First monograph book of Małgorzata Potocka

We present the first monographic publication dedicated to the work of Małgorzata
Potocka (b. 1953), edited by Marika Kuźmicz, with essays by Kamila Dworniczak, Marika Kuźmicz and Marta Smolinska, and an interview with the artist conducted by Mariusz Szczygieł.
The book presents Potocka's most important film, photographic and video works and shows her work in the face of the dynamic socio-political situation of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
As an actress, Malgorzata Potocka has been associated with film almost all her life.
She played her first film role when she was just a few years old. However, in addition to her acting, Potocka is also a visual artist. In the late 1970s, together with her husband, Jozef Robakowski, she ran an independent art venue, the legendary Exchange Gallery in Lodz, and at the same time co-founded the milieu of the Polish avant-garde of the time.
Potocka used a variety of media: film (her works were created on 16mm film), she also worked with video - as one of the first artists in Poland. A special place in her work was occupied by photography. She created photographic series of self-portraits and photos documenting the world around her. She selected from communist reality what seemed to her the most paradoxical, absurd, unique, and built ambiguous compositions, arrangements and narratives out of the reporter's shots. Potocka made her debut as a visual artist in 1976 in the group exhibition “Offer” in Lublin. In the following years, her works were shown in exhibitions in Lodz, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Zagreb, Paris, Kassel, Hamburg, Brussels and New York, among others. Małgorzata Potocka's exhibition at the Arton Foundation was built around the artist's photographic self-portraits. The successive self-observations of her face are a special attempt to face this subject, as old as photography itself. It is a unique attempt, because it is made by a well-known and recognized person, who at the same time remains invariably alone with her fears, concerns, but also observations. Potocka looks at herself carefully and consciously, playing a game with her own image - the public and private one.
As Jerzy Busza aptly wrote about Potocka: “The only point of reference for any of Malgorzata Potocka's actions is herself.”

Editor: Marika Kuźmicz
Authors of essays Kamila Dworniczak, Marika Kuźmicz, Marta Smolińska oraz Małgorzata Potocka
Interviews: Marika Kuźmicz, Mariusz Szczygieł
Design: Tomasz Zapała
TranslationKarol Waniek
Proofreading PL Elżbieta Łubowicz
*Proofreading ENG Joanna Figiel
Copyrights Małgorzata Potocka
Photos: Michał Dracz, Aleksander Kot-Zaitsau, Dariusz Mikołajczak, Sławomir Smolarek
Editor: Fundacja Arton © 2023 Fundacja Arton
ISBN: 978-83-970567-1-8 2023
Print: Virgo Poligrafia
Co-financed by the City of Warsaw