1: 11 Microstories

1/11 – Microhistories consists of a series of stories devoted to the artistic landscape of the 1970s and 1980s. The exhibition attempts to outline a network of connections between the archipelagos of individual tendencies and practices of artists whose work provides the most interesting examples of experimental photography and video as well as conceptual and contextual art of the period. Each individual work bears testimony to the history of its times. Interviews with artists offer the possibility to explore the otherwise austere and apparently inaccessible form of avant-garde art – to come closer to an individual interpretation of a given artefact.

The plurality of artists’ voices serves to facilitate various motivations and interests that shaped young Polish art in its different centres. Microhistories also offer a starting point for reflection on the paths followed by artists in their work. Most of the presented pieces were created at the beginning of their careers – during the studies at the academy of fine arts or just after graduation. How did their first steps in the field of art influence their further artistic explorations? How do artists perceive their own development? Is a young artist from the past different from an artist now?

The twelve points of contextual art formulated by Jan Świdziński begin with the words: “There are no objects without a meaning as there are no meanings without objects. One and the same object may have different meanings in different codes, one and the same meaning may be ascribed to different objects. ... In a particular context only one meaning is accepted as the true one”. The intention behind the exhibition does not consist in a comprehensive analysis of the work of Polish artistic milieus of the 1970s and 1980s. Yet, the presented pieces afford a prism through which to look at the panorama of those times from the perspective of the artists themselves, while the accompanying commentaries outline the diverse character of their practices.



ARTISTS:

Antosz & Andzia (Katarzyna Chierowska i Stanisław Antosz)
Jan Dobkowski
Teresa Gierzyńska
Tomasz Konart
Barbara Kozłowska
Anna Kutera
Romuald Kutera
Paweł Kwiek

CURATORS:
Paulina Brol
Julia Ciunowicz
Natalia Dorocka
Agnieszka Kalita
Michalina Lewandowska
Adrianna Molka
Barbara Orłowska
Weronika Orłowska
Anna Palusińska
Adam Parol

COORDINATOR: dr Marika Kuźmicz

DISPLAY: Agnieszka Lasota

where: Miedziana 11 St. DOM SŁOWA POLSKIEGO

when: opening 19.05.2018, 6 PM

The exhibiton is a part of the project "FORGOTTEN HERITAGE. EUROPEAN AVANTGARDE ON-LINE leads by Arton Foundation and supported by Creative Europe