Barbara Maroń. A Story Within a Story

Barbara Maroń. A Story Within a Story

Arton Foundation
Foksal 11/4, Warsaw
Exhibition: 23 January–22 March 2026
Opening: 23 January 2026, 7 p.m.

Curator: Marika Kuźmicz
Collaboration: Dariusz Mikołajczak, Adam Parol

“By weaving, I construct an image – an object identical to the structure of the base; the unique structure of the fabric replaces the non-transparent texture of paint; form, color, and texture result from the interlacing of weft and warp, from left to right and from right to left, and from the structure of the finished fabric; the act of weaving resembles the act of reading and writing – simple rhythms form verses, creating orders analogous to handwriting, sketching, printing…” This statement by Barbara Maroń applies not only to her textiles, but to her artistic practice as such. Although her works take diverse forms – the aforementioned woven depictions, but also books and objects – they consistently revolve around text and the activities tied to its creation: writing and perceiving it, that is, reading.

Philosopher Vilém Flusser identified the invention of writing and the invention of photography as two pivotal moments in human history. He argued that, despite our confidence, we have never truly learned how to read photographic images. We tend to trust them instinctively, assuming they require no interpretation, which carries serious risks, particularly today, when they are increasingly generated artificially and only appear to be anchored in reality. Perhaps we need words now more than ever?

Barbara Maroń’s works mark a return to text. They direct our attention to language and its power, derived both from its communicative capacity and from the mystery it can conceal. Text can function as a clue, a path, an inspiration, or a labyrinth – and all of these qualities are revealed in the pieces presented at the Arton Foundation. This return to text is also tactile: the viewer is invited not only to see language, but to feel it, recalling the handwritten, linear process of its creation, closely aligned with the rhythms of human thought. In an era of pervasive distraction, this mode of thinking emerges as a precious yet vanishing resource.

Maroń’s sequence of works also forms a narrative about stories and texts passed down through generations, and about secrets hidden in books. The exhibition’s structure resembles a story within a story: its fragments may be read individually or assembled into a multilayered narrative.

Barbara Maroń was born in Kraków in 1955. In the 1980s, she worked primarily in design and textile arts. From 1987 to 1989, she co-ran the “gt” Gallery at the Mandala Theater in Kraków. From the 1990s through the mid-2000s, she used primarily video and photography to create objects and installations, addressing questions of identification, self-identification, and image construction. She was a co-founder and member of the Fort Sztuki Association (1986–2006), participated in the program and organizational committee of the Fort Sztuki festivals (1994–2000), and served on the editorial board of Fort Sztuki magazine (2003–2005), while also initiating and inspiring numerous artistic events in Poland and abroad.

Her works have been presented in the Republic of Ireland (Cork), Northern Ireland (Belfast), and Canada, including exhibitions at Le Lieu, centre en art actuel, and the VU Photo Gallery in Québec City.

For over a decade, Maroń has explored the form of the artistic documentary, producing structurally complex video works as a cinematographer, director, and editor. These include Awangardy Wrocławia lat 60. i 70. XX wieku – śladami absolwentów Państwowej Wyższej Szkoły Sztuk Plastycznych [The Avant-Gardes of Wrocław in the 1960s and 1970s – In the Footsteps of Graduates of the State Higher School of Fine Arts] (2015), created in collaboration with the Department of Art Mediation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław as part of a research program on Wrocław conceptualism. In 2021, she completed Teatr mroku, przekory i uciechy [Theater of Darkness, Contradiction, and Joy] – a film essay devoted to the work of Joanna Braun, a renowned costume and set designer for dramatic and puppet theater. Her most recent project, premiering in February 2026, is the film study Pokazać słowo / Utwory ulotne [To Show the Word / Fleeting Works], focusing on the practice of Alicja Jodko – philosopher, visual poet, and co-founder (with Mariusz Jodko) and curator of the Entropia Gallery in Wrocław.