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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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
Robert Kuśmirowski, “Reception” This work was first presented at the office of “Gazeta Wyborcza” in Lublin, and a disused reception office was used for this purpose. Apart from paraphernalia typical of the time of the People’s Republic, the interior also contains some props that look like personal belongings of the staff working on the reception desk. |
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. |
Elżbieta Jabłońska, “Helping” The works of Elżbieta Jabłońska are situated in the sphere of engaged art, commenting on cultural and social clichés. A number of her projects are related to the reinterpretation of the role of women in society, expressed at the same time with irony and fondness. In one of her most-famous works — Supermatka [Supermother], from 2002 – the artist recalls the figure of a woman-superhero, impersonating the characters of Batman, Superman, and Spiderman in a kitchen interior. Her everyday activities become the domain of her heroic activity, usually overlooked and taken for granted. Jabłońska’s activities also include a number of initiatives intended for people who need help. To initiate one of the actions, she was inspired by a job advert found in Łódź, stuck on the wall by a single mother with a child, in a difficult life situation. The artist failed to find the author of the appeal; however, another unemployed woman embroidered the content of the advert into a tapestry and was paid for it with the money from Jabłońska’s fee, (from the cycle Helping), in the exhibition, Kobieta ma duszę [The Woman has a soul], Manhattan Gallery, Łódź, (2003). In subsequent years, Jabłońska began to include other social groups in her actions, in particular, excluded and marginalized people. |
Zofia Kulik, “All the Missiles Are One Missile” Photomontage using combination print. The composition is made through repeated imprinting of one or more negatives on an appropriately masked paper. Zofia Kulik’s collages are complex visual texts. Each carries a message that has been carefully devised and executed. |
Rafał Bujnowski, “Stained Glass” The window has lost its utilitarian character to serve as artistic material. A random pattern of cracks on a window pane, due to a blow, has been elevated to the rank of a decorative ornament. The art of destruction has simultaneously become an act of creation. Lead moulds preserve the effect of the impact of cumulative energy. The abstract pattern of the stained glass is a memento of sudden, uncontrollable expression. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
Marcin Maciejowski, “Elżbieta Jaworowicz Trouble-Shooting” The artist plays the image off against the text. He juxtaposes images of people with information about their job and the situational context. By these means he creates multidimensional portraits of well-known media individuals. |
Marcin Maciejowski, “Krzysztof Rutkowski Tracks Villains” The artist plays the image off against the text. He juxtaposes images of people with information about their job and the situational context. By these means he creates multidimensional portraits of well-known media individuals. |
Mirosław Bałka, “7+1” The sculpture 7+1 consists of salt cylinders sitting in concrete containers. The last of those turns independently. The cylinders were made of salt from the Kłodawa salt mine, noted for its brownish impurities, which give each cylinder its individual appearance. |
Muntean/Rosenblum, untitled [“They realized that their capacity…”] [They realized that their capacity for not feeling lonely carried very real price, which was the threat of feeling nothing at all.] Four young people appear to be taking drugs in a forest. This suspicion is at odds with the ambiance of the attractive forest and sunlight filtered through the trees. An integral part of the painting is a poetic declaration which implies a risky experiment. It entails a statement of the absence of loneliness. However, the painted protagonists appear to be entirely lonely; they do not even notice their own presence. If so, they only have themselves to thank for their lack of loneliness. |
Paweł Susid, untitled [“Ladies and you girls, in bathroom and the lavatory you touch places that are dear to us”] Template texts contrast with simple, geometric forms. Apparently banal statements, with ironically erotic undertones, are an invitation to attempt their in-depth analysis so as to expose the social and cultural contexts. |