Katarzyna Rij runs the Van Rij Gallery in Cracow and post-industrial space in Ćmielów, a small town in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship known for its porcelain manufactory. When we meet to talk about her perspective on art, current projects, and plans for the future, it becomes immediately clear how contagious her passion for her work is. Right off, I am taken by her warmth, radiance and dedication with which she describes her projects and the artists she collaborates with. Having a degree in both art history and economics, Rij successfully bridges the gap between the business and creative worlds as an art dealer and curator. A turning point in her professional life was the preparation of an international exhibition at Palais des Nations in Geneva in 2014. She is also a co-author of a biography, published in 2021 by the Agora Publishing House, of Lubomir Tomaszewski – a Polish artist, sculptor and designer famous for his porcelain figurines and paintings made with blowtorch. At the beginning of October this year, Rij participated in the ArtVilnius’24 fair, displaying the works of Paweł Orłowski, Tamara Berdowska, and Kinga Burek.
Katarzyna Boch: It is quite a challenge to describe your activity using a single label. You are an art dealer, a curator, an author, and a gallery owner. Which of these areas is the most meaningful to you?
Katarzyna Rij: To answer this question, I will use the words of my favourite artist, the late Lubomir Tomaszewski: „It is as if you were to ask me: ‘And which child do you love the most?’”. I think it depends on what I am occupied with at the moment, what I am most focused on, and that is when I become most involved in a particular area. Lately, I have been spending most of my time organising exhibitions and developing the gallery. I want to create a space for the artists to tell the story they want to in their works and promote their art, especially in an international arena. Sure, I have had moments in my life when I focused on writing a biography, so then you could say, rather loftily, that I was more of a writer, and when I was making porcelain figurines, it was the vein of the artist that prevailed. It depends on what stage of life I was in – so all of these areas are definitely my passion, and I pursue them all with great dedication.
KB: Since being a gallerist is currently at the centre of your activities, let’s focus on that now. You run the Van Rij Gallery, which displays contemporary art in Cracow. What is the mission of this place?
KR: I certainly can’t say that the gallery’s programme relies on the visual layer. My programme is not chosen only by figures or abstractions or only by the works of artists of one gender, only the young, only the old, only those from Cracow etc. In my mission statement, I wouldn’t want to include markers that are related to gender or geography, and even less would I want my work to be centred around a particular type of art, especially considered in visual terms. In many European countries, especially in the North, for a good few decades now, they have been looking more at the subject matter, at what the artists want to say – that becomes the agenda. I want the gallery to be a platform for artists. What interests me personally is the social changes related to the position of women in society. I am interested in artists who notice these shifts and talk about them. The message conveyed by the gallery aims to be very broad, while our exhibitions – to be a pretext for discussion. If there is an individual who has been through particular experiences, such an agenda or exhibition is certainly very important for them. But I am not sure it would be as engaging for a wider audience. Covering broad topics relevant to large sections of society is something more preferable for me instead.
Adopting a certain key, such as „I only collect works by women”, is uncomfortable to me, as it involves giving privilege. I am guided by asking questions because this is what art is meant to do.
KB: And what projects are you currently working on at Van Rij Gallery?
KR: We are still working on the „Pink Bot” project, which relies on stereotypical tools used to quickly get our message across to a wider audience. The „Pink Bot” is an action-oriented endeavour created by Paweł Orłowski. Paweł made seven three-and-a-half-meter tall Marvel heroes – muscular, similar to heroes from the comic books, but covered in pink. On the one hand, there is a male superhero. And on the other, he is pink, evoking associations with Barbie. We aim to provoke dissonance in the viewers and spark a discussion about how cultural, religious, and social stereotypes are imposed on gender. Our belief is that it is not fair for these stereotypes to lead to inequality. I do not aim to say that social roles are wrong in principle or that gender does not matter. But – it is the resulting inequalities that I disagree with. The project was originally shown at the Centre for Contemporary Art „Elektrownia” in Radom. And now it will be presented in the Silesian Museum in Katowice.
In addition to this project, we are showing the work of several of our artists at fairs abroad. In November, we are going to Rome to present the Polish artists at Roma Arte in Nuvola, where Marcin Jedlikowski, my latest discovery, will join the group. He is already a well-formed artist, knowing exactly what he wants to convey. His exhibition in Cracow opened on October 4. I was looking forward to it, as it is Jedlikowski’s first exhibition at our gallery. We have also planned another big solo exhibition of his that will take place in the coming months at BWA in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
KB: You say a lot about what gender inequality means to you. Does it affect you in your work as an art dealer? There is still a stereotype that buying art is the domain of men.
KR: Women did not have access to education, they did not earn money and develop wealth, and the art market is closely linked to the disposal of money. In addition to art history, I also graduated with a degree in economics, so financial issues are also close to my heart. When there is little turnover, and few players of a certain gender partake in the market, they remain unnoticed. In various entrepreneurial prize competitions, the winners are 80% men, which in itself is not a bad thing; it is simply our current situation. What is needed now, however, is to remodel it, wait a few decades and talk about what to do to level the playing field. At some point, we will come to a balance. However, I would not like this to take place on the field of battle but in conversation. Through art, we want to provoke discussion so that the decisions made by those in power are effective and long-term.
KB: What guides your choice of artworks?
KR: I listen to what the artist wanted to convey through their work and whether this is important to me. Adopting a certain key, such as „I only collect works by women”, is uncomfortable to me, as it involves giving privilege. I am guided by asking questions because this is what art is meant to do. I have recently been interested in ecological issues, the impact of too many legal regulations on people’s attitudes to waste segregation and the condition of the environment. A work dealing with such problems would provoke not only my own thoughts on the subject but also initiate a conversation among people around me. It is the social role of art collectors that is hardly mentioned. The narrative about this profession is centred around investment, and art is not an area, where there is room for a lot of speculation. When you look at the statistics of the art market, you can clearly see that it is not a place where you make a lot of money. However, there is a social responsibility value in it. Artists are important in society because they have talents and education, which allow them to draw our attention to subjects that matter. By spending money on a work of art, collectors support certain ideas and encourage discussions. When creating collections, I want to mark a trace of our culture that is happening here and now.
