Accompanied by members of his local community in Bródno the artist has embarked on an ongoing galactic-inspired journey from Warsaw to Brazil, Belgium and Africa
Common Task is an ambitious new work by Paweł Althamer that takes the form of a science-fiction film in real-time. Visitors will be invited to take part in the journey that is the "common task" as the journey continues to Modern Art Oxford where Althamer is transforming the first floor galleries into a zone for teleportation.
Paweł Althamer was born in Warsaw in 1967. A graduate from the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Althamer gained attention in the 1990s as part of a rising generation of Polish artists. His work, encompassing sculpture, performance, film and public actions, often takes the form of orchestrated events involving communities of people. Participation and the exploration of altered or parallel dimensions of experience have proved central to his art.
In February 2000, he organized a live action event in a residential tower block in Bródno in Warsaw where he lives with his family. In 2007 in London he presented Real Time Movie, shot as a live event in London's Borough Market with the actor Jude Law, as part of the Tate Modern exhibition "The World As A Stage". For "Skulptur Projekte Münster", 2007, he worked with a group of people to dig out a path across grassy parkland into the agricultural fields beyond the city's limits. Over the past ten years the artist has been running a ceramics class for disabled people at a studio in Warsaw's Nowolipie Street, travelling with his students to present their work in museums and galleries across Europe. In 2004, Althamer received the prestigious Vincent Van Gogh Award.
Related Events:
As part of Common Task, Paweł Althamer's former teacher Professor Grzegorz Kowalski from the Warsaw Academy of Art has been invited by The Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art to lead a series of workshops and tutorial sessions with students. Kowalski's revolutionary teaching methods have been influential on many of the current generation of Polish artists. To inaugurate his visit to the Ruskin in February, Modern Art Oxford will host a public talk by Professor Kowalski in which he will talk about his work as an artist and teacher.
Source: Press release
