Hestia Artistic Journey has been observing and rewarding the most promising creators for years. Each edition of the competition provides an opportunity to discuss the shape, experiences and anxieties of the young artistic generation in broader terms.
Hestia Artistic Journey’s actions are aimed at promoting young Polish artists. The activities include an annual competition for the students of the art universities and faculties across Poland. The initiative framework embraces also an evolving multidimensional art branding project addressed both to the ERGO Hestia employees and wider audience.
Hestia Artistic Journey refers to the competition initiated in 2002 by Piotr M. Śliwicki, the President of ERGO Hestia Group. The activities of the Sopot-based insurance company advocate the concept of art patronage in the business environment. The Foundation manages the competition and they both give young creators an opportunity of being introduced to the Polish and international art world. As a result of all those years, the projects completed include about 30 artistic residencies in New York, Valencia and Vilnius as well as 50 individual and group exhibitions. Parallel to that, a unique collection of nearly 70 works has been established. Their universal character in terms of expression, media and themes raised by young creators offers a wider perspective on the key artistic phenomena in the recent years.
Another aim of the Foundation is to support development of the competition finalists and winners by showing their art to the wider audience in the major cultural centres in Poland and facilitating the purchase of their works by private collections. This purpose is served via the “travelling exhibition” project organised by the Foundation. In other words, thanks to each competition the collection is growing and then travels annually around Polish galleries and museum. In this way, not only do the talented students travel abroad, but the works are also set on their artistic journey. For the viewers, in turn, the interaction with young art becomes “a journey” as well. Undoubtedly, the variety of the exhibited objects, both in terms of the form and the meaning, stands for their greatest value. The works of the APH competition winners and finalists from specific editions are also to be seen during the regular exhibitions organised in the ERGO Hestia Art Pavilion based in Warsaw at Kostrzewskiego.
Hestia Artistic Journey is a competition brought to life in 2002 and built on the idea of Piotr M. Śliwicki, the president of ERGO Hestia Group, an art patron. The activities of the Sopot-based insurance company advocate the concept of art patronage in the business environment. The Foundation operates the competition and they both give young creators an opportunity to become visible to the Polish and international art world. It also serves as a strong motivator for further growth.
Initially, the competition was devoted to the Pomerania region, yet in time it expanded into a nationwide initiative. In the first years, it was organised in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, and since 2009 ERGO Hestia – recently through the Foundation – co-operates with all art schools in Poland operating in Poland. From that moment on also the Museum of modern Art in Warsaw has been playing the role of the project’s strategic partner as the institution providing space for the annual exhibitions of the competition finalists’ works. Although the first editions were limited to painting, the current regulations allow for a broad range of artistic expression: painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video, and performance.
The jury consists of artists, curators and gallery world representatives from different countries. They select two most interesting artistic personalities from among all submissions by students from the fourth and fifth years of studies at the art universities in Poland. In addition, from among the finalists the competition patron chooses one person to deliver a special project. The Special Award by President Piotr M. Śliwicki is a commercial commission for a design and execution of the Annual Report of the ERGO Hestia Group.
The winners gain the opportunity for an artistic residency at renowned centres: the Residency Unlimited in New York, Politechnica di Valencia (in 2008-2017), and currently at the Rupert Centre in Vilnius. The competition finalists and winners are also invited as contributors of exhibitions in the Art Pavilion, the Foundation’s showroom, and numerous exhibitions organised by the Foundation and cultural institutions across Poland.