Tadeusz Kantor
Inbetween Structures
10 September–15 November 2015
Opening: 10 September, 7pm
Polnisches Institut Berlin
Burgstrasse 27
10178 Berlin
Germany
Tadeusz Kantor (1915–90) is best known as an outstanding and highly original figure of 20th century theatre, as well as the creator of his own theatre group and of productions imbued with poetry derived from his own complex Galician origin. He is also known for being one of the most important figures of the Krakow art scene and arguably the most prominent representative of the Art Informel movement in Poland. Kantor is also credited with inventing and naming the medium of emballage (from French “emballer,” meaning “to wrap”), a practice of wrapping up various objects, which defined his art works following the Informel period.
Celebrating the centenary of Tadeusz Kantor’s birth, the exhibition Tadeusz Kantor: Inbetween Structures brings a new perspective to Kantor’s complex theatrical, cinematic and visual oeuvre. Focusing on the early phase of Kantor’s artistic career (1954–65), the exhibited works (which include the long lost film Attention!…, as well as numerous drawings, gouaches, paintings, collages, photographs and written manifestos) not only highlight the profundity of his early art, but also shed new light on the international perception of Kantor as a visual artist.
It is crucial to understand that Kantor’s visual works were equally important to him as his theatrical productions. All of his works are explorations of intense artistic processes that were leading in different directions and structures. Choosing the actual form of a work was never random, but rather very carefully decided upon.
This wide artistic oeuvre displayed as part of Tadeusz Kantor: Inbetween Structures reveals the complexity of Kantor’s ideas about art and forges a new perspective on his playful approach to bridging the gaps between art forms as well as working creatively in-between these fields and the structures of art. His capacity to move through existing categories and forms is quite unparalleled to other artistic practices of the time. The exhibition Tadeusz Kantor: Inbetween Structures will not only foster a fresh look at one of the masters of modern Polish art, but will also raise an understanding of the unmatched creative and open atmosphere that existed in Poland in the years 1955–59.
Curated by Dr. Marc Glöde
This project was initiated by Polish Institute Berlin and is co-produced by the Polish Cultural Institute in London, the Polish Institute in Berlin and Summerhall in partnership with Cricoteka, National Museum in Krakow, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and Krakow Festival Office and supported by Culture.pl.
