140 BEATS PER MINUTE

The title is a reference to the number of beats per minute in classic techno music. Jacek Sienkiewicz, a pioneer of techno in Poland, whose works are presented in the exhibition, played in this tempo in the 90s. The word “rave” is used to describe dance parties with electronic music—mainly techno—that began to appear in Poland together with the political system change in the early 90s, often voicing the naive, but nonetheless authentic optimism of opening up to the world, its civilizational and technological advancement.

SEE YOU AFTER THE REVOLUTION!

The Bauhaus is the most significant avant-garde art school of the 20th century. Established in Weimar in 1919 by the architect Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus revolutionised methods of artistic education, creating ‘the new covenant between art and technology.’ Under pressure from conservative politicians, the school moved from Weimar to Dessau in 1925. There, it flourished and functioned until 1931, when the modernist building was taken over by the power-grabbing Nazi Party and this led to the school closing in 1933. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, the Bauhaus staff and students realised its ideals, working both in Germany and as emigrées in the Soviet Union, the US, Japan or Chile.

The exhibition proposes to dismantle a monolithic vision of the Bauhaus, assuming the school engendered a homogenous style or a recipe for ‘the Modernist aesthetic’. It has been built upon a dialogue between invited artists, architects, designers and curators, with historic works and documents as well as subsequent reminiscences of the school (exhibited in Poland for the first time). It is an experiment in a communal and critical reading of the Modernist tradition in the context of contemporary creative, educational and social practices.

Guidebook

Kolonie Gallery

Long time collaboration on posters.

Wystawa Gallerii w Galerii Stereo w Poznaniu, 2011 r.

Tracts

Visual identity, website, prints, publication

This is a bTRACTS stands for ‘Trace as a research agenda for climate change, technology studies, and social justice‘. TRACTS is a COST Action (2021–2025) that brings together scholars from disciplines of the social sciences and humanities with artists, decolonial activists, memorialization experts and legal professionals to bridge current cultural, political and geographical gaps in research on traces.lock of text. Double-click this text to edit it.

Not Fair

The first international edition of NOT FAIR, 22–25 September 2016, will be held in Warsaw’s most spectacular building—the Palace of Culture and Science. Invited galleries and project spaces will each propose a solo project by one of their collaborating artists. When developing show concepts, artists and galleries should consider the special character of the place where their works will be displayed—namely, the eclectic and monumental architecture of the Palace of Culture and Science. NOT FAIR is aiming to deal with the given space and to compose a display of solo projects in the form of a group exhibition.

The second international edition of NOT FAIR, 21 – 24 September 2017, will be held in Warsaw in it’s most spectacular building – the Palace of Culture and Science.

The idea of NOT FAIR is to create a platform of exchange and cooperation between international galleries, collectors, curators and other participants active on the contemporary art scene. Each invited gallery is asked to propose a solo presentation by one artist and should take into account the character of the place where works will be displayed—namely, the eclectic and monumental architecture of the Palace of Culture and Science. There will be no traditional gallery stands because the idea is to compose the whole display in form of group exhibition or salon d’art.

NOT FAIR will be held concurrently with Warsaw Gallery Weekend 2017, in which around 20–30 galleries will take part. Visitors will also have a chance to participate in a variety of ongoing events organised by the most important institutions and private collections.

Summer Camp

The leitmotiv of the “summer camp” is the concept of “identification” Identification is one of the mechanisms of socialization, based on the acceptance or permanent internalization of the values, norms, and behaviour patterns of other individuals or social groups. It plays a fundamental role in the development of personality, morality, and individual identity.

Participants of the Academy practiced, explored the city, discussed, conducted research, and learned from one another. We started with the concept of “identification” and the need for a sense of identity. Do we have such a need in today’s cosmopolitan times? And if so, what for? Does identification broaden or narrow our horizons? Does it help us grow or does it limit us and smother our selfhood? How does individual identification as the creation of oneself shape our future? Can we simultaneously be ourselves while identifying with someone/a group or a phenomenon? Identification with the place/city we live in and function is a defence against exclusion, an attempt to assimilate and to develop social skills. It fulfills the need to belong to a group, a collective. At the same time, it can be oppressive, excluding, and enforce adaptation to new conditions. It can be used to establish someone’s identity, to recognize someone or something on the basis of some features. The combination of two words: Identity vs Identification, makes the issue even more intense. While identity is who you are, differentiating an individual from others of the same kind, selfhood or identification is the act of identifying with something, opting to be the same.