Maryla Sitkowska, Timeline of Critical Art in Poland, PDF

Press release Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle
BRITISH BRITISH POLISH POLISH:
Art from Europe’s edges in the long ’90 and today
7th September – 15th November 2013
Curators: Marek Goździewski and Tom Morton
Maryla Sitkowska
Timeline of Critical Art in Poland
The term “critical art” was first used by Jerzy Truszkowski in the title of his book Sztuka krytyczna w Polsce,
część 1: Kwiek. Kulik. KwieKulik 1967-1998 [Critical Art in Poland, Volume 1: Kwiek. Kulik. KwieKulik 19671998], published by the Arsenał Municipal Gallery, Poznań 1999 (as a result of the exhibition KwieKulik – the
Missing Link [KwieKulik – brakujące ogniwo] at the same gallery, February – March 1999). This term refers to
the practice of the artistic duo KwieKulik, regarded as the pars pro toto of the work of a broader circle of neoavant-garde artists in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s, who shared a critical stance towards the socio-political and
artistic reality of Poland under communism. The term was first used in reference to the art of the 1990s, and in
the meaning which informs the present exhibition and publication, by Ryszard W. Kluszczyński in the article
Artyści pod pręgierz, krytycy sztuki do kliniki psychiatrycznej, czyli najnowsze dyskusje wokół sztuki krytycznej
w Polsce / [Artists Sent to the Pillory, Art Critics to the Lunatic Asylum – the Latest Discussions on Critical Art
in Poland “Exit. Nowa sztuka w Polsce”, 1999 vol. 4 (40), pp. 2074-2081.
Abbreviations:
arch.
archive
ASP
Academy of Fine Arts
BWA
Office for Artistic Exhibitions
CSW ZU Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle
cat.
catalogue
cf. compare
PWSSP
State Higher School of Visual Arts
RP Republic of Poland
TVP
Polish Television
ed. edition
ZPAP
Association of Polish Artists and Designers
1986 – 1987
Zbigniew Libera established closer relations with Zofia Kulik and Przemysław Kwiek via Jerzy Truszkowski.
They jointly prepared a publication on the occasion of the awarding of the Andrzej Partum Prizes, held on the
13th December 1986 at the KwieKuliks’ home in Dąbrowa near Warsaw. (Libera was honoured in 1984 – the
year which saw his films Intimate Rites and Mystical Perseverance – stills from both films represent the artist in
the above mentioned publication.) His ever more frequent stays in Dąbrowa ( “an artists’ monastery”, as Libera
referred to it) and joint excursions to plein-air and artistic events (Teofilów, Olsztyn) result in Libera moving into
the house in Dąbrowa, where he starts posing for Zofia Kulik’s photographs, which will form Idioms of the SocAges [Idiomy socwiecza] and other works by Kulik. Libera lived in Dąbrowa until the end of 1990.
December 1986
The exhibition Klaman, Staniszewski, Ziarkiewicz, Chmielna-Jaglana 9, Gdańsk, January 1987 (cat.), inaugurates
the activity of the independent gallery-studio Wyspa [Island], located in the promontory of Wyspa Spichrzów
[Granary Island] in the centre of Gdańsk (behind the river Motława, next to the exit from Długi Targ Street). It
was a space in the open air, limited by the walls of the abandoned granaries, which were used from the end of the
1970s by the PWSSP in Gdańsk as a plein-air sculpture workshop. Throughout the entire period of the gallery’s
operation on Granary Island (until June 1994), the main animator of the venue was Klaman, whose close
collaborators included, among others, Kazimierz Kowalczyk, Eugeniusz Szczudło, Jarosław Fliciński, and from
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1988 – Robert Rumas. In April 1990, Klaman extended Wyspa’s activity to the gallery in the PWSSP hall of
residence at 13/16 Chlebnicka Street. Between 1990 and 1994, the name Wyspa Gallery pertained to both venues.
Academic year 1989/90
Grzegorz Kowalski’s studio at the Faculty of Sculpture of Warsaw’s Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) provided a
meeting platform for second-year students, among others, Jacek Adamas, Paweł Althamer and Katarzyna
Kozyra. Students at the studio busied themselves with a task from Kowalski’s own curriculum, titled Common
Space. Individual Space [Obszar Wspólny. Obszar własny]. That year, the motto that informed the task read: Vive
la liberté! That the reports from the period do not mention Jacek Markiewicz is due to his stay in the USA.
However, Markiewicz returned to continue his studies in the third year.
January 1990
Wojciech Krukowski became the director of the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle (he stepped
down in 2010). The Programme Team of the venue was shaped by the end of the first half of the year. The
curator of the Collection and Gallery became Ryszard Ziarkiewicz (who worked at the CSW ZU from the 1st
March 1990 until the 30th June 1991, after which in February 1992 he became head of the State Art Gallery in
Sopot). April 1990 saw the release – after a year’s break – of the monthly magazine Obieg (earlier published
from October 1987 by the Akademia Ruchu Theatre), which was transformed into a magazine of the CSW ZU. It
was released regularly in paper form until the edition 63/64/65 (1994), and later as an irregular publication, at
times jointly with Ziarkiewicz’s Magazyn Sztuki (2000-2001, four editions were published together under a joint
title: 25 – 28; the editions numbered as in Magazyn Sztuki). In 2004, it was resumed in paper form with the
release of edition number 69 (2004) – 77/78 (2008). Subsequently, it has operated exclusively as an online
magazine.
April 1990
Launch of the Wyspa Gallery, established by Grzegorz Klaman in a venue on the first floor of the building of the
PWSSP hall of residence (since 1996 called the ASP) at 13/16 Chlebnicka Street, as an extension of the activity
of the gallery on Granary Island.
The gallery at Chlebnicka was closed by the ASP authorities in Gdańsk on the 29th January 2002, being directly
related to the incidents around the work Passion by Dorota Nieznalska.
April – May 1990
Exhibitions by students of the ASP Faculty of Sculpture in Warsaw from the studio of Prof. Grzegorz Kowalski,
organised upon their own initiative: Katarzyna Kozyra, Jacek Markiewicz 19 – 27.04.1991. Jacek Adamas,
Paweł Althamer 30.04 – 7.05.1991, The Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Warsaw [1991] (cat.). They displayed
their works in pairs during two periods, each person in a separate room of the ASP Museum . Therefore, those
were, in fact, individual exhibitions with a joint medley-catalogue, published with the participants’ own effort.
Both parts of the exhibition were the first public presentation of the work of the informal group which came later
to be known as Kowalski’s Studio, dubbed Kowalnia.
February 1992
Grzegorz Klaman and the artists of the Wyspa Gallery from his circle and from other alternative groups and
artistic initiatives from Gdańsk (Tranzytoryjna Formacja TOTART, the galleries Wyspa and C-14) launch their
efforts to adapt the building of the former Municipal Bathhouse at 1 Jaskółcza Street for the needs of the joint
project Open Atelier. The activity of the venue was inaugurated with the exhibition Open Atelier. Painting,
Sculpture, Objects, Installations [Otwarte Atelier. Malarstwo, rzeźba, obiekty, instalacje], Municipal Bathhouse,
Gdańsk 23rd – 26th October 1992 (cat.).
The programme of the Open Atelier constituted the origins for the Centre for Contemporary Art Łaźnia, opened
in 1998 and active to this day.
May 1992
Launch of the Gallery a.r.t. in Płock, founded by Jacek Markiewicz, an entrepreneur and fourth-year student at
Grzegorz Kowalski’s studio at the Faculty of Sculpture of the ASP in Warsaw. It was located in an old townhouse
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at 7, Rybaki Street. Since February 1993, the gallery has operated also in the building of the former water tower
at 26, Warszawska Street.
można dać fotografię wycinka z prasy anonsującego powstanie galerii - plik: il-01_Glos-Poranny_1992-nr122_(26-05).jpg (oryginał w Muzeum ASP).
August 1992
The first exhibition organised individually by Ryszard Ziarkiewicz at the former BWA in Sopot after he took the
position of the director of the venue and renamed it the State Art Gallery: Mystical Perseverance & a Rose. The
Latest Art [Perseweracja mistyczna i róża. Sztuka najnowsza], State Art Gallery, Sopot, 29th August – 25th
October 1992 (cat.).
Participants: Barbara Konopka, Katarzyna Kozyra, Tilman Küntzel, Zbigniew Libera, Krzysztof Malec, Jacek
Markiewicz, Robert Rumas, Jacek Staniszewski, Roman Stańczak.
“We are inaugurating a new exhibition season – of special importance to the gallery because of its new
statute and programme – with an exhibition of the latest art, therefore art that is not known at all or known very
little. […] By following this avenue, we discover the practice which is often not entirely crystallised or
determined, but manifest, iconoclastic and expansive enough to clearly stand out.”
Ryszard Ziarkiewicz, Idea wystawy [Idea of the Exhibition], in cat. as above, p. 4.
1992 – 1998
The circle based around the studio of Grzegorz Kowalski published the sporadically produced magazine Czereja,
edited by Artur Żmijewski. Six editions were released: No. 1, 1992; No. 2, March 1993; No. 3, May 1993; No. 4,
October 1993; No. 5, winter 1995; No. 6, 1998. The magazine comprised texts devoted mostly to the events and
works created at Kowalski’s studio, diplomas carried out under his supervision, descriptions of the students’
figures and practice, reports from plein-air events, etc.. Many articles were penned by Artur Żmijewski, who
published them under a number of monikers.
Nos. 1 – 4 were copied on a Xerox machine, Nos. 5 and 6 were offset printed by a professional printing house –
their circulations were larger. They also fell prey to criticism expressed mainly by the teachers at the Faculty of
Sculpture, who considered the content of the magazine to be “obscenity” and a “propagation of pornography”.
Those controversies were even debated by the Academy’s Senate, however, there were no repercussions.
Cf. Karol Sienkiewicz, Konflikt i porozumienie. „Czereja” w pracowni Kowalskiego [Conflict and Agreement.
Czereja at Kowalski’s Studio], Ikonotheka, vol. 20, 2007.
Beginning of 1993
Ryszard Ziarkiewicz founded Magazyn Sztuki, which he continues to run as the editor-in-chief. At the time, it
was the most significant periodical to present current events and texts revolving around the latest art, featuring –
in the 1990s – mainly critical art.
Magazyn Sztuki – a low-circulation non-profit irregular periodical about the latest art at the crossroads
of new technologies, politics, sociology. Published in print since 1993 (with an interruption for the years 2006 –
2010)
The magazine was the first in Poland to promote politically engaged art – the so-called critical art
(Kozyra, Libera, Rumas, Klaman, Żmijewski, among others). […]
From the very beginning, the editor-in-chief of M-S was Ryszard Ziarkiewicz, who collaborated closely
in different periods with Jerzy Truszkowski (1993-1994), Beata Maciejewska (1995-2000), Grzegorz Borkowski
(2001), Ewa Mikina (1995-2000 and 2011-2012).”
„Magazyn Sztuki” – historia [Magazyn Sztuki – A History], http://magazynsztuki.eu/index.php/m-s [accessed:
27th May 2013].
March – April 1993
The exhibition Im-perfect. Polish Art Scene Now [Un-vollkommen. Die aktuelle Kunstszene in Polen / Niedoskonałe. Aktualna scena artystyczna w Polsce], Museum Bochum, 13th March – 25th April 1993 (cat.)
Curators: Hans Günter Golinski, Dorota Monkiewicz.
Participants: Paweł Althamer, Ryszard Grzyb, Zbigniew Libera, Robert Maciejuk, Włodzimierz Pawlak, Joanna
Przybyła, Tomasz Psuja, Mikołaj Smoczyński.
The texts in a bilingual catalogue written by Hans Günter Golinski, Dorota Monkiewicz and Kazimierz
Piotrowski featured attempts at reading the investigations of the artists of the youngest generation within a
broader historical perspective dating back to the inter-war avant-garde.
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A striking work on display was Paweł Althamer’s Darkroom [Ciemnia] (a completely darkened exhibition hall).
“Darkness limits perception immensely, eliciting at the same time the utmost sensitivity. What Casimir
Malevich said about his ‘Black Square’ can be reiterated here: he talked about ‘a liberated nothing’ – this means
setting art free from all the factors opposite to its nature. What he wanted was to erase all images that represent
and imitate, creation of the ‘eye of the new beginning’, a naked icon of his epoch. […] Still, Malevich made his
vision come true within the conventional constraints of oil painting, creating a traditional ‘window’ on the
universe. […] In turn, Althamer rejects the means used by the ‘old masters’ to shape life directly.”
Hans Günter Golinski, Nie-doskonale [Im-perfectly], cat. text, no pagination;
The artist returned to the concept of Darkroom at his individual exhibition at the CSW ZU between the 16th
January – 1st March 1998.
June 1993
Artists defend their diploma works: Paweł Althamer – Paweł Althamer, Jacek Markewicz – Untitled [Bez tytułu],
Katarzyna Kozyra – The Pyramid of Animals [Piramida zwierząt], carried out under the supervision of Prof.
Grzegorz Kowalski at the ASP Faculty of Sculpture in Warsaw.
The period between awarding the diplomas and the ending of the diploma exhibition saw press and other media
attacks launched on Katarzyna Kozyra’s work – therein the first discussion about art on a broad social scale after
the fall of communism was to break out in Poland. Belligerent voices prevailed, attacking the artists, without an
insight into the sense of the work. The attacks were spearheaded by the letters of protest of the ZPAP
Management Board addressed to the rector of the ASP and the Ministry of Culture and Art, as well as a
denunciation of this organisation to the TV broadcast Animals on state Polish television. This was followed by
Sylweriusz Rudolf’s reportage , commissioned by Animals and aired in July 1993. The film sparked an outburst
of letters and press articles, which were countered by a polemic. Direct attacks faded at the beginning of the year
1994 (to return in March 1999 in the press in Gdańsk on the occasion of Kozyra’s exhibition at Łaźnia). What
remained were numerous statements where The pyramid of Animals was said to represent the immorality of
contemporary art in general. The work by Kozyra was often referred to without mentioning the artist’s name.
The scarce voices in defence of the work and the artist originated mainly from her own circle (statements from
the supervisor of the work, Grzegorz Kowalski, as well as her colleague and editor of the magazine Czereja,
Artur Żmijewski); one of the few press articles to speak in favour of the work was penned by Mira Kuś from
Cracow. The majority of texts in specialist magazines, which followed the press attacks, focused on contentrelated criticism of the work. The Pyramid of Animals is mostly regarded as a seminal work, without which the
history of Polish art in the last decades would be incomplete.
“Is this the avenue upon which we can soon expect an exhibition of lampshades made out of tattooed
human skin?”
Conclusion to the letter of the ZPAP Management Board to the rector of the ASP, 17th June 1993.
“I will refrain from moralising. I will not write about Fascist art, where the idea of art was superior to the
idea of life.”
Ewa Banaszkiewicz, Kasia i zwierzęta [Kasia and Animals], Antena, 1993, no. 32.
“[…] to carry out her peculiar sculpture, the student of the academy personally picked a horse, a dog, a cat
and a cock (the point was that they should be healthy and beautiful – as she announced on TV having a giggle)
and had them killed for her.”
Maciej Iłowiecki, Nic nie usprawiedliwia mordowania zwierząt dla zabawy, nawet jeśli pretekstem jest
usiłowanie bycia „artystą” [Nothing Can Justify Murdering Animals for Fun, even under the Pretext of Attempts
to Become an Artist], Życie Warszawy 17th August 1993.
“Compensating for an indolent workshop with a thrill that we are watching the corpses of real animals
seems particularly rotten to me. Even if the artistic result was any different, I protest against killing for the sake
of decoration […].”
Xymena Zaniewska-Chwedczuk, Dyplom rzeźbiarza czy rakarza? [Diploma of a Sculptor or a Dogcatcher],
Gazeta Wyborcza, 1993, no. 192 (18 August), p. 13.
1993/94
Exhibition: Ideas beyond Ideology. The New Generation in Polish Art [Idee poza ideologią. Nowe pokolenie w
sztuce polskiej], Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw 10th December 1993 – 30th January
1994 (cat.)
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Curator: Grzegorz Borkowski, collaboration: Ewa Gorządek.
Participants: Bogdan Achimescu, Jacek Adamas, Małgorzata Borek, Iga Brej-Kozon, Artur Bujak, Maria Fidor,
Bartłomiej Gerłowski, Jarosław Hulbój, Małgorzata Jabłońska, Przemysław Jasielski, Robert Jurkowski, Robert
Kaja, Paweł Kossak, Katarzyna Kozyra, Anna Lachowicz, Tomasz Matusewicz, Jacek Mrozowicz, Artur Piątek,
Jerzy Sadowski, Jarosław Skutnik, Tomasz Stępień, Jane Stoykov, Iwona and Michał Urban, Maria Wrońska,
Piotr Wyrzykowski, Piotr Wysocki, Małgorzata Złotkowska-Mikita.
The catalogue also included texts reprinted from Czereja about the non-exhibited diploma works by Ryszard
Lech (written by Artur Żmijewski) and Jacek Markiewicz (penned by Grzegorz Kowalski), as well as a neverpublished letter by Katrzyna Kozyra to Gazeta Wyborcza as of the 20th August 1993, written in response to the
press attacks (cf. June 1993).
“The exhibition is aimed at a presentation and propagation of artists interesting from the point of view of
the language of contemporary art, who have graduated this year from artistic academies. Several works have
been contributed also by last year’s graduates and students. […]
Clearly discernible are the varied, individual choices of artistic stances, which assume their own coexistence amid other ideas of art. These ideas complement each other instead of competing.
That is why, they do not have to become entangled in ideologies, expansion and ‘converting’ others, which
was at times the practice of both the Avant-garde and its opponents.”
Grzegorz Borkowski, Powiedzmy po prostu [Let’s Put It Straight], cat. preface
May 1994
Defence of diploma works by Roman Stańczak and Katarzyna Górna, carried out under the supervision of Prof.
Grzegorz Kowalski at the Faculty of Sculpture of the ASP in Warsaw.
February-March 1995
Exhibition: Transhumacja / Transkumacija / Transhumation, Kauno paveiksku galerija / Kaunas Picture Gallery
[published by the Stefan Batory Foundation, Warsaw 1995] (cat.)
Participants: Paweł Althamer, Katarzyna Górna, Andrzej Karaś, Katarzyna Kozyra, Ryszard Lech, Jacek
Markiewicz, Jędrzej Niestrój, Piotr Piecko, Roman Stańczak, Artur Żmijewski
This was the first and only exhibition of the studio of Grzegorz Kowalski, not yet dubbed Kowalnia but already
regarded as an artistic group in its own right.
.
April and October 1995
The monthly Znak no. 479 (April 1995) contained a set of texts and a survey entitled Art and Morality (as
announced by a subtitle). The essay by Edgar de Bruyne Art and Morality from the 1930s was followed by texts
by Mieczysław Porębski, Andrzej Osęka, Janusz Marciniak, Joanna Sosnowska, Andrzej Pieńkos, as well as
replies to the survey On Art and Morality by Krystyna Czerni, Tadeusz Boruta, Dorota Jarecka, Grzegorz
Kowalski, Jacek Królak, Barbara Majewska, Maria Poprzęcka, Jacek Sempoliński, Jan Józef Szczepański,
Maryna Tyszkiewicz, Krzysztof Zanussi and Maciej Zychowicz.
The text adopted a general tone and mentioned no names The discussion was pursued further in the no. 485
(October 1995) – where next to the texts by Aldona Mickiewicz and Jan Michalski, continuing the general tone
of the first part, there were also statements by Artur Żmijewski (on the practice of Katarzyna Kozyra) and Aneta
Szyłak (on the practice of Grzgorz Klaman). [See also 1998]
June 1995
Defence of the diploma work by Artur Żmijewski, titled 40 Drawers [40 szuflad], carried out under the
supervision of Grzegorz Kowalski at the ASP Faculty of Sculpture in Warsaw.
In the first half of 1995, Katarzyna Kozya participated in the making of Żmijewski’s diploma, collaborating on
the works Temperance and Work [Powściągliwośc i praca] (video) and 40 Drawers (b/w photographs to the
diploma work). According to their author, both works present “a catalogue of deformations” of the body done to
one another by a man and a woman (squeezing, stretching, pressing, etc. demonstrated in fragmentary closeups).
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July-August 1995
Exhibition: Antibodies [Antyciała], Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw 7th July – 13th
August 1995 (no cat.)
Curators: Robert Rumas, Ewa Gorządek, collaborating organiser: The Wyspa Progress Foundation.
Participants: Paweł Althamer, Jarosław Bartołowicz, Grzegorz Klaman, Katarzyna Kozyra, Konrad Kuzyszyn,
Zbigniew Libera, Piotr Jaros, Grzegorz Sztwiertnia, Robert Rumas, Piotr Wyrzykowski, Alicja Żebrowska.
The exhibition travelled to Kiev as part of the international project showcasing the contemporary art of Poland,
Ukraine and Russia: Kyiv Art Meeting. New Art from Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Ukrainian House Centre, Alipiy
Gallery, Kiev 3rd-19th September 1995 (cat.).
“The exhibition Antibodies at Warsaw’s CSW was the first large institutional group show of new tendencies
in representation and interpretation of the questions of the body. […] The works on display at Antibodies escaped
both the modernist model of approach to the problem of the bodily as well as the more contemporary tradition of
‘body art’. The artists proposed a grasp of the bodily from an extremely existential and, at the same time,
political perspective, based on post-modern critical theories. Antibodies were dominated by performance
footages, videos and photographs – media which confronted the viewer with very literal and realistic images.
The exhibition was immersed in a scandalous atmosphere. The project by Rumas became subject to a sharp
polemic and debates in the media. The icon of the exhibition became the work by Alicja Żebrowska Birth of a
Barbie [Narodziny Barbie] – video footage of a performance where the artist ‘gives birth’ to a doll. The work
where the toy emerged from the artist’s vagina was said to transgress moral norms or even regarded as a
pornographic image. Indeed, Birth of a Barbie Doll was a drastic and formally provocative work, but Żebrowska
used this controversial way to introduce a significant topic within the general tendency featured Antibodies – the
questions of the politics of the body in the context of feminist approaches and thought, which was to play a vital
role in the Polish art of the years to follow.”
Stach
Szabłowski,
Antyciała
[Antibodies],
http://www.kongreskultury.pl/title,Antyciala__Stach_Szablowski,pid,23,oid,21,cid,104.html (accessed: 17 V 2013)
A new work by Katarzyna Kozyra, premiered at the show – Blood Ties [Więzy krwi] – sparked another scandal:
the “abuse” of the signs of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent was protested against by the Management Board
of the Polish Red Cross in a letter of the 21st August 1995. In turn, the press was outraged because the artist
invited her disabled sister to participate as a model. Consternation and outrage voiced over Kozyra’s new work
matched the general tone of critical voices against the entire exhibition.
17th October 1995
The manifesto of the CUKT (Technical Culture Central Office) [Centralny Urząd Kultury Technicznej] is
proclaimed in Gdańsk, signed by: TJ 44 [Piotr Wyrzykowski], Virus [Adam Popek], Dr Kudlatz [Artur
Kozdrowski], Mikołaj [Robert Jurkowski].
MANIFEST - PRZEDRUK
January 1996
Exhibition: Me and AIDS [Ja i AIDS], The Stolica Cinema Gallery, Warsaw 9th January – 9th February 1996
(cat.)
Participants: Paweł Althamer, Edyta Daczka, Katarzyna Górna, Andrzej Karaś, Grzegorz Kowalski, Katarzyna
Kozyra, Ryszard Lech, Krzysztof Malec, Małgorzata Michberg, Jacek Markiewicz, Jędrzej Niestrój, Monika
Osiecka-Leczew, Artur Żmijewski.
On display in the hall of the Stolica cinema, the exhibition was closed right after the opening upon the request of
the cinema staff. The organisers were accused of obscenity and a potentially harmful effect on underage viewers.
The exhibition travelled to:
10th February – 4th March 1996, Gallery a.r.t., Płock
8th – 19th May 1996, Wieża Ciśnień, Bydgoszcz
25th May – June 1996, Wyspa Gallery, Gdańsk
“AIDS reminds us of the gravity of contacts with others. They are hazardous. An encounter with another
man is dramatic, and in the case of an HIV-positive person it becomes way more tragic. AIDS is one of the
variants of developing contact, which can bring about serious repercussions – infection. A risky way of
developing this relation is proposed by Jacek Markiewicz. Standing naked in a tent of blue plush-like fabric, he
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allows everyone who enters the room to use him. He does not stay at a distance from his guest, even if HIV
happens to flow in their veins. […]
The exhibition is not about death. The participating artists are not obsessed with it, on the contrary – they
are obsessed with life. […] The topic was formulated in a way that assumes a distance between Me and AIDS –
no wonder as the exhibition was made by people who are HIV-negative. It makes their cowardice public by
demonstrating its cause: a virus in the body of another person. The fear tells them what to do, formless – clumsy
shiver, so they got accustomed to domesticating the phenomena by lending them form – the artists form their
own fear and shape it in a visually attractive way. It brings relief. […] The void, hitherto filled with fear,
becomes filled with objects of art. It is a proposal of a therapeutic method. Doctors invent chemical preparations,
artists – artefacts.”
Artur Żmijewski, Und morgen die ganze Welt... O wystawie „Ja i AIDS” [Und morgen die ganze Welt... On the
Exhibition Me and AIDS], Magazyn Sztuki, 1996, no. 2 (10), pp. 265-266.
March–April 1996
Individual exhibition: Katarzyna Kozyra. Olympia [Olimpia], Laboratorium Gallery, Centre for Contemporary
Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw 8th March – 14th April 1996 (no cat.)
Curator: Marek Goździewski
“It is a very personal work and quite conscious exhibitionism. It was a reaction to the scandal with The
Pyramid of Animals. In essence, I felt touched by the fact that I came to explain The Pyramid of Animals with my
illness. I thought: all right, if this is so interesting, if my privacy is made public against my will and my
convictions, then I can also do it myself. I can show my privacy not when someone else wants it but when I want
it myself, for it not to serve others but to serve myself. You want me like that so there you go, even if it turns out
distasteful.”
Katarzyna Kozyra in conversation with Piotr Sarzyński, Coś mi siedzi z tyłu czaszki [Something’s Stuck in the
Back of my Skull], Polityka, 1998, no. 5, p. 43.
VI–VIII 1996
Individual exhibition: Zbigniew Libera, Correctional Devices [Urządzenia korekcyjne], Centre for
Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw 17th June – 31st August 1996 (folder)
Curator: Piotr Rypson, collaboration: Kamila Barszowska.
Libera had conceived the series of Correctional Exercises and Lego. Obóz koncentracyjny [Lego. Concentration
Camp] already in 1994, when he received a proposal to show an exhibition at the CSW ZU in Warsaw.
“Despite the obstacles against it, the grand production moves forward for two reasons. Firstly, the
Warsaw CCA sees the return of employees from training delegations at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis,
who are willing to make use of their fresh knowledge. The CCA Ujazdowski Castle creates a Development
Branch, which initiates, amongst other things, cooperation with the Lego company. Marek Kijewski uses the
delivered Lego bricks to create a sculpture Queen Midas Looking for Bugs […], and Zbigniew Libera – Lego.
Concentration Camp (1996). Secondly, Correcting Devices come into being gradually in combination with
subsequent exhibitions whose budgets cater for the consecutive parts of the series. Thus, Laura Hoptman,
curator of the exhibition Beyond Belief, visits the artist in Żerań in 1994. Libera produces for her the first work
from the series , i.e., Ken’s Aunt.”
Dorota Monkiewicz, Zbigniew Libera. Biography, [in cat.:] Zbigniew Libera. Works from 1982-2008, Zachęta
National Gallery of Art, Warsaw 2009, p. 276.
September 1996
Katarzyna Kozyra and Katarzyna Górna rented an attic in a post-industrial building at Inżynierska Street in
Warsaw’s Praga district . Their studios were set up later in the same building by, among others, Paweł Althamer
and Roman Woźniak, founder of the Academia Theatre. The studio at Inżynierska and the Academia Theatre,
also located in Praga (initally at 80, Targowa Street, later 22, 11 Listopada Street), was the venue of the
exhibitions: Parteitag (first edition), 4th October X 1997; First after God [Pierwszy po Bogu], 19 VI 1999;
Sexxx, 25th-29th November 2000; What Does the Corpse’s Glazed Pupil See [Co widzi trupa wyszklona źrenica]
(1st edition, 23rd-25th November 2001, 2nd edition, 11th-14th April 2002); Poland [Polska],11th-14th April
2002; Freedom [Wolność], 6th-12th May 2003. Short, sometimes one-day shows were usually organised by
Grzegorz Kowalski, whose close collaborator from the beginning was Artur Żmijewski, and gathered artists of a
neo-avant-garde orientation as well as young students and graduates of Kowalnia, and nestors such as Jacek
Sempoliński, who enjoyed authority in that circle. The entire cycle of those exhibitions was summarised by the
7
third edition of What Does the Corpse’s Glazed Pupil See, Zachęta Gallery, Warsaw 9th September – 27th
October 2002.
September-October 1996
Exhibition: Woman about Woman [Kobieta o kobiecie], BWA Bielska Gallery, Bielsko-Biała 20th September –
20th October 1996 (cat.)
Concept: Małgorzata Kubica-Bilska, curator: Agata Smalcerz.
Participants: Ewa Ciepielewska, Barbara Gawęda, Bożena Grzyb-Jarodzka, Izabella Gustowska, Barbara
Konopka, Dorota Koziara, Katarzyna Kozyra, Janina Kraupe, Zofia Kulik, Ewa Kuryluk, Natalia LL, Agata
Michowska, Teresa Murak, Anna Nawrot, Krystyna Pasterczyk, Maria Pinińska-Bereś, Anna Płotnicka,
Katarzyna Raczyńska-Targowska, Jadwiga Sawicka, Agnieszka Szczygielska, Teresa Sztwiertnia, Ewa Zarzycka,
Monika Zielińska, Alicja Żebrowska.
The 21st of September 1996 saw a symposium featuring the artists present at the show and critics. The exhibition
triggered a scandal among the local authorities and in the press. One of the councillors lodged an interpellation to
the Municipal Council on the 22nd October 1996, where she stated, among other things: “The exhibition has a
provocative character. A vast majority of the works, even though carried out with plastic techniques, do not
belong to the field of art. Some works negate such values as, among others, family and religion. They mock
religious symbols: Christian, Muslim and Jewish, present homosexual attitudes, employ disabilities to depict the
argument ‘good-evil’.”
(Anna Musialska, Interpelacja na Sesji Rady Miejskiej w dniu 22.10.1996 r. [Interpellation at the Session of the
Municipal Council, manuscript, copy in the Archive of Katarzyna Kozyra).
The exhibition was protested against also by the representatives of Catholic Action in Bielsko-Biała (Open
Letter, 12th November 1996, Archive of Katarzyna Kozyra). The allegations were responded to in a letter from
the exhibition curator Agata Smalcerz, and favourable opinions were sent in by: Prof. Piotr Krakowski and Dr
Maria Hussakowska-Szyszko from the Institute of the History of Art at the Jagiellonian University, Wojciech
Krukowski, director of the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Andrzej Saj from the
Wrocław-based magazine Format, Ryszard Ziarkiewicz, editor and publisher of Magazyn Sztuki (copies in the
Archive of Katarzyna Kozyra). Despite the allegations and scandal, the exhibition was extended by a week –
until the 27th October 1996.
February-March 1997
Failed plans for Zbigniew Libera’s participation in the exhibition at the Polish Pavilion at the Biennale in Venice.
“The curator of Jan Stanisław Wojciechowski invites Zofia Kulik and Zbigniew Libera and intends to
supplement the exhibition with works by the Open Form theorist of the 1960s – Oskar Hansen. Libera wants to
exhibit Lego. Concentration Camp. The curator agrees at first, but then withdraws his approval. […] Eventually,
Libera refuses to participate in the Biennale. It is a dramatic decision for the artist at the peak of his career. ‘I
have always hated any form of censorship whatsoever’ – said Libera back then and keeps repeating to the day.
The integrity of this artistic approach may have deserved respect, yet it also earned Libera the reputation of a
‘difficult artist in the official art world of the time.”
Dorota Monkiewicz, Zbigniew Libera. Biography, [in cat.:] Zbigniew Libera. Works from 1982-2008, Zachęta
National Gallery of Art, Warsaw 2009, p. 279.
September–October 1997
Individual exhibition: Katarzyna Kozyra. Bathhouse [Katarzyna Kozyra. Bathhouse], Small Salon, Zachęta,
Warsaw 8th September – 12th October 1997 (no cat.).
Curator: Hanna Wróblewska.
The exhibition in Warsaw, filmed on candid camera (sic!) at Zachęta sparked a scandal, which received extensive
coverage in the Hungarian press. Authors pointed out the unclear message of the work, suspecting the artist even
of deriding the ugliness of the elderly Hungarian women. The press reported also on the confusion of the
directors and employees of the bathhouses in Budapest, where such situations were said not to have taken place
previously and were not possible. A lot of attention was paid in the press to the legal aspects of the project –
trials were anticipated related to the infringement of the personal rights of the people filmed without their
knowledge and consent. This was probably the reason why the Ludwig Museum in Budapest resigned from
exhibiting the work, even though it had originally been planned to be shown.
The exhibition at the Zachęta Small Salon initiated the close collaboration between the artist with
Hanna Wróblewska.
8
“Who can guarantee that after watching the bathing women at Zachęta, another artist (professional or
amateur) will not decide to show to the audience scenes from a men’s restroom, dental or gynaecologic
consulting room, massage parlour or detox ward.”
Technokrata, Przegląd Techniczny, 1997, no. 47 (23rd November).
“What is the idea that this terrible, rape-flavoured play with the human body is meant to serve? After all, it
cannot be merely about the trivial conclusions pertaining to the incongruity of art and life, or about the artistic
message that distorts reality. Is this not yet another case of an artist thinking that the avant-garde is best
expressed in analysis of the states of illness, abnormality, supplying specific information about man?”
Anna Burnat, Koszmarna łaźnia [Horrifying Bathhouse], Życie Warszawy, 10th September 1997.
“In this film, like in Kozyra’s previous works – maybe not that abruptly, though – we witness a
transgression of certain universally accepted norms. Firstly, rather intimate rites were filmed without asking for
consent. And secondly – which seems even more drastic – something was shown that usually remains hidden,
something that everybody knows but hides this knowledge or puts it off. It is the knowledge of the imminent end
and of what precedes it, and what in our civilisation of youth and beauty can even be indecent – old age”.
Dorota Jarecka, Łaźnia kobiet [Women’s Bathhouse], Gazeta Wyborcza, 10th September 1997.
October 1997
Exhibition: Parteitag (1st edition), studio of Katarzyna Górna and Katarzyna Kozyra in Inżynierska Street,
Warsaw 4 October 1997 (no cat.).
Participants: Paweł Althamer, Krzysztof M. Bednarski, Katarzyna Górna, Wiktor Gutt, Zelda Klimkowska,
Grzegorz Kowalski, Mariusz Maciejewski, Jacek Markiewicz, Grzegorz Matusik, Tomasz Wiater, Monika
Zielińska, Artur Żmijewski.
The exhibition had two subsequent editions:
2nd edition – Gallery a.r.t., Wieża Ciśnień, Bydgoszcz, 19th September – 11th October 1998 (no cat.; apart from
the above mentioned participants, there was also Wojciech Zasadni).
3rd edition – Contemporary Art Gallery BWA, Katowice 16th July – 15th August 1999 (cat.; apart from the
above mentioned participants, there were also: Yael Davids, Carol Green, Anna Konik, Anna Niesterowicz,
Tomasz Piłat, Bohdan Ruciński).
November 1997
Issue 5 of Raster (Illegal Artistic Irregular Periodical) features the term: two Warsaw’s Kasias (Górna and
Kozyra). This preceded the term Kowalnia promoted by Raster in the subsequent edition of the magazine, which
replaced in everyday use the former name Kowalski’s Studio.
Warszawskie Kasie [Two Warsaw Kasias], Raster, 1997, no. 5 p. 63; Kowalnia, Raster, 1998, no. 6, p. 118.
January-March 1998
Individual exhibition: Paweł Althamer. Exhibition [Paweł Althamer. Wystawa], Centre for Contemporary Art
Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, 16th January – 1st March 1998 (no cat.).
Curator: Marek Goździewski
“The long hall of the Ujazdowski Castle was transformed into a waiting hall typical of offices and other
public spaces: walls with a dado, flowers in pots and a water distributor. The next space was the darkroom: a
completely black space covered with soft material, where the viewers were deprived of the possibility to see
anything, and thereby compelled to use the other senses – touch, hearing or even intuition – in order to get out of
the darkroom and enter one of the two rooms – blue or red. […]
The darkroom switches off the sense of sight, much overused at exhibitions, offering a chance for other
modes of perception. This experience can have a spiritual or moral dimension; upon wandering the dark interior,
we accidentally make it to rooms that symbolise hell (of desires impossible to fulfil) and heaven (solace).”
Joanna Mytkowska and Andrzej Przywara, text in the cat.: Paweł Althamer zachęca [Paweł Althamer
Encourages], Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw 2005, p. 120.
July 1998 – December 2002
The AMS Outdoor Gallery, founded and headed by Marek Krajewski, Dorota Grobelna and Lech Olszewski at
the company AMS (Art Marketing Syndicate S.A.), used hoardings and illuminated outdoor advertising spots
across Poland to present posters made by invited artists: Rafał Bujnowski, CUKT, Stanisław Dróżdż, Rafał
9
Góralski, Elżbieta Jabłońska, Aleksander Janicki, Paweł Jarodzki, Anna Jaros, Katarzyna Kozyra, Marcin
Maciejowski, Paulina Ołowska, Mariola Przyjemska, Joanna Rajkowska, Jadwiga Sawicka, Roland Schefferski,
Marek Sobczyk, Paweł Susid, Artur Widurski, Monika Zielińska.
“Tapping into the medium, and often also the language characteristic of advertising and consumer culture,
the authors of subsequent projects surprised city dwellers with the non-commercial message of their works, thus
pointing out the appropriation and homogenisation of urban spaces. Several editions were contributed by female
artists, who introduced the questions of the visibility of women’s themes and, thereby, women’s participation in
the public space and debate. As much as one could discuss the formula of public art proposed by the Gallery,
which made the advertising carriers of the advertising company available, promoting its own image by means of
art, it is beyond doubt that the programme of the AMS Outdoor Gallery to a very large extent situated within the
public space the public related art .”
Bożena Czubak, Galeria Zewnętrzna AMS i spór o przestrzeń publiczną [The AMS Outdoor Gallery and the
Conflict
over
Public
Space],
http://www.kongreskultury.pl/title,Galeria_Zewnetrzna_AMS_i_spor_o_przestrzen_publiczna__Bozena_Czubak,pid,23,oid,21,cid,129.html (access 27th May 2013).
What resonated the most broadly was the scandal caused by the censoring of Katarzyna Kozyra’s poster
with a reproduction of her work Blood Ties [See: May 1999].
December 1998
The monthly magazine Znak no. 523 (December 1998) published a set of texts devoted to the art of the 1990s (as
announced by a subtitle on the cover), illustrated with photographs of works mainly from the field of critical art
(by Konrad Kuzyszyn, Zbigniew Libera, Paweł Althamer, Katarzyna Kozyra). Authors of texts: Jan Michalski,
Mieczysław Porębski, Małgorzata Kitowska-Łysiak, Barbara Majewska, Łukasz Gorczyca, Janusz Marciniak,
Piotr Piotrowski (interviewed by Maciej Mazurek), Piotr Kosiewski.
1998/99
Exhibition: Polyptych. 7th Biennial “Facing Values” [Poliptyk. VII Biennale „Wobec Wartości”], BWA
Contemporary Art Gallery, Katowice, 14th December 1998 – 31st January 1999 (cat.).
Curator: Jarosław Świerszcz
Participants: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Paweł Althamer, Mirosław Bałka, Marek Chlanda, Katarzyna Kozyra,
Zofia Kulik, Zbigniew Libera, Jerzy Nowosielski, Roman Opałka, Andrzej Szewczyk.
“They offer a testimony to the human anxiety which accompanies contemporary man standing on the
border of time. For the 20th century is coming to an end. Roman Brandstaetter wrote in his poetry that it is ‘a
century that has seen it all’. The cruelty of times and places, which hurt a great many times a man who still
belongs to the already ending century of ‘lies, iron and paper’ (Gałczyński), are the source of his anxieties. These
sources should be analysed as attentively as one should listen carefully to the human heart, which often
succumbs to delusions of instant redemption offered by various philosophies and ideologies. The one who
wishes to heal, should listen first. The human soul should be ‘auscultated’ before a diagnosis of salvation is
formulated. […]
As the patron of the 7th biennial, I am listening carefully to the signs and words accompanying this
exhibition not as a judge of the stances of another man, but as a fellow brother in humanity, who, sharing the
same human condition, was given supernatural Hope.
Damian Zimoń
Metropolitan Archbishop of Katowice
Katowice, 8th November 1998.”
introduction to cat., as above, no pagination.
4th-28th March 1999
Individual exhibition: Katarzyna kozyra. Works from 1993-1999 [Katarzyna Kozyra. Prace 1993–1999], Centre
for Contemporary Art Łaźnia, Gdańsk (cat.).
Curator: Bożena Czubak
Unexpectedly enough, the exhibition in Gdańsk became a cause not only of already traditional attacks in the
press, but also triggered an action by the Society for the Protection of Animals (TOZ), which protested against
the display of the work The Pyramid of Animals and the accompanying film. On the 9th March 1999, a
demonstration of the members of the Society was held in front of the gallery. They called the police, who did not
10
intervene, though. The Secretary of the Management Board of TOZ, Wojciech Muż, lodged a notification of a
criminal offence to the prosecutor. It was dismissed because the time limit of the crime (killing the horse) had
expired. The growing, though not always positive interest in the exhibition as well as threats issued by the
ecologists compelled the organisers to hire a professional security company to protect the objects on display at
the exhibition.
A panel discussion was organised towards the end of the exhibition, whose participants included: Aneta
Szyłak (director of Łaźnia), Bożena Czubak (curator of the exhibition), Ewa Mikina, Izabela Kowalczyk,
Grzegorz Borkowski, and the artist herself, who answered questions from the audience.
17th-18th May 1999
Two-day display of Katarzyna Kozyra’s Blood Ties II on hoardings of the AMS Outdoor Gallery. 400 copies of
the poster were to be shown in the largest cities in Poland: Warsaw, Poznań, Łódź, Cracow, Lublin, Katowice,
Wrocław, Szczecin, the tri-city of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. The poster was to remain on display for two
weeks. Postcards were also printed for distribution free of chargé in public places. The poster was also
reproduced on the website of AMS S.A. Before it made its way onto the hoardings, it was already protested
against. Given the mass attacks of public and private persons as well as various organisations, the directors of
AMS made a decision to screen the naked figures on the poster with glued strips of white paper.
The accusation of triggering a scandal can be extended to articles in the daily press, which used such phrases as
“yet another provocation”, “scandalous Kozyra” already in announcements for the project. The protesting MPs,
representatives of local government and religious associations lodged the following complaints: display of the
poster during the visit of Pope John Paul II in Gdańsk, abuse of religious symbols and the symbols of the Red
Cross and the Red Crescent, denigration of people with disabilities.
June-November 1999
Katarzyna Kozyra represented Poland at the 48th Biennale of Art in Venice. At the Polish Pavilion, she displayed
the installation Men’s Bathhouse [Łaźnia męska]. Kozyra received a special mention – the highest prize hitherto
achieved by Polish artists at the Venice Biennale.
Commissioner of the Polish Pavilion: Anda Rottenberg, curator of the exhibition: Hanna Wróblewska.
“The International Jury of the 48th International Art Exhibition, comprising: Zdenka Badovinac, Okwui
Enwezor, Ida Gianelii, Yuko Hasegawa and Rosa Martinez awarded the following prizes: […]
Special mention to Katrzyna Kozyra for her investigations and challenges posed to the authoritarian domain
of the male territory, combining the elements of performance art and staging.”
Excerpt from the official announcement of the Jury at www.labiennaledivenezia (currently unavailable)
1999/2000
Individual exhibition: Katarzyna Kozyra. Bathhouse [Katarzyna Kozyra. Łaźnia], Centre for Contemporary Art
Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, 10th December 1999 – 13th February 2000.
Curator: Grzegorz Borkowski
The exhibition featured the two Bathhouses.
The 27th January 2000 saw a panel discussion devoted to the exhibition, whose participants included: Agata
Jakubowska, Ryszard W. Kluszczyński, Izabela Kowalczyk, Piotr Piotrowski, Andrzej Przywara, Janusz
Zagrodzki, Dorota Monkiewicz (chair).
January-March 2000
Exhibition: Negotiators of Art. Facing Reality (first edition) [Negocjatorzy sztuki. Wobec rzeczywistości (edycja
I)], Centre for Contemporary Art Łaźnia, Gdańsk 20th January – 19th March 2000 (cat.)
Curator: Bożena Czubak.
Participants: Mirosław Bałka, CUKT, Marta Deskur, Zuzanna Janin, Piotr Jaros, Grzegorz Klaman, Jarosław
Kozłowski, Katarzyna Kozyra, Zofia Kulik, Zbigniew Libera, Jarosław Modzelewski, Józef Robakowski, Robert
Rumas, Leon Tarasewicz, Alicja Żebrowska.
“The exhibition at Gdańsk’s Łaźnia bears all the traces of a museum display. Towards the end of the decade,
selected artists and their works are presented as somewhat a testimony to the time, pointing out the most
significant in the Polish art and reality of the 1990s. The selection of artists does not aspire to the status of
11
courageous or revealing […], it is a simple set of names that have already been combined on manifold occasions.
It is therefore somewhat of a secure ‘The Best of’ Polish art of the 1990s (this applies to the artist’s figures, and
not their works), sanctioned by the Centre for Contemporary Art Łaźnia. The institutional context is significant
here – it shows the ambitions of the young organisation and the fact that its aspirations are fully justified (let us
note that Polish museums do not do anything whatsoever in this field!), and it also demonstrates the extent of
hopes invested in its activity. Proof came with the crowd of critics and curators from the entire country who
made it to the opening.”
Łukasz Gorczyca, @UZUPEŁNIĆ TYTUŁ Art & Business, 2000, no. 4.
2nd edition of the exhibition. [See February – March 2001].
January – October 2000
Within the framework of the exhibition Negotiators of Art. (see above), the group CUKT, comprising: Rafał
Ewertowski, Robert Michał Jurkowski, Jacek Niegoda, Maciej Sienkiewicz, Piotr Wyrzykowski presented a
virtual candidate to the office of the President of Poland, Wiktoria Cukt, whose campaign they later ran across
Poland until polling day (8th October).
“The essential goal of the project was to create and promote a computer programme called Citizens’
Polling Software, available online, which would make it possible to create the views and the image of Wiktoria
Cukt, therefore a president for everyone. In 2001 [recte: 2000], within the framework of the election campaign,
the group presented the project in various Polish cities and, importantly, not only at artistic institutions.
Wiktoria’s subsequent visits and her election rallies met with striking enthusiasm from the press and interest on
the part of radio and TV stations. […] The media took up the game launched by the artists, who generated a
virtual figure of a seductive female candidate, ready to change opinions and views depending on the will of her
voters – an almost symbolical personification of the times when various figures in public life turn out to be mere
media creations, bred by specialists in advertising and marketing.
[…] The critical dimension of the project – the postulate of replacing parliamentary democracy with direct
digital democracy did not entail any resistance nor controversies. The CUKT proposed a political alternative in
the form of democracy with no politicians, and the Internet space as an alternative to the already appropriated
space of the media. The campaign of Wiktoria Cukt, with its success in the media and political failure (in the
elections), was one of the scarce projects to tackle the political reality head-on and posed the question of
relations between art and politics.”
Bożena Czubak, Medialna kariera Wiktorii Cukt [The Media Career of Wiktoria Cukt],
http://www.kongreskultury.pl/title,Medialna_kariera_Wiktorii_Cukt__Bozena_Czubak,pid,23,oid,21,cid,130.html (accessed: 27th July 2013)
27th February 2000
Action: Paweł Althamer, Bródno 2000, high-rise at 13, Krasnobrodzka Street, Warsaw.
“Bródno is a district located on the [north-]eastern outskirts of Warsaw, which is regarded by the dwellers of
the city centre as a poor and uninteresting area. Althamer, who lives there in one of the gargantuan blocks on
Krasnobrodzka Street, arrived at the idea of creating a huge title 2000 on the facade of the building by leaving
the lights on in some flats and turning them off in others. About 200 families who lived in the building were
needed to carry out the project. […] The action lasted for about 30 minutes and transformed itself into a festivity
gathering around 3000 people, mainly local inhabitants. A lot of people got involved in making Althamer’s idea
come true, and tried to fill it with various meanings. Scouts helped deliver the ‘lighting instruction’ to the flats,
distributed leaflets and posters; politicians and the local authorities addressed their voters; a priest from the local
parish spoke during a Sunday sermon about the divine origin of all light, including the one that would appear in
the windows. Local cultural animators joined the project with their own initiatives, such as free pea soup for all;
there was also a concert of dance music played by a band from Praga and a firework display. The event met with
immense media interest and was reported (as a ‘happening’ or ‘performance’) on the main news and in the daily
press. The action thrilled the local community and became a perfect example of what Althamer refers to as
directing reality.”
Joanna Mytkowska and Andrzej Przywara, text in the cat.: Paweł Althamer zachęca [Paweł Althamer
Encourages], Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw 2005, p. 129.
November 2000 – August 2001
Exhibition: Free\At Last. Polish Art post 1989 [Na wolności\W końcu. Sztuka polska po 1989 roku / In
Freiheit\endlich. Polnische Kunst nach 1989], Warsaw 2001 (cat.), presented at:
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 19th November 2000 – 14th January 2001:
12
The Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture at Królikarnia – a branch of the National Museum in Warsaw,
16th March – 22nd April 2001:
National Museum, Szczecin, 26th May – 29th July 2001:
Polenmuseum, Rapperswil, July-August 2001.
Curators: Dorota Monkiewicz, National Museum in Warsaw, Dirk Teuber, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden.
Participants: Paweł Althamer, Zuzanna Janin, Piotr Jaros, Katarzyna Józefowicz, Marek Kijewski & Kocur,
Grzegorz Klaman, Katarzyna Kozyra, Zbigniew Libera, Mariusz Maciejewski, Jarosław Modzelewski,
Włodzimierz Pawlak, Joanna Rajkowska, Robert Rumas, Jadwiga Sawicka, Artur Żmijewski.
2000/01
Exhibition: Scene 2000. General Polish Exhibition of Art [Scena 2000. Ogólnopolska wystawa sztuki], Centre for
Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, 18th December 2000 – 4th February 2000 (no cat.)
Curators: Ewa Gorządek, Stach Szabłowski.
Participants: Paweł Althamer, Mirosław Bałka, Anna Baumgart, Marcin Berdyszak, Rafał Bujnowski, Hubert
Czerepok, Marta Deskur, Jarosław Fliciński, Maurycy Gomulicki, Zuzanna Janin, Kijewski/Kocur, Anna Konik,
Michał Kopaniszyn, Jarosław Kozakiewicz, Katarzyna Kozyra, Konrad Kuzyszyn, Dominik Lejman, Zbigniew
Libera, Marcin Maciejowski, Robert Maciejuk, Dorota Nieznalska, Joanna Rajkowska, Zbigniew Rogalski,
Marek Rogulski, Robert Rumas, Iwo Rutkiewicz, Wilhelm Sasnal, Jadwiga Sawicka, Grzegorz Sztwiertnia,
Agnieszka Tarasiuk, Piotr Wyrzykowski, Wojciech Zasadni, Artur Żmijewski and the group Magisters.
“The contemporary art scene is made up of artists, works, tendencies, phenomena, venues – it is a mosaic
image which forms the current artistic reality. ‘Scene 2000’ is an attempt at grasping the art which is alive,
immersed in the present, based on a modern language, referring to the sensitivity and the way of thinking of
today’s viewer – therefore, time and place play a vital role here.
‘Scene 2000’ is the most extensive presentation of new Polish art for many years. There are 33 participating
artists, who include both those of international renown, such as Mirosław Bałka, Katarzyna Kozyra, Zbigniew
Libera, Paweł Althamer, or Kijewski/Kocur, as well as those who have just entered the art scene. ‘Scene 2000’ is
therefore not an exhibition of a ‘generation’. What the invited artists have in common are references to the
strategies, aesthetics, language, stances stemming from the experience of the contemporary. Our aim was to build
an exhibition of works that could not be created at any other time and place.
Ewa Gorządek, Stach Szabłowski”.
http://csw.art.pl/new/2000/scena2000.html (accessed: 27th May 2013)
February–March 2001
Exhibition: Negotiators of Art. Facing Reality (second, modified edition) [Negocjatorzy sztuki. Wobec
rzeczywistości (edycja II zmieniona)], Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow, 9th February – 3rd March 2001.
1st edition of the exhibition [See January–March 2000].
The Cracow edition of the exhibition triggered yet another wave of protest mainly in the daily press. In the
backdrop there had also been the recent case of the display of Maurizio Cattelan’s work at the Zachęta’s jubilee
exhibition Beware of Exiting your Dreams. You May Find Yourself in Somebody Else’s [Uważaj wychodząc z
własnych snów. Możesz znaleźć się w cudzych], 15th December 2000 – 28th January 2001) and the resulting
resignation of Anda Rottenberg from the position of director of Zachęta (March 2001). Critical art gained a new
name – ‘new socialist realism’ (Cezary Michalski,Życie, 2001, no. 21).
The catalogue BRITISH BRITISH POLISH POLISH: Art from Europe’s edges in the long ’90 and today,
published by the Centre for Contemporary, Warsaw 2013
13