17.11.2012-13.01.2013

Opening: 6 November 2012, 6:00 p.m.

 

Curators: Agnieszka Rayzacher, Anna Szynwelska

 

The exhibition will feature both Anna Baumgart’s video work from the last few years, including The Sun Conquerors [Zdobywcy słońca], Ecstatic and Hysterics, and Other Saints [Ekstatyczki, histeryczki i inne święte] and Fresh Cherries [Świeże wiśnie], as well as the artist’s early work, with a particular emphasis on her Gdańsk period. This is not by any means a retrospective, but rather an attempt to present important stages in the artist’s work and present them within a conceptual framework.

 

Anna Baumgart is an artist with a special social sensitivity, and who is open to what is left unsaid, repressed and unresolved. She offers a critical reflection on the human condition and society, referring to the issues of historical memory and cultural identity. In this spirit, she created a series of figurative sculptures inspired by photographs in the press, an ephemeral installation in the form of an ellipsis floating in the place of the bridge that once connected the two parts of the Warsaw Ghetto, as well as the video Fresh Cherries, which tackles the topic of forced prostitution in Nazi concentration camps, and sexual violence against women. Despite the diversity of her artistic activities, Anna Baumgart’s work invariably revolves around life in society, how it is experienced and its impact on the individual. The artist is characterized by her remarkable sensitivity to current social and cultural contexts, and her keen sense of Hegel’s Zeitgeist.

 

The opening of the exhibition will be accompanied by a panel discussion with Joerg Heiser (Frieze Magazine), Iwona Kurz (Instytut Kultury Polskiej UW), Kamila Wielebska (Laznia CCA) and Jakub Majmurek (Krytyka Polityczna).