Artur Żmijewski
8 December 2012–24 February 2013
Centre for Contemporary Art
Ujazdowski Castle
ul. Jazdów 2
00-467 Warsaw, Poland
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 12–7pm
Friday 12–9pm
Thursday free admission
T +48 22 628 12 71 3
This is Artur Żmijewski’s first exhibition since the conclusion of the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art in 2012, which he realized as a curator. A key task of the art displayed at the Biennale was to emphasise its connection to politics and the possibility of effectively participating in social transformations by forging links between political and artistic action. Żmijewski appears to have a broad concept of politics, embracing its role as a tool for the purposeful generation of change by the community. The exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle is not directly related to Żmijewski’s curatorial work, but instead reflects his beliefs about culture being a field for political thought and action.
The exhibition is a retrospective presentation of the artist’s oeuvre from the last few years. The strands which are touched upon include opening up art for others, rejecting artistic quality in favour of more egalitarian culture, the range of community power and the politicization of culture and citizen culture, as well as art as a tool for summary action untainted by any ambition to occupy the attention of future generations.
The exhibition is an auteur project by the artist, who has made a selection of his own works. The presentation is composed of fifty films completed between 2006 and 2012, including two series: Selected Works and Democracies, as well as three films: My Neighbours, Blindly, and The Mass. The film narrative is supplemented by drawings and paintings, the work of the project’s participants, as well as an archive of press clippings relating to the filmed events in the Democracies cycle.
The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue describing the method used by Żmijewski, with a text by Karol Sienkiewicz.
Project Coordinator: Katarzyna Szydłowska
Architecture of the exhibition: Marcin Kwietowicz and Zuzanna Gąsior
Information:
CCA Press Office, T +48 22 625 05 22 / biuroprasowe [at] csw.art.pl
