Kowalski’s Smithy. Works from the archive of Grzegorz Kowalski’s studio
We are sorry to inform, that the panel discussion related to the KOWALNIA exhibition, planed for 9th of January is postpone for an April 2015. The exact date will be announced on ARS CAMERALIS and our website and fanpage.
The exhibition entitled Kowalnia/Kowalski’s Smithy is the first comprehensive presentation of works that were created at the legendary studio run by Professor Grzegorz Kowalski at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The exhibition will be available for viewing at two venues — the BWA Contemporary Art Gallery will present his students’ works, including their diploma creations, while the ‘Rondo Sztuki’ gallery will show films made by graduates from Kowalski's studio.
Artists participating in the exhibition include:
BWA Gallery — Ada Biedka, Alicja Raczkowska, Anna Molska, Anna Senkara, Artur Żmijewski, Bohdan Ruciński, Ewa-Maria Śmigielska, Grzegorz Matusik, Jacek Adamas, Jacek Markiewicz, Jacek Różański, Jakub Wesołowski, Jane Stoykov, Jędrzej Niestrój, Julia Bui Ngoc, Katarzyna Fabińska, Katarzyna Górna, Katarzyna Kozyra, Łukasz Kosela, Michał Dudek, Monika Zielińska, Paweł Althamer, Paweł Mysera, Grzegorz Olech, Tomasz Kujawski, Wojciech Urbański.
‘Rondo Sztuki’ gallery — Adam Janisch, Anna Senkara, Artur Żmijewski, Cezary Koczwarski, Jacek Malinowski, Jakub Wesołowski, Julia Bui Ngoc, Mai Bui Ngoc, Kacper Nurzyński, Katarzyna Kozyra, Katarzyna Miszczak, Łukasz Kosela, Piotr Wysocki, Dominik Jałowiński, Tomas Rafa.
The exposition at the BWA Gallery is comprised of works from the 1990s — mainly photographs, some remaining objects and the documentation of diploma projects created by the then students of the Faculty of Sculpture. They include a prototype of Katarzyna Kozyra’s Pyramid of Animals/Piramida Zwierząt, Katarzyna Górna’s photographs and a film by Artur Żmijewski’s An Eye for an Eye/Oko za oko. The first video realisation of the task Common Space. Individual Space from 1992/93 is provided with a commentary by Artur Żmijewski. One of the first diploma videos (1995) includes Jędrzej Niestroj making a presentation at a train station platform. Among the displayed works, there are 1990s projects by students who were interested in corporeality, such as photographs by Monika Zielińska (Mamzeta), Jakub Wesołowski and Anna Senkara. Two works that exemplify artists migrating from traditional sculpture to other media are Łukasz Kosela’s classic nudes, which he created in the studio run by Professor Jan Kucz, and which are juxtaposed with a video object — a study of a man in a room. What we can see on the screens are students’ responses to the tasks set in the studio. These videos often present their artistic expressions — Tanagram by Anna Molska (2006) is one of them. Apart from Common Space. Individual Space from, there was another collective task — entitled Next — which was dedicated to sequencing and assumed a form of short video sequences. Subsequent realisations of this task from years 2007—2014 are displayed on one of the screens. Works that were created in 1990s have been contrasted with diploma projects made by a generation of students who graduated after 2010, for example Alicja Raczkowska, Ewa Śmigielska and Ada Biedka. Since 2010, Grzegorz Kowalski’s studio functions as Studio of Audiovisual Space at the Faculty of Media Arts.
‘Rondo Sztuki’ gallery features a selection of students’ videos, as well as their diploma projects, which include, My Blood/Moja Krew by Jakub Wesołowski (2006), Nobleman/Szlachcic by Anna Senkara (2011), Kacper Nurzyński’s thesis work entitled Vibration of the Thirteen/Wibracja trzynastki (2012) and Forcing Function by Adam Janisch (2013). These works provide the context for other videos, which are independent realisations by the Smithy graduates: They/Oni by Artur Żmijewski (2006), Run Free by Piotr Wysocki and Dominik Jałowiński (2011) and Walls of Sport/Sportowe Mury by Tomas Rafa (2012). Observations of people, with their individual lives and attitudes, are the focus of films made by Anna Senkara, Nurzyński and a trailer of Katarzyna Kozyra’s unfinished film Looking for Jesus/Szukając Jezusa (2014). Self-observation is a theme of Cezary Koczwarski’s film I am an artist/Jestem artystą (2013).
Then, there is a group of works that are fantasies turned into a semi-documentary form. Their oldest representative is Half a Woman/Pół kobiety (2006) by Jacek Malinowski, followed by Lucid dream (2009) by the artistic duo Julia and Mai Bui Ngo, and Adam Janisch's diploma feature film based on his original script entitled Forcing Function (2013).
Ewa Maria Śmigielska — curator of the exhibition
Curator: Ewa Maria Śmigielska
Supporting curator: Ada Biedka
Consultation: Professor Grzegorz Kowalski
The exhibition is being held concurrently with the 23rd Festival Ars Cameralis and will be available for viewing in two galleries:
1. Films by graduates working in the studio of Grzegorz Kowalski will be presented in the ‘Rondo Sztuki’ gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice.
2. Works from the archive of Grzegorz Kowalski’s studio will be presented in the BWA Contemporary Art Gallery.
‘Along with his artistic output, Grzegorz Kowalski also rated his achievement in establishing his unique teaching method that he liked to call “education in partnership”. Its principles began to take shape in the early years of his teaching career, when he worked under Professor Jarnuszkiewicz, enriching the programme of his studio with novel artistic practices that were based on cooperation and pursuit of a non-verbal language of communication. From 1980 to 1985 he worked at the Faculty of Design, where he created the fundamentals and carried out the first realisations of his original educational program Common Space. Individual Space (Obszar wspólny. Obszar własny) still continues at the Faculty of Sculpture. In recent years, he has taken up a new cyclical task entitled Next (Następny), whose temporary and sequential nature fits perfectly into the studio of audiovisual space. As early as the 1990s, this new endeavour led to the emergence of a group of his students, which critics labelled Kowalnia/Kowalski’s Smithy, and whose creations have left a permanent mark on recent Polish art, contributing to the achievements of so called ‘critical art’. Graduates of Kowalski’s studio include many artists who have gained wide reknown, such as Paweł Althamer, Katarzyna Kozyra, Jacek Markiewicz (diplomas in 1993), Katarzyna Górna, Jędrzej Niestrój (diplomas in 1994), Mariusz Maciejewski, Artur Żmijewski (diplomas in 1995), Monika Zielińska Mamzeta (diploma in 1996), Anna Konik, Anna Niesterowicz (diplomas in 2000), Czesław Kałużny, Andrzej Kokosza (diplomas in 2003), Ewa Łuczak (diploma in 2006), Cezary Koczwarski, Anna Molska, Piotr Wysocki (diplomas in 2008).’
Maryla Sitkowska
(a fragment of an article published on Culture.pl)
