CONTEXTS
Emigration
On the identity of an artist
Motto:
Artists are never, artists are nowhere in exile, for they carry within themselves their own kingdom, or republic, or city or refuge, or whatever they carry within themselves. And at the same time, every artist, ever,
everywhere is in exile, because he is squeezed out of its kingdom, or republic, or city, or whatever it is that squeezes itself dry.
Stefan Themerson, 1951
Art as an independent being transgresses categorization and divisions. Artist’s freedom is a prerequisite for being creative. When deprived of it, art becomes its own substitute. External limitations are always there and they are to be overcome. Our nationality defines us and language we speak determines our perception of the world.
We ask: what is the process in which artist’s identity is formed? What factors contribute to it? How essential and decisive is national identity? Has one’s nationality lost its significance or, just the opposite, become
reinforced in the reality of European Union? Artists living and working abroad: what is the difference between artistic emigration and the political or economic one? Forced emigration and voluntary emigration. Inner
emigration. What are advantages and disadvantages of working in a foreign country? In their realizations artists will discuss these issues. Audience will be confronted with acknowledgments, processes and
conclusions. We open our debate and invite all participants and the audience to take part in it – in a form of discussion, actions nad reflections.
Festival CONTEXTS takes place in Sokolowsko, Lower Silesia. The aspect of „forced” emigration is featured significantly in the history of this place which until 1945 was German. After the war borders were moved and the original inhabitants were transferred to Germany and Poles was transferred there from eastern territories which became part of the Soviet Union. In this context, as well as in the context of recent political
developments – refugees/ immigrants, assimilation of diverse cultures, terrorist attacks as an extreme form of confrontation the theme of the festival becomes even more significant.
Every year CONTEXTS pay tribute to an outstanding artist of unquestionable merits. In 2016 it is Richard Demarco, the extraordinary artist and curator, for decades responsible for visual arts at the Edinburgh
Festival, creator of exceptional archive, Gesamtkunstwork, unique documentation of international art since 1960s. Demarco is a great ambassador of Polish art and culture, who has been coming to Poland since
1968 with an artistic mission, which brought about pioneering exhibitions of Polish contemporary art during the Cold War era. He is the person who introduced Tadeusz Kantor and Cricot 2 to the international audience behind the Iron Curtain, initiated meeting of Kantor and Beuys, considering that the way to heal the wounds of war, unresolved conflict between Poland and Germany, is to bring together great artists representing these two countries. He organized numerous artistic expeditions to Poland, bringing here artists, critics, art historians and art admirers, visiting art galleries, artists’ studios and art museums. Richard Demarco’s contribution to opening Europe to Polish art cannot be overestimated and compared with anything else. For his merits for Polish culture he was awarded Golden Gloria Artis Medal by Ministry of Art and National Heritage, He received Honoris Causa doctorate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw and at a number of universities in Europe and America. In 2013 he received the European Citizen’s Medal on Monday at the European Parliament Office, Brussels, the only UK citizen and only arts person receiving this honour.
In 2016 Wrocław is honoured with the title of European Capital of Culture and also in 2016 Edinburgh international art festival, founded a year after the end of WW2 to help Europe to overcome the trauma of
Nazism and regain lost unity through culture, celebrates its 70th anniversary. These two events are linked and both feature the healing properties of art.
As part of the festival we present the exhibition Atelier 72 Revisted. It provides a new perspective on the groundbreaking exhibition of Polish contemporary art Richard Demarco curated at the Edinburgh Festival in
1972.
The choice of artists participating in CONTEXTS who have more than one country was determined by the theme of this edition- emigration and the issue of identity). Artists are asked to present works in which their
experience of functioning in foreign culture is featured: how being on emigration influenced their work, language, artistic message. Adaptation and alienation. Historical and political aspect: Europe divided, Europe
united. External and internal determinants.
The festival will be proceeded by student workshops run by Laura Bartolomei, Ewa Benesz and Alastair MacLennan ( 26-30 June). The programme of the festival features performances, sound pieces, installations,
interventions in public space, projects involving local community, screenings, exhibitions, talks, discussions and workshops.
Małgorzata Sady, curator
Conference – Tribute to Richard Demarco
Part I – June, 30, 2016, 2 p.m. – 7 p.m. (Bar Barbara, Świdnicka 8c, Wrocław)
Richard Demarco Archive as Gesamtkunstwerk (Total Work of Art)
Session I
14.00 – 15.30
Marek Mutor – opening speech
Richard Demarco – inauguration lecture
Mischa Twitchin – „Between Documentation and Living Archive: What Becomes of the Avant-Garde?”
15.30- 15.45 break
Session II
15.45 – 17.15
Nesta Jones – The Live Archive: Demarco, Kantor and RBC (Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance)
Alastair MacLennan – With Richard Demarco
Sonia Rolak – Richard Demarco forerunner of contemporary multitasking artistic skills
break 17.15 – 17.30
Session III
17.30 – 19.00
Giles Sutherland (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, krytyk London Times ) EDINBURGH ARTS ’72 – RICHARD DEMARCO’S FIRST EXPERIMENTAL SUMMER SCHOOL
Faynia Williams i Richard Crane – ROLLING THE STONE WITH RICHARD DEMARCO (with live readings and interventions)
Part II July 1, 3 p.m. SOKOŁOWSKO (Zdrowie Cinema)
Richard Demarco Archive as Gesamtkunstwerk – continued.
Atelier 72 Revisited
The second part of the conference is focused on the groundbreaking exhibition of Polish contemporary art
curated by Richard Demarco in the scheme Edinburgh Festival in 1972. The speakers will include Richard
Demarco, the artists who participated in Atelier 72, art critics and art historians. Richard Demarco will present
the origins and idea of the exhibition, and its realization. The artists are asked to talk about their Edinburgh
experience in the context of their work at that time and artistic consequences. Art critics present the
exhibition in the wider context of Polish and international art.
Session I
15.00–16.30
Richard Demarco
Klara Kemp-Welch The Demarco Tornado: Networking the Bloc”
Noel Witt – Make the Demarco archive live
Zbigniew Benedyktowicz – Demarco in Konteksty Quarterly
break
g.16.45-18.45
Session II
Panel discussion moderated by Dorota Grubba
Dorota Grubba – moderator
Participants
Wanda Czełkowska
Natalia LL
Wiesław Borowski
Koji Kamoji
Zbigniew Warpechowski
Józef Robakowski
Zbigniew Makarewicz
Atelier 72 Revisited – exhibition
Atelier 72 Revisted exhibition provides a new perspective on the groundbreaking presentation of Polish
contemporary art curated by Richard Demarco in the scheme of Edinburgh Festival in 1972. The enlarged
pages of the original catalogue, each of them devoted to one artist/group and designed by him/her will be a
starting point of the exhibition. We present works of selected participants of the cult exhibition, also the ones
that were created after 1972. The exhibits are paintings, graphic works, posters, films, video, photographs,
sculptures, installations, sound pieces and documentation. The exhibition arranged in the form of a labyrinth
which relates to the historical aspect, multilayered nature of time and variety of genres is shown in
multimedia space of the sanatorium (transformed into the laboratory of art), cellars, corridors and tower. It
uses the genius loci of Sokolovsko, a place of healing which relates to Richard Demarco advocating the
healing properties of art, transgressing political and national divisions.
Artists:
Zbigniew Warpechowski
Koji Kamoji
Natalia LL
Romard Cieślewicz
Henryk Stażewski
Tadeusz Kantor
Wanda Czełkowska
Jerzy Bereś
Stanisław Dróżdż
Edward Krasiński
Zbigniew Makarewicz
Maria Stangret
Bogusław Schaeffer
Henryk Tomaszewski
Roman Opałka
Paweł Kwiek
Wojciech Bruszewski
Józef Robakowski
Zbigniew Rybczyńki
Ryszard Waśko
Kazimierz Bendkowski
Tadeusz Kantor and Richard Demarco, photo
CONTEXTS 2016 EMIGRATION – ON THE IDENTITY OF AN ARTIST
THE 6TH INTERNATIONAL SOKOLOVSKO FESTIVAL OF EPHEMERAL ART
1 July
14.00-14.15 – Festival opening – Laboratorium Kultury – Sala Multimedialna
14.15-15.00 Atelier 72 Revisited exhibition – Laboratorium Kultury –
Sala Multimedialna
15.00- Tribute to Richard Demarco conference
Part II July 1, 3 p.m. SOKOŁOWSKO (Kinoteatr Zdrowie/ Zdrowie Theatre)
Session I Richard Demarco Archive as Gesamtkunstwerk – continued
Session II Atelier 72 Revisited
2 July
19.00-19.30 – Alastair MacLennan – SAVE VASE performance – by the Villa Rosa pond
19.40-20.00 – Koji Kamoji – Air and Stone– performance – in front of Laboratory of Culture
20.15-21.00 – Anna Seagrave – performance, in the vicinity Laboratory of Culture
11.00-11.30 Robert Kuśmirowski, Graduation Tower, installation, outside Laboratory of Culture
11.30-11.50 Krystyna Piotrowska – installation, Tower
11.50-12.10 – Lothe/Lachman/Biskupska – installation, Laboratorium Kultury/ Laboratory of Culture
12.20-12.50 Maya Gordon – Kredens/ Dresser instalacja/performance, Zdrowie
Theater13-14.15
13.00-14.15 Avi Lubin – TOHU magazine presentation,
14.30-15.00 Christoph Both Asmus + Chica Takabayshi – Holy Process – performance/instalacja,
15.15-15.45 Robert Kuśmirowski, Graduation Tower, installation, outside Laboratory of Culture
15.45-18.00 late lunch break
18.00-19.15 Hubert Sielecki – Luise Buisman – Austrian experimental films + concert, Kinoteatr Zdrowie
19.30-20.30 Ewa Benesz – Pan Tadeusz recited, Kinoteatr Zdrowie
20.45-21.15 Akademia Ruchu, Poetry, performance, Plac Kieślowskiego/Kieślowski Square
21.30-22.00 Jean Baptiste Ganne – Rom Dance Floor, installation, Laboratorium Kultury/ Laboratory of Culture
22.00-22.30 Mattias Cantzler, Baggefalla, interactive installation, Zdrowie Theatre
3 July
11.00-12.15 WHITECONCEPTS presented by Nicole Loeser
12.30-13.00 Maurice Blok – performance, park
13.15-14.45 Emigration. On the identity of an artist. – debate moderated by Dorota Grubba/ Kinoteatr Zdrowie
15.00-15.30 Krystyna Piotrowska: I left Poland because…, video
15.30-18.00 late lunch break
18.00-18.30 Avdei Ter Oganian – performance
18.45-19.50 Mariel Carranza – performance, Kinoteatr Zdrowie
20.00-22.00 Andriej Chrzanowski – A Room and a Half, Zdrowie Theatre
22.15-22.45 Katarzyna Podpora in front of Laboratory of Culture
installations:
Jean Baptiste Ganne, Rom Dance Floor, Laboratory of Culture
Krystyna Piotrowska, tower
Robert Kuśmirowski, Graduation Tower, installation, outside Laboratory of Culture
Mattias Cantzler,Baggefalla, interactive installation, Zdrowie
Theatre
4 July
11.00-11.30 Dominika Borkowska, E->.<-I at the bottom of the road leading to Villa Rosa
11.45-13.00 Kinoteatr Józef Robakowski – Film Form Workshop, screening, Zdrowie Theater
13.15-14.00 Mariel Carranza, Behind the Table, Za stołem, performance, Kinoteatr Zdrowie/Zdrowie Theatre
14.00-15.00 Ewa Zarzycka/Galeria Lokal 30, book launch and films
15.00-15.30 Ewa Zarzycka, performance, theatre foyer
15.30-18.00 late lunch break
18.00-19.30 Tomasz Pobóg-Malinowski – films about artists Cieślewicz, Żuławski, Quay Brothers
19.40-20.00 Szymon Kula – performance, KinoTeatr Zdrowie
20.10-20.40 Rob Mazurek – Book of Sounds, litografie i improwizacja muzyczna/ litographs and music
improvisation, Kinoteatr Zdrowie/ Zdrowie Theatre
20.50-22.00 Laura Bartolomei – Study of Love, a research project/performance
installations:
Jean Baptiste Ganne, Rom Dance Floor, Laboratory of Culture
Krystyna Piotrowska, tower
Robert Kuśmirowski, Graduation Tower,installation, outside Laboratory of Culture
Katarzyna Podpora – sound performance
Mattias Cantzler, Baggefalla, interactive installation
5 July
11.00-11.30 Magda Franczuk, Book of Wonders, presentation, Kinoteatr Zdrowie
11.40-12.00 Polen Performance – bicycle shop
12.00-13.00 – Krzysztof Kaczmar, outdoor performance
13.15-15.00 Tomasz Pobóg-Malinowski – documentaries about artists: Topor, Themersons, Rybczynski
15.00-17.30 – break
17.30-20.00 – pokaz warsztatowiczów/ presentation of student workshops
20.00-21.00 Anna Seagrave, video 1986-2011, Zdrowie Theatre
installations:
Jean Baptiste Ganne, Rom Dance Floor, Laboratory of Culture
Krystyna Piotrowska – installation, tower
Robert Kuśmirowski, Graduation Tower, outside Laboratory of Culture
Katarzyna Podpora – sound performance
Mattias Cantzler, Baggefalla, interactive installation