Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków MOCAK

ul. Lipowa 4
30-702 Kraków

phone 12 263 40 00
page museum

How to get there :

on foot

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Public Transport

Opening hours

Monday

closed

Tuesday — Sunday

11.00 — 19.00

Ticket Prices

normal 14 PLN discount 7 PLN family ticket for groups of up to 5 ( including children under 6) 30 PLN normal group 10 PLN reduced group 5 PLN Thursday — free admission to permanent exhibitions

Volker Hildebrandt, series “Popes”: “Pope: comes”, “Pope: goes”, “Popes”

A Volker Hildebrandt series of works titled Popes came into being as a result of transforming a picture that already existed in the visual sphere. In this case, it was three parts of a documentary film: the appointment of Karol Wojtyła as Pope, the administration of Holy Communion by John Paul II to Joseph Ratzinger, and the Pope bestowing a blessing from a window of the Papal Apartments towards the end of his life. The artist breaks the shots down into their constituent parts, showing a given event frame by frame.

Ai Weiwei, “Oil spills”

This is a ceramic work – a technique that is inseparable from Chinese culture. The porcelain objects were fired in Jingdezhen, a city famous for its ceramics. The six elements in the MOCAK Collection, which simulate crude oil stains, are part of a 25-part installation. The work is a commentary on contemporary economic conditioning. Oil – a resource that impacts on international politics – symbolically “stains“ the world.

Ane Lan, “Woman of the World”

By appearing as a woman, Ane Lan represents both genders simultaneously. In his work Woman of the World, he additionally transcends the boundaries of nationality and origin, touching upon the problems of both postcolonial and developed countries.

Bartek Materka, untitled [“Skeletons”]

Reconstruction of an open grave. By the manner of painting, the artist has emphasised the emotive quality of the represention of a post mortem.

Csaba Nemes, “Far from the Sea”

Józsefváros, the Budapest district no. 8 still carries the marks of having been bombed during World War II and the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. The buildings which are no longer there are conspicuous for their absence. For Nemes, these void spaces are more authentic than the buildings which are there, because their appearance has not changed in half a century. The levitating residents are a metaphor for all his compatriots – distrustful, introverted, alienated.

Dan Perjovschi, “MOCAK Kraków Notebook”

Minimalism of style and verbal content, linked by an ingenious concept. The drawings allude to social, economic and artistic issues. The stance is critical: witty but also marked by bitterness.

Daniel Spoerri, “The Seville Series No. 16”

Immortalisation of a supper through mounting crockery, cutlery and preserved leftovers of the food. The resultant composition is supposed to be exhibited vertically. To present a table at such an angle introduces a gravitational disturbance.

Dóra Maurer, “What can One do with a Cabble Stone?”

The work is a photographic documentation of a performance carried out by the artist in 1971. Fifteen prints, arranged in five rows, three in a row, step by step present actions involving a single paving stone. The work, with its roots in conceptualism, also has feminist and political connotations.

Group AES+F, “Défilé #1”

The AES+F group shows dead bodies dressed in ballroom finery. The dramatic content is emphasised by using f life-size photographs, made all the more realistic by being displayed in lightboxes. The human fear of passing away is hidden behind obsessive adornment of the body. Death is presented in its “luxury” version which, despite all efforts, only serves to emphasize the deadness of the corpse. The series Défilé consists of 7 photographs in lightboxes. Film with the photographic prints has been glued to Plexi and placed in aluminium boxes, lit from behind.

Group AES+F, “Défilé #4”

The AES+F group shows dead bodies dressed in ballroom finery. The dramatic content is emphasised by using life-size photographs, made all the more realistic by being displayed in lightboxes. The human fear of passing away is hidden behind obsessive adornment of the body. Death is presented in its “luxury” version which, despite all efforts, only serves to emphasize the deadness of the corpse. The series Défilé consists of 7 photographs in lightboxes. Film with the photographic prints has been glued to Plexi and placed in aluminium boxes, lit from behind.

Group AES+F, “Défilé #6”

The AES+F group shows dead bodies dressed in ballroom finery. The dramatic content is emphasised by using f life-size photographs, made all the more realistic by being displayed in lightboxes. The human fear of passing away is hidden behind obsessive adornment of the body. Death is presented in its “luxury” version which, despite all efforts, only serves to emphasize the deadness of the corpse. The series Défilé consists of 7 photographs in lightboxes. Film with the photographic prints has been glued to Plexi and placed in aluminium boxes, lit from behind.

Jadwiga Sawicka, “HONOURABLE / disloyal”

From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact. The choice of words has been thought of carefully. They are all related to current ideological and patriotic discussions. Gender play is an additional device to manipulate meanings. The same adjective has different connotations depending on whether it is feminine or masculine.

Jadwiga Sawicka, “MADE IN POLAND / foreign”

From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact. The choice of words has been thought of carefully. They are all related to current ideological and patriotic discussions.

Jadwiga Sawicka, “NATIONAL / exclusive”

From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact.

Jadwiga Sawicka, “Ojczysty / Macierzysta”

From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact.

Jadwiga Sawicka, “ETHNICALLY PURE / national”

From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact. The choice of words has been thought of carefully. They are all related to current ideological and patriotic discussions.

Jadwiga Sawicka, “IMPIOUS / infamous”

From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact.

Jarosław Kozłowski, “Counting-Out Rhyme”

Fifteen bowls of dried-up paint each have a matching cloth on which someone has wiped their dirty hands. Each such “soiling/cleaning“ set is ascribed to a site of genocide. Washing hands is a symbolic act of removing oneself from these events and thereby from any responsibility. However, the material testimony remains.

Jerzy Bereś, “Rag”

The offered hand invites a handshake. However, its extension is a dirty flag with the inscription Rag. We must decide whether we shall respond in kind to the seemingly friendly gesture, or whether we shall openly reject it. The work is a commentary on the epoch of the People's Republic of Poland.

Krištof Kintera, “All My Bad Thoughts”

Visualization of the Spiritual State. It is difficult to convey depression because of the lack of words, and the available expressions are banal to the point of ennui. A painting turns out to be a more capacious and sensitive medium than words or poetry. The “black secretion of the soul” is poured over a reclining figure.

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