy Teatr in Warsaw - earelier this year, the album Nowa Warszawska of classic songs about the city reinterpreted by vocalist Stanisława Celińska with pianist Bartek Wąsik and the Royal String Quartet was released, in a musically ravishing Nowy project that continues to tour in Poland. And on the 23rd of September, the Nowy holds the hometown premiere of director Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new production, Warsaw Cabaret.