Journey through new Polish art

Unlike much of the rest of Europe, Poland is undergoing intensive development and even its art scene is booming.

Twenty years since the 1989 turning point when the Berlin Wall and the communist regime fell, the country's destiny has changed and the reputation of Polish artists has become international. From Miroslaw Balka to Pawel Althamer, from Wilhelm Sasnal to Zofia Kulik, from Katarzyna Kozyra to Robert Kusmirowski and Tomek Kowalski—to name only a few of the most famous—Polish artists are now internationally regarded as some of the most significant personalities on the scene, now attaining some of the highest awards. And they are driving a whole generation of younger artists.

The country is exploding.

In contrast to much of Europe, Poland is going through a period of great development. Foreign investment is important. The country's strong commitment to improving infrastructure has enjoyed European Community funding for public works, making excellent use of it. As part of this expansion, the creation of an extraordinary number of museums and art centers was also initiated.

Roee Rosen, <i>Justine Frank: Frank's Guild, 1933,</i> 2002. — Roee Rosen, *Justine Frank: Frank's Guild, 1933,* 2002.

In fact, the country has placed contemporary culture at the heart of its renewal. It is a deeply felt and widely shared choice. And while the rediscovery of the figures of the country's recent art history and cultural tradition is underway—Poland has always been home to important schools of applied arts, graphics, film and design—the art of the present is also obtaining extraordinary support.

Among the museums that are already active, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw is a special case. Awaiting a permanent location in the heart of the city, its dynamic director, Joanna Mytkowska, has activated an important program in its temporary headquarters located in a modernist building that once housed a furniture store. The Museum of Modern Art is now an international reference point in Poland. The design for the new building by Swiss architect Christian Kerez initially sparked controversy due to its inconspicuous architectural character and to the fact that it did not conform to today's prevailing museum marketing dictates. But, having overcome the obstacles, the building is about to be started and will hopefully open in 2016. The museum will have an area of 35,000 square meters, part of which will be used for a collection that was initiated in recent years with the acquisition of works by artists like Magdalena Abakanowicz, Artur Zmijewski, Katarzyna Kozyra, Marek Sobzyk and Andrzej Wroblewski, Zbigniew Libera whose name will be borne on the archive dedicated to alternative Polish production from the 1980s.

The new building for MOCAK designed by Italian architect Guido Nardi opened in Krakow in May.

In a logic of interdisciplinary attention to contemporary expression, the museum will also host the TR Warszawa Theater. The total cost of the project is approximately €70 million.

Meanwhile, again in Warsaw, the activities of the Zacheta National Gallery continue with high-level exhibitions. The gallery, with its historical collection and as head of the Polish pavilion at the Venice Biennale, has always played a central role in supporting contemporary art.

Until recently, Warsaw was almost the exclusive reference for contemporary art. But today, an insightful and ambitious cultural policy is establishing a true system of art centers and museums across the entire nation.

Beachers, <i>Photomonth,</i> Krakow, 2011. — Beachers, *Photomonth,* Krakow, 2011.

Also active is the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, a broad-based multidisciplinary space in a castle in a park, founded just after the 1989 turning point. Under Fabio Cavallucci's new direction, CSW is undergoing internal reform. Among others, wonderful exhibitions of Miroslav Balka and Roee Rosen have been staged recently. And while new galleries are created, such established institutions as the Foksal Gallery, Foksal Gallery Foundation and Raster continue to make their contribution to the vitality of the Warsaw scene.

Until recently, Warsaw was almost the exclusive reference for contemporary art. But today, an insightful and ambitious cultural policy is establishing a true system of art centers and museums across the entire nation.

First of all, Krakow, the traditionalist and conservative bustling capital city, is being transformed into vibrant cultural hub, a destination for young people from all over the country. The presence of the university contributes to the positive and dynamic atmosphere that has been animating the city in recent years.

For some time, the city has been home to various festivals the most important of which is Photomonth. Conceived and organized by a group of people born in the 1980s, Photomonth has received new impetus in recent editions and is internationally recognized today for its high quality. This year's edition, entitled Alias, was highly experimental.

Miroslaw Balka, FRAGMENT. <i>Winterreise / The Pond</i> 2003, MB + Gladstone Gallery, New York [left]. <i>Winterreise Bambi,</i> 2003, © MB + Gladstone Gallery, New York [right]. — Miroslaw Balka, FRAGMENT. *Winterreise / The Pond* 2003, MB + Gladstone Gallery, New York [left]. *Winterreise Bambi,* 2003, © MB + Gladstone Gallery, New York [right].

Dozens of exhibitions distributed throughout the city and the introductory exhibition housed in the brutalist building by Bunkier Sztuki (Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Modern Art) focused on the concept of the heteronym. Alias investigated possible strategies relating to the creation of fictional characters starting with Marcel Duchamp and Rrose Selavy; and, with the commission of up to 44 works, it encouraged the creation of new ones. The project curators, Broomberg and Chanarin, invited artists and writers to work in pairs to create new, imaginary but plausible figures with characters, backgrounds, their own languages: a liberating process from the psychological and political point of view and a respite from what the curators called " the tiring job of being oneself."

This year, the inauguration of Photomonth coincided with an extraordinary event, the inauguration of the new museum of contemporary art, MOCAK.

Dora Fobert, <i>Photomonth,</i> Krakow, 2011. — Dora Fobert, *Photomonth,* Krakow, 2011.

Its address is Ulica Lipowa 4 in the industrial district of Podgorze in the southern part of Krakow. The area is a former textile factory, transformed during the Third Reich into Oskar Schindler's glazed pottery factory, the Fabryka Emalia Oskara Schindlera, or DEF, Deutsche Emaillewaren Fabrik. Nationalized by the Communist government after the war, it remained empty for several decades, a huge wreck witnessing the many reversals of modern Polish history. The decision to transform it into a museum of contemporary art involved the country in a tense debate. The persistence of museum director Mary Anna Potocka contributed extensively to overcoming various obstacles. MOCAK, 8,000 sqm of new museum space designed by Italian architect Claudio Nardi, is located partly on site in the old factory structures. The industrial past is evoked by the shed roof, and the sign of history is the factory's original wall which, protected on the outside by a transparent glass wall and physically accessible from inside the building, becomes the museum's facade. It is astonishing how much emotion can be stirred by touching these bricks eroded by time so that one wonders if the architects should not have focused more on the pre-existing elements in other parts of the building as well.

Leina N, <i>Photomonth,</i> Krakow, 2011. — Leina N, *Photomonth,* Krakow, 2011.

The inaugural exhibition, entitled History in Art, took into account the strong meaning of this place, bringing together 44 international and Polish artists to face the deepest traumas of the past and the most complex nodes of Poland's present. The theme was essential for this first exhibition. In Poland, even today, almost anything can be associated with past tragedies. In this case, then, not only is the site of the museum itself so deeply tied to the Holocaust, but just across from MOCAK, on the other side of the former Schindler factory, is the Museum of Memory.

The exhibition shows sensitivity to the collective past and a strong sense of moral responsibility. It articulates well to what extent artists are trying to penetrate historical mechanisms. Inevitably, among the other themes, the Shoah emerges. MOCAK also exhibits part of the collections that the director is planning to expand in coming years. The program for the future of the museum includes a series of exhibitions with a strong educational bent; one of the first will be devoted to the relationship between art and sports. Details have not yet been disclosed concerning the rest of the museum's program.

Meanwhile, in the face of the officialdom of this institution, numerous other institutions flower in Krakow. They range from small but very interesting galleries to alternative initiatives such as exhibitions organized in apartments and more experimental concerts held in outdoor bars in less central areas to other festivals where neophytes and emerging artists can find space. One examples is the festival of public art Artboom, already in its third edition. In a city overrun by tourism, Artboom takes on a double meaning. On the one hand it is like a friendly wink, and on the other it is an attempt at "urban re-appropriation."

Lester Morrison, <i>Photomonth,</i> Krakow, 2011. — Lester Morrison, *Photomonth,* Krakow, 2011.

Major cities aside, the rest of Poland is certainly not sitting back and looking on. Several new contemporary art centers have opened in recent years. In 2008, for example, one opened in Radom, and another, COCA—Centre of Contemporary Art, opened in beautiful Torun. Directed for about a year by Dobrila Denegri, Coca's distinction lies in its long, although fluctuating, history dating back to 1939. It was the first center in Poland built specifically to accommodate art and other contemporary expressions. The reactivation of Coca occurred under the Sign of Times program launched by the Ministry of Culture and was made possible by funding from national and European sources.

Yet another space, the SOKOL Gallery for Contemporary Art, was recently activated in Nowy Sacz; its program promises to be interesting and international.

Even in Lodz which, in this sense, has an important history with the Muzeum Sztuki and its director, Ryszard Stanislawski, a new Museum of Art opened with great fanfare. And the city of Wroclaw is preparing to build a museum of modern art.

In short, while the six-month Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union has just begun, the country is full of hope. And we hope that the Polish wind is contagious.
Gabi Scardi

Journey through new Polish art

Unlike much of the rest of Europe, Poland is undergoing intensive development and even its art scene is booming.

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