“THINGS. The Object in Polish Photography”
18th edition of the Fotografia Kolekcjonerska
exhibition & auction of Polish masters of photography
Krakow – Warszawa
KRAKOW – KRAKOW PHOTOMONTH FESTIVAL:
Exhibition opening: 19.05.2017 (Friday), 18.00 hours
Exhibition: 19.05–07.06.2017
Venue: Starmach Gallery, ul. Węgierska 5, Krakow
WARSAW:
Exhibition: 10–13.06.2017
Auction: 13.06.2017 (Tuesday), 19.00 hours
Venue: MYSIA 3, ul. Mysia 3, 3rd floor, Warsaw
Organisers: FotografiaKolekcjonerska.pl in collaboration with Artinfo.pl
Partners: Foundation for Visual Arts, Krakow Photomonth Festival, Starmach Gallery, MYSIA 3, Adam Mickiewicz Institute
From classic still lifes to three-dimensional photographic objects. The relationships between reality and photography or an object with its image will be the central theme of the 18th edition of the Fotografia Kolekcjonerska project. As before, we will see artworks by outstanding Polish artists representing different generations, including Zofia Rydet, Zygmunt Rytka, Natalia LL, Bownik, Karolina Breguła. The exhibition will be presented in May and June in two cities – first in Krakow during the Krakow Photomonth Festival, and then in Warsaw, where the show will end with an auction of all the works.
The 18th edition titled “THINGS: The Object in Polish Photography” will feature works representing a variety of approaches to the theme – from documentary photography to conceptual ideas and photographic objects which take the traditionally flat photography into a three-dimensional world, affording it a whole new meaning. An important part of the exhibition will be works reflecting the problem of the materiality of photography. The title of this Fotografia Kolekcjonerska event refers to a portfolio of works by Andrzej Kramarz in which he photographed items sold at one of Krakow’s flea markets. The spontaneously composed frames, one of which will be on display, make up a rich story about man and the human world.
Our spring event will certainly surprise the viewer with the breadth of techniques employed by the artists, the oldest ones of which include cartes de visite – portraits made by a method that highly popularised photography in the 19th century. The visiting cards, which depict distinguished Poles, including Jan Matejko, show how early photographers used props to add character to their portraits.
By nature, many processes yield unique photographic objects. Our exhibition will feature techniques with roots that date back to the 19th century, but are used in a creative way by present-day artists, including a daguerreotype by Jarosław Klupś, a cyanotype by Marek Noniewicz, and a heliograph from the „Green Glory” series by Basia Sokołowska. The collage, a favourite technique of the Dadaists, was employed successfully a century later by Jan Dziaczkowski and Mateusz Szczypiński.
An interesting group will be formed by works in which the artists experiment with the photographic medium. Joanna Zemanek alters her photographs reproduced on canvas with an iron, while Patrycja Orzechowska uses her own technique which she refers to as ‘lunatype.’ Agnieszka Kozłowska’s photographs from the „Carved by Light” cycle are produced directly on a photopolymer panel, forming three-dimensional reliefs.
The exhibition will offer an insight into a variety of spatial forms created by photographic objects, including the masterful „School Trip” by Wojciech Prażmowski, who tells a story dating back to 1934, using a meticulously constructed object. The well known image of Marilyn Monroe in a new interpretation by Krzysztof Cichosz, forms a multilayer lightbox. Meanwhile, Łódź Kaliska presents one of the ceramic tiles they used to create an installation in the lavatory of the Museum of Art in Łódź. Georgia Krawiec’s „Agents” from „The Commission to Monitor More Difficult Matters” series are photographic undercover agents fitted into the space of the gallery and recording anything that is going on in the exhibition room. A special relationship between the reality and photography is formed by the art of Grzegorz Przyborek, who himself constructs the objects he then photographs, creating artwork pairs, such as the featured „Pilgrim”.
Objects are also a central focus of documentary photography. The „Alone with the Carpet” photograph, taken by Anna Beata Bohdziewicz in 1989, comes from the „Photojournal or a Song about the End of the World” series, a long-term documentary record of both the key moments in the history of Poland, and of everyday life. Certainly the ‘automotive stories’ told by Bogdan Łopieński and Chris Niedenthal will be a sentimental surprise for some viewers.
In addition to the works of such classics as Benedykt Jerzy Dorys, Edward Hartwig, and Zofia Rydet, the exhibition will present modern interpretations of the relationship between an object and its representations by young-generation artists. With his picture from the „E-słodowy” series Bownik reconstructs devices made by professional computer gamers, while Witek Orski investigates the relation between the eye, camera, and the surface of the image in his photograph from the „Stones” triptych. In his collage from the recent cycle entitled „The First March of Gentlemen”, Rafał Milach presents a reflection with a political nature meant to activate the public.
The list of artists featured during this edition of Fotografia Kolekcjonerska include: Janusz Bałdyga, Anna Beata Bohdziewicz, Bownik, Karolina Breguła, Krzysztof Cichosz, Benedykt Jerzy Dorys, Monika Drożyńska, Andrzej Dudek-Dürer, Jan Dziaczkowski, Paweł Fabjański, Marek Gardulski, Maurycy Gomulicki, Nicolas Grospierre, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Edward Hartwig, Jarosław Klupś, Michał Korta, Jan Kosidowski, Eustachy Kossakowski, Agnieszka Kozłowska, Andrzej Kramarz, georgia Krawiec, Józef Kuczyński, Kamil Kuskowski, Konrad Kuzyszyn, Andrzej Lachowicz, Jerzy Lewczyński, Natalia LL, Bogdan Łopieński, Łódź Kaliska, Rafał Milach, Chris Niedenthal, Marek Noniewicz, Wacław Nowak, Witek Orski, Patrycja Orzechowska, Marek Piasecki, Paweł Pierściński, Krzysztof Pijarski, Lech Polcyn, Wojciech Prażmowski, Krzysztof Pruszkowski, Grzegorz Przyborek, Józef Robakowski, Witold Romer, Andrzej Różycki, Zofia Rydet, Zygmunt Rytka, Adam Rzepecki, Bronisław Schlabs, Jan Smaga, Mikołaj Smoczyński, Basia Sokołowska, Mateusz Szczypiński, Marek Szyryk, Andrzej Tobis, Zbigniew Tomaszczuk, Jerzy Truszkowski, Jerzy Wardak, Jerzy Wierzbicki, Krzysztof Wojciechowski, Stefan Wojnecki, Stanisław J. Woś, Krzysztof Zarębski, Joanna Zastróżna, Joanna Zemanek, Wiesław Zieliński, Paweł Żak.
SIDE EVENTS – lectures:
26.05.2017, 19.00 hours
„Hot to Collect Photographs”
guest: Gerry Badger
venue: Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow (Main Lecture Theatre), Matejko square 13, Krakow
12.06.2017, 19.00 hours
„EXPOSITIONS VOL. 2. The most important works in the history of Polish photography from public and private collections: Collection of the Museum of Art in Łódź”
guest: Lech Lechowicz
venue: MYSIA 3, ul. Mysia 3, 3rd floor, Warsaw
Fotografia Kolekcjonerska is the only regular auctioning event in Poland dedicated exclusively to photography. Since its first edition in 2007, we have offered collectors a diversity of works by leading Polish artists. Traditionally, the items shown at the pre-auction exhibition will be rare works made with a variety of techniques. The event will be accompanied by a bilingual catalogue with the artists’ bios, photo descriptions and reproductions of all the works.
Curator and coordinator: Katarzyna Sagatowska
Curatorial collaboration: Maga Sokalska
Latest news about the exhibition, auction and side events can be found on http://www.fotografiakolekcjonerska.pl and http://www.artinfo.pl