EXHIBITION

BURNING IN WATER, DROWNING IN FLAME

Zona Sztuki Aktualnej Gallery, Zachodniopomorskie, Szczecin, 05/18/2016 - 06/17/2016

Academy of Art in Szczecin, pl. Orła Białego 2, 70-562 Szczecin, Poland

ABOUT

An Exhibition of Works from the Regional Zachęta Contemporary Art Collection in Szczecin

Artists: Bownik, Olaf Brzeski, Andrzej Ciesielski, Hubert Czerepok, Łukasz Jastrubczak, Paweł Kula, Zofia Kulik, Andrzej Lachowicz, Wojciech Łazarczyk, Karolina Mełnicka, Johan Muyle, Anna Orlikowska, Artur Rozen, Paulina Sadowska, Jadwiga Sawicka, Wojciech Wilczyk, Piotr Wyrzykowski

Curator: Aurelia Nowak

Display design: Jarosław Hulbój

 

Opening of the exhibition:

Tuesday, May 17, 2016, 7 PM

May 18 - June 17, 2016

Tue.-Sat. 3 PM - 7 PM

Zona Sztuki Aktualnej Gallery

Academy of Art in Szczecin 

pl. Orła Białego 2 | 70-562 Szczecin | Poland

 

Collecting objects underlies our culture. As pointed out by Ewa Mikina, it is inherent in the human nature. In the Kolekcja Nowoczesna (Modern Collection) article she refers to stone collections from prehistoric times, to Hellenistic and Roman collections. Among the origins determined by her in the modern collection and its early modern period predecessors – systemic and systematized collections – is the sixteenth and seventeenth century theatrum mundi. These esoteric models of the world encompass the entire universe of human knowledge. They were intended to cover "everything", with the aim of putting our knowledge in order, just as the eighteenth century Encyclopedia, and later on Mendeleev's table of elements. Nowadays this function is definitely performed by the Internet 1.

The "Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame" exhibition presents selected works from the Regional Zachęta Contemporary Art Collection in Szczecin. The assumption underlying the exhibition, and the collection itself, is to present works bearing testimony to our times, reflecting the attitudes prevailing today. The selected works featured in the exhibition represent the surrounding world, thus evoking particular emotions. Although most of them have already been presented on many occasions as part of group shows, we have decided to take a look at them again. By creating a specific narration, we are taking the challenge posed by this collection and its dramatic tension. The majority of the presented works were created a few years or several decades ago, however today they take on new meanings. They are interpreted in the context of the current social, political, and economic processes taking place in Poland and worldwide. These are changes, which generate anxiety – this is the primal feeling that all of us sometimes experience deep inside.

Underneath the seductive aesthetics of the majority of the works lie the questions about the attitudes towards the unknown and incomprehensible. These can be, for instance, other cultures that evoke the feeling of a threat as well as everyday events, which are featured in the press or we hear about them from our friends. These are all the things that disrupt our relative, everyday peace of mind.

The category of anxiety is considered to be one of the main categories underlying modernity. It is the cause, but also the result of the affirmation of freedom and progress. We are slowly learning how to live with this growing feeling of tension. Some of us have developed defense mechanisms, a kind of "filters" through which they experience everyday life, some react by manifesting their disagreement and putting on a fight, while others struggle with various symptoms and problems. Anxiety disorders are some of the most common mental illnesses, and they are commonly considered as civilization diseases. This situation is exacerbated by dynamic phenomena and processes shaping the world around us: the processes of globalization, the aging of Western societies, environmental pollution, climate change, technicization, subsequent military conflicts, migrations, the threat of terrorism, xenophobic and nationalist attitudes gaining in popularity, subsequent economic and labor market crises. The solidarity and cultural openness project for the European Union is facing increasingly difficult challenges.

Attempts to predict the future go back to the beginnings of mankind. Apocalyptic visions have been around for a long time, not only in pop culture, but also in casual conversations in cafes. However, what stimulates our imagination even to a greater extent is when we try to imagine, for instance, that World War I and II would have never happened, that some countries would not have emerged or would have disappeared, that capitalism or industrialization of food production would not have emerged, just as the futuristic visions of a radical future dominated by a particular ideology, religion, or its total absence.

*The Zachęta Contemporary Art Association was established in 2004. The reason for its establishment was the "Znaki Czasu" (Signs of the Times) National Culture Program launched in 2004 by Waldemar Dąbrowski – the Minister of Culture at the time. One of the main objectives of the program was to promote contemporary art in particular regions, the purchase of works and the creation of local public collections of contemporary art. Thus the priority was to purchase the works reflecting the nature of the art in a given region. The focus of the collections from the Regional Zachęta Contemporary Art Collection in Szczecin is on problematizing the key attitudes present in the Polish art scene after 1989.

For More Information

CURATOR

Aurelia Nowak

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