December 14, 2024 — March 9, 2025
The Stefan Gierowski Foundation in Warsaw will soon open a unique exhibition entitled “Words Review Within Themselves”, opening on Saturday, December 14 at 18:00. The exhibition Words are reviewed in itself will explore the relationships between the word — text, poetry — and the image, and the curator, Daniel Muzyczuk, invited renowned artists from different generations, who work in different media to participate. Selected works were translated into words by the poets and poets invited to the project. The exhibition will include works by Paweł Kowalewski, founder and co-creator of Gruppa, one of the most important artistic collectives of Polish art of the 1980s. The exhibition at the Stefan Gierowski Foundation is a unique opportunity to see the works of the artist from this period — both those recognized and those not shown before. It will be possible to get acquainted with the work of Andrzej Partum, an artist born in 1938, who was one of the most recognized pioneers of neo-avant-garde art in post-war Poland. There will also be works by Małgorzata Rittersschild from the 1990s and artists from the younger generation, born in the nineties — Zuzana Bartoszek and Agata Ingarden. The exhibition will also see the works of other outstanding artists — Wojciech Bąkowski, Tomasz Kowalski, Andrzej Partum, Anna Ostoa, Maria Stangret and Tomasz Żołnierkiewicz. The exhibition will be accompanied by poetic works by Zuzanna Bartoszek, Marcin Czerkasow, Darek Foks, Emilia Konwerska and Natalia Malek. “You'd have to see it!” is a sentence that closes the discussion and leaves the worlds of eyewitness and literality eternally separated. Experience teaches, however, that you don't have to see everything to tell about it. And also the fact that the story about an object is often definitely more interesting than its appearance. — writes the curator of the exhibition, Daniel Muzyczuk The Internet has refreshed the relationship between the description and the image. Alt text appears wherever the image is not available. It is often generated by AI. The famous DALL-E image generator relies on text to create graphics, using the resources of the Internet. The ideology of the modern dominance of the image over other methods of communication hides that unexpectedly the text pulls on more and more strings. Logocentrism is entering a new phase. The exhibition shows the works of artists who create paintings, use mediation through text and the various relationships that can occur between the spheres of text and image. The question of the relationship between text and image is also a matter of narration. Is it possible to include in the visual medium a story unfolding over time or simply the passage of time? It is also the other way around — words allow you to name objects and stabilize meaning. We will see non-existent objects whose appearance is mediated by the story. We will also see works that are based on the destabilization of their meaning by an ambiguous text, as well as images-pages of a diary and images-inkers... This exhibition is not to be missed! opening Saturday, 14 December 2024, 6 pm exhibition open 14 December 2024 — 9 March 2025 artists: Wojciech Bąkowski, Zuzanna Bartoszek, Agata Ingarden, Paweł Kowalewski, Tomasz Kowalski, Małgorzata Rittersschild, Andrzej Partum, Anna Ostoya, Maria Stangret, Tomasz Żołnierkiewicz poets and poets: Zuzanna Bartoszek, Marcin Czerkasow, Darek Foks, Emilia Konwerska, Natalia Malek. curator: Daniel Muzyczuk
October 16, 2024
Friends for the POLIN Museum. Charity auction for the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland
Friends for the POLIN Museum. Charity auction for the Association Jewish Historical Institute in Poland In Jewish philanthropy, the number 18 is of particular importance. It symbolizes life and happiness — traditionally, donations on the occasion of important events are 18 or multiples of it. So many works were collected at the charity art auction “Friends for the POLIN Museum” on the occasion of the tenth birthday of this institution, which the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland is the initiator and organizer. Participants were invited to participate in the auction who, over the course of ten years of POLIN's operation, have built a circle of friends united by the ideas that guide the functioning of the Museum — freedom, equality and openness. Restoring the memory of the history of Polish Jews, countering the manifestations of anti-Semitism, discrimination and exclusion, building mutual understanding and respect. One of the works put up for auction is the work “7/10/23. IN ETERNAL MEMORY OF ALL 1139 LIVES LOST TO HAMAS” by Paweł Kowalewski, a unique work created especially for the auction in the technique of lenticular printing on dibond. More about work: Paweł Kowalewski experimented in art all his life, using various technologies and techniques — from 3D printing through photography, performance to installation. Always the key thing for him is to convey ideas, thoughts. The chosen techniques serve only to accurately and adequately convey or illustrate a specific idea. The medium has in his art the function of a tool that helps in the transmission of thoughts. The artist himself says of the work, which was created specifically for the auction for the POLIN Museum: “This work is a tribute to the 1,139 victims killed in a brutal, cynical and thoughtful way by Hamas terrorists. Imagine the sudden disappearance of 1139 people who only recently enjoyed life — whether they were in a park, maybe at a concert... These victims — vulnerable, ordinary citizens of Israel, whose lives were taken — deserve tribute. Paweł Kowalewski (born 1958) Painter. Member of the most important painting group of the 1980s Gruppa. In figurative images, he combines political messages with a dose of strong irony and appeals to the everyday life of citizens. The auction will take place on October 16, 2024 at 19:00
September 29, 2024
“Art is everything” Paweł Kowalewski, Aleksander Hudzik LUNA HOUSE
Paweł Kowalewski, one of the most recognizable Polish artists, in the book “Sztuka to jest sve” talks not only about his artistic and life choices, but also reflects on the condition of Polish art, and on what it means to be an artist today. However, this book is not only a word, but also a picture. Each copy is accompanied by a special tab with a QR code, which will allow one of Kowalewski's paintings to be hung virtually in our home. Paweł Kowalewski is one of the founders of the legendary Gruppa, an icon of Polish art of the 1980s, as well as the author of such works as “Mon Cheri Bolscheviq” or “Simulator of Totalitarianism”. His works were exhibited in the most important museums and galleries around the world, and he himself was a long-time lecturer at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. In the book “Art is everything”, the artist tells Aleksandr Hudzik about his artistic beginnings, personal successes and failures, but this book is also an attempt to take a broader look at the Polish art market and its subsequent transformations. According to Kowalewski, art and the world around it are never separate entities, but rather connected vessels that directly affect each other. Therefore, he firmly admits that he believes that art can change the world. And what about the artists themselves? Kowalewski witnessed great careers that erupted unexpectedly and died out just as quickly, but he also accompanied those personalities of the art world who for years did not allow themselves to be pushed into the sky. What determines this? Kowalewski argues that talent and luck alone are not enough. For this you need intelligence, the ability to be. “I made a series of postcards about this, which featured Anda Rottenberg and Achille Bonito Oliva, among others. They with these 3D printed postcards wink at us. Because they know that art is the most important thing, but it is also a game in which you have to be present, to be able to manage your career, to make decisions, sometimes difficult, sometimes bad. The book “Art is everything” is not only a conversation, but also a cross-section of the most important works of Paweł Kowalewski, which, when excellently displayed, take the reader on a journey into the extraordinary world of the artist. And thanks to augmented reality (AR), we can interact with the works included in the book in an additional dimension. In each book, the reader will find a tab with a QR code. After pointing the phone's camera at the code, you will be redirected to the application, thanks to which the reader will be able to “try on” the selected image on the wall in the selected room of his apartment. So far, augmented reality (AR) has not been used in any Polish publication. With this book, art can really take over us — both literally and figuratively. And all according to the principle that “art is everything”. About the authors: Paweł Kowalewski — artist, professor emeritus of the Academy of Sciences, founder of the legendary Gruppa, icon of Polish art of the 1980s. Author of famous works: “Mon Chéri Bolscheviq”, “Simulator of Totalitarianism”, “Power and Beauty”, “Pop Art” or the famous series “Psalms”. Paweł Kowalewski's works have been exhibited at NS- DOK in Munich, Castello di Rivoli in Turin, ArtistsHouse in Tel Aviv, Isa Brachot Gallery in Brussels, among others. Some of them are in the largest Polish collections of the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Krakow, Zachęta — the National Art Gallery, the Jerke Museum, as well as the ING Polish Art Foundation or the Starak Family Foundation. Aleksander Hudzik — editor-in-chief of Mint Magazine. Cultural journalist. He hosts the podcast “And this is the month in culture” broadcast on newonce radio. For years he has worked with the editorial staff of the weekly magazine “Newsweek Polska”, “Vogue Polska”, “Notes na 6 Weeks”, “Forbes Women”, “Dwutygodnik”, “K Mag”, “Przekrój”, “Esquire” and “Aktivist”. Co-author of texts in the books My Art Guide, Polski Street Art and in the guide About Polska. Nominated for the Mariusz Walter Award in 2024 in the Young Voices of Journalism category. The premiere of the book will take place on 29 September at 2 pm at Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki during Warsaw Gallery Weekend. The book will be on sale from September 30.