Poland is the country of focus in an International Contemporary Art Exhibition NordArt 2022. The exhibition of Polish Pavilion is called Beyond Borders and it showcases 26 Polish artists. The title represents the idea of diversity within art with no barriers, a multigenerational crossover, variety of forms and approaches to artistic practice.
NordArt in Kunstwerk Carlshütte is one of the largest contemporary art exhibitions in Europe and since the beginning in 1999 the Principal Curator Wolfgang Gramm has been following the idea that ‘art seeks answers to everything that inspires and touches humanity, while people search for answers and solutions.’ Such a formula inspired and greatly appealed to the sense of collaboration between the NordArt’s curatorial team and Polish Pavilion’s curator – prof. Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz.
The idea of the exhibition relies on the curator’s vision, his informed choices and decisions in dispaying what in his opinion is currently the most interesting in the art scene. The Polish Pavilion showcases artists representing a broad sample of Polish contemporary art. …’. I want to stress it, artists who do not just represent art created in Poland, or within the borders of post war Poland, but also, they represent wider context of Polish art, as we show artists born in Poland and artists born or living since the World War II in many European and non-European countries’ says Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz in a film by ACO PL.
We confront and collide the art created in Poland and art created outside the country. This way we show art beyond borders. This is the motto of the Polish Pavilion, which means ‘art knows no boundaries’…
Beyond Borders exhibition presents Polish artists based in Poland, USA, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine and Lebanon. Just to mention: iconic Magdalena Abakanowicz, who remains an absolute star on the international art scene, Lubomir Tomaszewski (who left Poland after 1965, not being able to accept the authoritarian communist reality) who gained great artistic standing in the USA or Michał Batory, based in France, who stands in the forefront of Polish school of poster design. The exhibition contrasts Natalia LL (who, sadly, died in August), who during the deepest communists period managed or dared to create extremely bold, consumerist art and was a precursor of feminist artwith Agata Zbylut who continues feminist movement in self-portrait photographs. The show features Jan de Weryha Wysoczański’s monumental 3-D structures in wood created in his studio in Hamburg and works of Wojciech Antoni Sobczyński (who left Krakow in 1968 to continue post-graduate art education in London and where he lives until now) whose recent sculptures represent an ongoing exploration of expressive forms through a sensitive choice of unconventional materials. We can see pieces by Wacław Kuczma – whose selection of paintings addresses the world beyond the reality of the physical realm – as well as Janina Myronova’s (Polish – Ukrainian ceramic sculptor) narrative and distorted, almost cartoon-like figures. Another artist, of a wider diaspora, is Carolina Khouri (Polish – Lebanese based in London) whose paintings evoke American abstract expressionism, expertly incorporating minimalist elements and accents. In turn, Robert Bluj’s (from Vilnus) atmospheric style depicting the female body is sound in concept and colour, displaying intimacy, while Michał Jackowski’s marble sculptures explore connections with distant antiquity. There is also Martyna Miller with her intimate video installation, Justyna Kisielewicz (based in Miami, USA), who refers to modern pop culture, consumerism and capitalism in her vibrant figurative paintings, and Tadeusz Rolke (who in 1970-80 lived in Germany) regarded as a leading representative of Polish humanistic photography. These are just a few artists from a much longer list.
The variety of artists selected for the exhibition shouldn’t be a surprise when it comes to the curator of the Polish Pavilion – prof. Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz, specialising in XX century Polish Art Abroad. He is a director of Studies of XX century Polish Art of Central Europe and Polish Emigre Art at the Faculty of Art History and Fine Art at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (PL) as well as Profesor of Polish University Abroad (PUNO) in London. A lecturer, researcher and author, Sienkiewicz published over 50 books about Polish art and artists living abroad. He co-curated an exhibition of Carolina Khouri and Wojciech Antoni Sobczyński RadioCreativity in Contemporary Art Centre (CSW Znaki Czasu) in Toruń, initiating a series of exhibitions Art in Waiting, which are to be continued in the coming years.
Beyond Borders works on multiple levels, confronting and creating a dialogue between artists. It is the first exhibition after the war that foster a fuller image of the diverse worlds of art originating in and out of Poland. Above all, art which is free: not corrupted by the political, economic, social, ethical and gender considerations – unrestricted by orders or prohibitions. The patronage on the Polish Pavilion in NordArt 2022 was granted by Paweł Jaworki, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Hamburg and the partners are ACO Poland and Polish Cultural Institute in Berlin.
Polish Pavilion is a part of NordArt 2022, which presents over 200 artists from all over of the world. The curators, Wolfgang Gramm (Principal Curator) and Inga Aru (Senior Curator), receive more than 3000 applications every year. NordArt provides deep insights into the art scene, presents special and site-specific projects working closely with independent curators, embassies and cultural institutions from various countries. This year’s exhibition includes a special project Intervening Spaces featuring 18 Mongolian artists curated by Oyutuya Oyunjargal and Solongo Tseekhuu (in collaboration with the Embassy of Mongolia in Germany) and new highlights from China called So Far – So Near, providing a cultural bridge celebrating 50 years of Chinese and German diplomatic associations.
NordArt attracts more than 100,000 visitors every summer. It is located in the most inspiring and unique settings of former iron foundry in Büdelsdorf – the first industrial development in 1827 in the Schleswig-Holstein region of North Germany.
It was closed in 1997 and taken over by Hans Julius Ahlmann, Managing Partner of the international company ACO Group. Ever since, Kunstwerk Carlshütte, a non-profit initiative of ACO Group and towns of Büdelsdorf and Rendsburg, serves as a space for exhibitions, concerts, readings, theatre, film screening, and other cultural events. The exhibition spaces include 22.000 sqm of huge aisles of the Carlshütte, the charming historical coach house building, and 80.000 sqm of sculpture park.
From 4th June NordArt 2022 has been running – and coinciding – with the 30th anniversary celebration of ACO Group. The doors are open for the public who is given the chance to contemplate art in this impressive industrial backdrop and green surroundings. It is not only a place for art but also place of art and standards were one can expand and fulfil both an ethical and an aesthetic experience. Here, the Polish Pavilion manifests its value to the world.
NordArt 2022 04.06 – 10.10. 2022
Polish Pavillon: ‘Beyond Borders’ curated by prof. Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz
Artists:
- Abakanowicz Magdalena (PL)
- Aleksandrowicz Maciej (PL)
- Ambroziak Sylwester (PL)
- Batory Michał (PL/Fr)
- Bluj Robert (PL/LT)
- Curyło Julia (PL)
- Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański (PL/D)
- Golec Leszek/Czekalska Tatiana (PL)
- Jackowski Michał (PL)
- Kapusta Janusz (PL/USA)
- Khouri Carolina (PL/LB/GB)
- Kisielewicz Justyna (PL/USA)
- Kopcewicz Tomasz (PL)
- Kozera Grzegorz (PL)
- Krok Sebastian (PL)
- Kuczma Wacław (PL)
- Malinowska Julita (PL)
- Miller Martyna (PL)
- Myronova Janina (PL/UA)
- Natalia LL (PL)
- Patelczyk Łukasz (PL)
- Paweł Wocial & Kamila Tuszyńska (PL)
- Rolke Tadeusz (PL/D)
- Sobczyński Wojciech (PL/GB)
- Tomaszewski Lubomir (PL/USA)
- Zbylut Agata (PL)
www.nordart.de/en/about-the-nordart/information-material
written by Carolina Khouri
Consultancy: prof. Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz and Wojciech Antoni Sobczyński
