May 4 – May 23
‘La Villa’ is an exhibition held in the historic premises of Villa Farsetti in Santa Maria di Sala, near Venice. It presents the Poznań art milieu to an Italian audience during the Biennale. The exhibition takes the form of a polyphonic portrait of the local art scene, situated within an international context, and simultaneously constitutes a continuation of the collaboration initiated in 2024 between Venice and Poznań. Its conceptual premises arise from a dialogue initiated by Italian architect Marino Zancanella, whose reflection on the memory of place, urban morphology, and the continuity of the European architectural tradition led to the formulation of the concept of ‘parallel worlds’. The project is grounded in the conviction that Poznań and Venice – despite differing historical and geographical conditions – participate in the same history of forms, ideas, and cultural flows. The relationships between these cities are understood not as instances of simple stylistic similarity, but as evidence of the longue durée of civilisational processes encompassing architecture, craftsmanship, spatial organisation, and the circulation of cultural patterns in Europe. In this sense, art and architecture become instruments for a comparative reading of one city through another.
The project is also situated within a broader reflection on the core–periphery relationship, drawing on the ideas of Fernand Braudel, Immanuel Wallerstein, Giovanni Arrighi, Jan Sowa, Witold Kula, and Piotr Piotrowski, among others. The exhibition demonstrates that cultural influences are not neutral phenomena, but are bound up with historical configurations of economic and political domination. Venice, as a former centre of capital accumulation and cultural prestige, here becomes an important point of reference for considering how models produced in core regions were implemented in the peripheries and semi-peripheries of Europe, including Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, the project does not stop at exploring dependency, but points to the possibility of creative assimilation, reinterpretation, and transformation of borrowed forms into new qualities with universal potential. From this perspective, ‘La Villa’ is not merely an international presentation of Poznań artists, but an attempt to construct a platform for dialogue between locality and a shared European imaginary. The project proposes an understanding of culture as a network of historical relations – migrations of ideas, artists, architectural forms, and educational models. It rejects the vision of a uniform, hierarchical Europe in favour of one understood as a space co-created through difference, asymmetry, and mutual reference.
An important element of the exhibition’s concept is the transformation of classical academic values. Here, academicism is not treated as a closed set of stylistic rules, but as a historical language for organising visual expression, open to reinterpretation. Traditional categories – such as landscape, portrait, still life, the nude, as well as historical, religious, and mythological subjects – are re-read in light of contemporary social, political, and cultural issues. Landscape becomes a record of tensions between humanity, nature, and urbanisation; portrait serves as a field for reflection on identity, visibility, and corporeality; still life offers a commentary on materiality, consumption, and the crisis of late capitalism; and mythology functions as a tool for analysing contemporary symbolic systems, national myths, and media narratives. The exhibition foregrounds the specificity of the Central and Eastern European experience, indicating that local history – including the experience of the communist state and the associated forms of cultural assimilation – may serve as a source of values extending beyond locality. The working-through of these experiences is not intended to construct a closed identity or to reject external influences outright, but to create a horizontal model of culture, grounded in the conscious transformation of heritage and its incorporation into processes of socialisation. In this sense, art emerges as a practice co-responsible for shaping social relations, consciousness, and more democratic forms of community.
Maciej Kurak, Mateusz Bieczyński
Artists: Adamczyk Mirosław, Andrzejczak Maciej, Bajon Radosław, Balcerowiak Krzysztof, Banachowicz Andrzej, Bartel Robert, Barłóg Piotr, Basałygo Maciej, Bałdyga Janusz, Berdyszak Marcin, Bobrowski Andrzej, Bogucki Jarosław, Bosacki Piotr, Brandt Natalia, Brennenstuhl-Bludnik Marta, Brodacka Natalia, Brzezińska Natalia, Brzoska Sławomir, Buczyńska Paulina, Bukowski Tomasz, Chojnacki Piotr, Chorążyczewska Sławomira, Chudy Marta, Cieśla-Jarzębowska Emilia, Cieślak Bohdan, Czarcińska Natalia, Czerniak-Chojnacka Dominika, Czerniawska Małgorzata, Decyk Sławomir, Ficner Stefan, Filipiak Michał, Flieger Paweł, Garstkiewicz Jakub, Gazda Małgorzata, Gillert Adam, Goebel Anna, Gorączniak Wojciech, Grenda Magdalena, Gruszczyński Łukasz, Grzeszczuk Karolina, Gustowska Izabella, Górczyński Rafał, Haładuda Marek, Hejnowicz Jerzy, Hoffmann Wojciech, Imielska Joanna, Jagielski Jacek, Jakubowicz Rafał, Jakuszewski Marek, Janicki Wojciech, Janik Mateusz, Januszek Dorota, Jeziorecka Alicja, Jonkajtis Dorota, Jurczak – Łowkis Ada, Jurek Tomasz, Kalitko Tomasz, Kamiński Piotr, Kasprzak Magdalena, Kaszczyński Paweł, Keczmerski Grzegorz, Kiełpiński Paweł, Klich Katarzyna, Kliśko-Walczak Natalia, Klupś Jarosław, Kobierzyńska Kamila, Komasa Karolina, Konik Anna, Korona Monika, Koronowski Wiesław, Kotwis Rafał, Kozłowski Maciej, Kołacka Anna, Krzywak Sebastian, Królikowska Julia, Kubiak Ewa, Kubik Karolina, Kujawska-Murphy Katarzyna, Kulczyk Agata, Kulesza Ewa, Kurak Maciej, Kurka Piotr, Kuszczak Sławomir, Kuzyszyn Konrad, Kuźma Dariusz, Kuźniarska Dorota, Kędziora Anna, Laskowska Katarzyna, Leciejewska Joanna, Lejman Dominik, Leśnik Andrzej, Lorenc Marcin, Ludek Kinga, Lukaszczyk Kamila, Macha Piotr, Machowiak Piotr, Magee Paul, Malinowski Jakub, Marciniak Janusz, Marcinkowska Joanna, Margański Miłosz, Markowski Marcin, Marzol Piotr, Matuszewski Tomasz, Mazur Maryna, Meller-Kawa Agnieszka, Mikoda Igor, Mikołajczak Patrycja, Modrzejewski Witold, Molenda Krzysztof, Mróz-Pacholczyk Ewa, Muszyński Jerzy, Mętel Krzysztof, Napierała Paweł, Napierała Wiesław, Niemczuk Paulina, Norkowski Jerzy, Nowaczyk Adam, Nowak Agata, Nowicki Grzegorz, Ofierski Kornel, Oleksa Janusz, Osięgłowski Tomasz, Oskar Dawicki, Ostrowski Diuna, Pachliński Ireneusz, Pająk Martyna, Paruch-Piotrowska Małgorzata, Pawlak Bartłomiej, Pepłoński Andrzej, Pich Monika, Pilch Barbara, Piwiński Tomasz, Podgórska-Glonti Katarzyna, Poliński Mikołaj, Polus Paweł, Popiela Kinga, Prewencki Paweł, Przybylski Maciej, Radawski Maksymilian, Radziejewski Marcin, Radziszewski Aleksander, Radzivillovič Vladislav, Ratajczyk Grzegorz, Regimowicz Natalia, Regimowicz-Korytowska Anna, Regulski Miron, Ryszczyński Tomasz, Shaded Monika, Sipiński Stanisław, Skorwider Eugeniusz, Skorwider Maksymilian, Smela Konrad, Sowisło-Przybył Agnieszka, Spychaj Łukasz, Stankowski Mikołaj, Starska Magdalena, Stawarski Łukasz, Stańko-Jurczyńska Barbara, Stefaniak Weronika, Strzelecki Jacek, Syska Andrzej, Szafrański Dawid, Szelest Jarosław, Szerstobitow Zachar, Szot Zbigniew, Szurek Piotr, Szwiec Piotr, Szymankiewicz Szymon, Tarasewicz Izabela, Tarnowska-Urbanik Dorota, Taszycki Zbigniew, Tatarkiewicz Michał, Tańska Lidia, Tomczak Daria, Trzoska Sebastian, Tylka-Tomczyk Karolina, Tyll Oriana, Tężycki Wojciech, Wegner Natalia, Wielopolski Michał, Wierzbicki-Nowak Filip, Winterhagen Marc Tobias, Wojcieszek Lidia, Wolińska Marzena, Wolna Maja, Wołyński Piotr, Wronecka Weronika, Wróblewski Mateusz, Wyszyńska Marta, Węcławska-Lipowicz Marta, Włodarski Radosław, Zadłużny Marek, Zieliński Igor, Zwoliński Szymon, Ćwiek Maciej, Łubowski Rafał, Świtalska Rozalia