Nothing Twice
12 September–23 November 2014
Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor, Cricoteka
Nadwiślańska 2–4
Krakow
Poland
www.news.cricoteka.pl
www.nic2razy.pl
Curated by Joanna Zielińska
Nothing Twice is the first project in Poland to combine an exhibition and performance action on such a large scale. This event is being organized to mark the launching of Cricoteka’s new building. The exhibition and the accompanying performance programme interpret the influence of Tadeusz Kantor’s concepts in the work of contemporary artists operating at the crossover between theatre, performance and the visual arts. This project is based on the idea of the readymade, appropriation art and the concept of re-performance. It poses questions about the archiving and collecting of live art. Nothing Twice tackles the double nature of the object as both a prop in performance and an autonomous artwork. In other words: the issue of the materiality of performance and the staging of the exhibition space itself.
The exhibition is the mise-en-scène where individual works will create a collage-like installation. Some of the works presented at the exhibition refer directly to the history of the theatre, such as the curtain made by Ulla von Brandenburg or Jim Shaw’s installation, which incorporates a theatre backdrop. The exhibition opens with an object by Tadeusz Kantor—Aneantisising machine (The Madman and the Nun), 1963—a link between the presentation of the Cricoteka’s collection and the exhibition of contemporary art. The works of Paweł Althamer and the Nowolipie Group are the fruit of collective activity. Just like the props from the performances of Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and Guy de Cointet, their status is changed by the means of an artistic act. The works of Paulina Ołowska, Shana Moulton, Jim Shaw, Michael Portnoy and the Quay Brothers contain biographical themes and reveal the artists’ fascination with everyday life, the concept of the performative object and peripheral aesthetics. In turn, the sculpture of Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan provides an authentic voice in the discussion about collecting performances and ways to present the objects that they employ.
The opening ceremony will include a performance by Oskar Dawicki, a concert by Jaap Blonk, Michael Portnoy’s film, Shana Moulton and Nick Hallett’s opera and Catherine Sullivan’s theatre piece, produced in collaboration with the Warsaw Opera Buffa theatre.
