Curators: Agnieszka Kulazińska, Aleksandra Księżopolska

Music Curator: Przemysław Wojciechowski

 

Detailed program of the Festival www.wilnowgdansku.pl

 

We would like you to invite you for a yet another edition of the Vilnius in Gdansk Festival. This year we focus on the Polish-Lithuanian dialog, as both of the countries are related through the history the traces of which can be felt in the present times. Gdansk and Vilnius, two cities, seem to be particularly close. Numerous expatriates from Vilnius reached a ruined Gdansk, leaving behind the house, the furniture and keepsakes, bringing just a few basic things and a luggage full of memories. At this year’s Festival we analyze the issue of house, objects, tastes and smells that make it to a home. On the basis of an image of a “safe” private space, we wish to establish a dialog with the contemporary Vilnius.

 

Exhibition  'homeMADE. Constructing surrogate worlds'

5 SEPTEMBER - 20 OCTOBER 2013

ul. Jaskółcza 1, GDAŃSK - DOLNE MIASTO

 

OPENING: September 5, 2013, hour: 7 p.m.

 

Artists: Alicja Bielawska, Nicolas Grospierre, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Przemysław Jasielski, Alicja Karska and Aleksandra Went, Szymon Rogiński, Rimas Sakalauskas, Julijonas Urbonas, Lina Zaveckyte

 

'homeMADE” exhibition is a visual narration of the private, the closest space and the object present therein. Space is an equivocal concept that depends on the perspective from which it is considered. Mathematics interprets it as an area of abstract relations and actions, physical space is tangible and related with the properties of the matter, social space in turn is created by behavior, interpersonal relations and material creations of human actions. What is determined by the home area? What guarantees safety?

The artists invited to exhibit relate to everyday life, to obvious worlds that is the space of their own body, the closest surroundings and feelings. From the “close” elements they create and arabesque, a visual pun detached from the original. With the parts of a room, a body, a city, a landscape and emotions they create new beings where the starting point disappears. The narration of 'homeMADE' exhibition will be a story of unreal space that occurs to be a search of a remedy for the surrounding reality.

 

 Aneta Grzeszykowska, Bolimorfia

 

Aneta Grzeszykowska, in her video 'Bolimorfia', has treated her own body as an ornament, the physicality is gradually blurring to create a kaleidoscopic mosaic. The rhythm of metamorphoses is determined by the music, the soundtrack was created through overlaying of 'Polimorphy' by Krzysztof Penderecki on the classic 'Bolero' by Maurice Ravel. The video evokes a new reality where the body has been reduced to a role of a mechanism.

The photographs by Szymon Rogiński from 'Black/Czarny' series evade the viewer. Known parts of the native landscape are blurring. The reality is heading for abstraction, the protagonist of the photographs has become the eponymous black. The visible describes what is difficult to notice with the naked eye. Black is a color of the Space. This color is not a tint, but the absence of the visible world.

 

 Alicja Karska i Aleksandra Went, Młyniska, still from the video

 

'Młyniska' by Alicja Karska and Aleksandra Went has been created on the premises of the 18th century Młyniska Court in Gdansk. The character of space blurs in the video – the artists juxtapose the two coexisting realities – the space of a classic revival style court and the industrial architecture surrounding it. The entirety brings a pastoral image of an idyllic Arcadia. The distinctness of the two worlds, despite their visual closeness, disrupts a feeling of harmony, though.

 

  Alicja Bielawska 

 

The objects and the drawings by Alicja Bielawska introduce to a surreal and poetic world. They recall the People's Republic of Poland’s archeology of the 80s such as wall units and wooden wainscoting. My works refer to the daily necessities, they play with their purpose and the viewers’ expectations. (…) I like to perceive my works as objects, not as sculptures – the artist affirms.” Alicja Bielawska uses objects and materials present in everyday life that are associated with the home space. Arranging them, she discovers, usually unnoticed situations, playing with the memory and the expectations of the audience. 

A video by Rimasa Sakalauskasa, entitled 'Synchronization', has been a result of fascination of the post-Soviet industrial architecture. Monumental buildings in the work of the Lithuanian artist begin to live their own life. Use of a static camera limits the author’s interference, it allows the reality to “speak.” Therefore it reveals the internal logic of the observed objects.

 

 Nicolas Grospierre, Hydroklinika

 

A relic of the post-Soviet architecture appears also in 'Hydroclinic' by Nicolas Grospierre. In his series of photographs the artist systematically catalogs the space of a closed hospital facility in Druskininkai. The architecture does not reveal its function, the impassive lens shows the viewer around the abandoned buildings letting the vacuity speak.

 

 Lina Zaveckyte, Koncentracja

 

The work by Lina Zaveckyte leads the viewer almost to a state of infatuation. The artist recognizes the emotions by feeling the warmth in the middle of the palm. The object entitled 'Concentration' is an attempt to share this state with the audience.

'Home Earthquake Generator' by Julijonas Urbonas is a proposal of a new home design – a door bell connected with an earthquake generator. This work is a homemade object, typical of this artist, which connects the art with an amusement park.

 

 Przemysław Jasielski, Plantation

 

'Plantation' by Przemysław Jasielski is an object that provides the best possible conditions for home potted plants. The artist creates the space of ideal and utopia for the living organic forms. It is based on the principle of a contrast of the world dominated by technology and the natural habitat. 

The artists invited to the 'homeMADE' exhibition comment the contemporary surroundings and encourage to look through the window, beyond the horizon of everyday life. They meticulously observe the reality, constructing the models of micro-worlds on their own. Their homemade objects and spaces introduce us to a distinct reality that is different from a tiring everyday routine.

 

The final of VNO/GDN Project

An architectural and culinary installation created along with a group of members and sympathizers of the Association of Supporters of Vilnius and the Vilnius Land.

 

Architectural workshops

Kaja Pobereżny, Michał Podgórczyk, Bogna Olejarz

The basis for the creation of the architectural installation was a workshop with expatriates from Vilnius in the course of which the participants analyzed the images remembered from the childhood and early adolescence in Vilnius related with the private space and home. A group of architects applied them to create an installation which is a resultant of memories and the present Vilnius. The private space has been composed anew, perhaps a different view on Vilnius allow an unusual disenchantment of the place. In the same time, the installation will offer an opportunity to present the expatriates’ history which is also a part of the story of Gdansk.

 

Culinary workshops

August 30 – September 5, 2013

Małgorzata Meller

The workshops will refer to a tradition of meeting at the table, which is still present in the memories of the expatriates from Vilnius. At a reception during the project’s private view food prepared on the basis traditional recipes from Vilnius will be served. It will be an occasion to reminiscent culinary traditions, share recipes from Vilnius and create a homey atmosphere.

Project cooperation: Bożena Kisiel, members of the Association of Supporters of Vilnius and the Vilnius Land, Municipal Family Support Center in Gdansk 

The exhibitions will last until October 13

 

September 7, 2013, hours 7 p.m. 

Julijonas Urbonas, Walking on the Wall: introduction to the theory of design and choreography - lecture/performance /carousel

The wall of Club and Gallery BUNKIER, ul. Olejarna 3

 

The performance is a part of project 'Close Stranger' co-financed by the European Union in the framework of the Lithuania-Poland-Russia European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument Cross-border Cooperation Program 2007-2013.

 

 

Julijonas Urbonas, 'Walking on the Wall: introduction to the theory of design and choreography', 6 October 2012, National Galeriy of Art, Wilnius, Lituania. photo: Aistė Valiūtė & Daumantas Plechavičius

 

Julijonas Urbonas is a designer, an artist and an engineer. Currently, he has been writing a Ph.D. thesis about interaction design at the London’s Royal College of Art. The concept of his creative activity derives from a funfair. The artist has helped at an amusement park since he was a child. In the years 2004-2007 he was a Director of a Funfair in Klaipeda where he worked as a designer and engineer as well as an artist and philosopher developing the theory of gravitational esthetics.

Walking on the Wall is a combination of a lecture and a carousel. The performance is a reconstruction of a work by an American pioneer of the modern dance, Trisha Brown. In her choreography the artist used the space of a wall by means of climbing equipment. Through this project she has not only created a new alphabet and opened a new space for the movement, but she has also shown that the inventions in the contemporary dance frequently derive from the conditionings and the surroundings. In the case of the choreography on the wall, it was a combination of architecture, harnesses, wires and cable pulleys. This approach is similar to the works of the Lithuanian artist who is interest in creation of choreography through design. Contrary to the original, Julijonas Urbonas invites the audience to participate in his project.

 

September 6, 2013, hour: 9 p.m.

New Legends of Gdansk – View with live music

Exhibition of a work created during the literary, visual and music workshops.

Literary workshops: Barbara Piórkowska

Worhshops of the Psylikonowy Theater: Aukse Petruliene, Darius Petrulis – movie documentation and edition 

Music workshops: Tomas Dobrovolskis, Marcin Malinowski

Pionova Gallery, ul. Olejarna 2, Gdansk 

 

'New Legends of Gdansk' is a project performer in cooperation with z Łaźnia CCA, the Association of Supporters of Vilnius and the Vilnius Land and the 2nd Elementary and Secondary Community School Complex “STO” in Gdansk. The project is a continuation of previous activities aimed to create a Polish-Lithuanian dialog. The following Polish and Lithuanian artists have been invited to the project: Aukse Petruliene, Barbara Piórkowska, Tomas Dobrovolskis, Marcin Malinowski. The workshops for youth have been divided in a few stages. First, the participants, along with Barbara Piórkowska, have created a new legend of Gdansk. Work with Aukse Petruliene have had an unusual visual form. The Lithuanian artist has familiarized the youth with a technique elaborated by herself that is that of the Psilikonowy Theater. In the last stage of the project of 'New Legends of Gdansk', music workshops with Tomas Dobrovolskis and Marcin Malinowski, the participants will work on a piece that they will perform live.

The result of their work will be presented at the Vilnius Festival in Gdansk. 

 

Project Coordinators from Łaźnia CCA: Agnieszka Kulazińska, Aleksandra Księżopolska, Jowita Buraczewska

Project Coordinator from TMWiZW: Bożena Kisiel 

Teachers in charge of coordination on behalf of the 2nd Elementary and Secondary Community School Complex “STO” in Gdansk – Anna Warzecha, Emilia Karolewicz-Senczyszyn

 

Gdansk in Vilnius

Exhibition of Katarzyna Józefowicz.

Opening: September 13, 2013, hour: 7 p.m.

The exhibition will last until October 10

Modern Art Center, Literatų g. 8, LT-01125 Vilnius

 

 Katarzyna Józefowicz, 'Tablecloth'

 

Katarzyna Józefowicz is a sculptor and an installation artist. In the years 1981-1986 she studied at the Faculty of Sculpture at the State School of Fine Arts in Gdansk, where currently (Academy of Fine Arts) she is a teaching employee. She has presented her works at individual exhibitions, among others in F.O.S. Gallery in Gdansk (1993), in Koło Gallery in Gdansk, in Foksal Gallery and in Provintional Gallery in Słubice (2000). The exhibitions in Foksal Gallery in 2000 and participation in the Berlin Biennale in 2001 brought her fame. In the same year she was awarded a Polityka’s Passport – a prestigious award presented in different categories, including visual arts, for going beyond the limits. 

Katarzyna Józefowicz defines herself as a slave of constructing. Such a statement is not surprising, if we look closer at her works. Media are the material and the subject of her works. She uses straps, single words and personalities to weave spider webs, carpets and tablecloths. Preparation of an object needs time and long hours of strenuous work. The object creation process evokes typically female activities, as well as drawing of mandalas. The number of information provided by the media is increasing every day, the works of the artist are becoming an image of the contemporary universe, a global, media village.

The objects of the artist consist of numerous repetitive elements. 'Carpet' has been created from thousands of human silhouettes cut out from newspapers – famous people mix with the anonymous ones there. It is difficult to define a single basic element in some installations of the artist. Here the function of the woven object comes to the front. 'Tablecloth' has been created from the straps cut out of newspapers, specific words compose an incomprehensible rebus. The noise is becoming babble. What remains? The work invites to meet together at a table and to enjoy the silence. Józefowicz like the mythic Ariadne shows the exit from the maze. The Homemade objects of the artist are a comment to the contemporary reality – a nameless crowd, the Warholian 15 minutes of fame, a philosophic reflection on fragility, and the passing of time.

 

 

'Vilnius in Gdansk' opens a space for dialog, meetings between generations, stereotypes, styles and musical instruments, where the tradition adjoins the modernity. We invite to the projects the artists from the entire Poland and Lithuania. The most important music events include, above all the project 'Free Culture Gdansk-Vilnius', consisting in combination of numerous genres, musicians, concepts to bring them all together. This year we have invited to cooperation great Polish and Lithuanian musicians. They include: Grażyna Auguścik, Weronika Grozdew–Kołacińską, Jarosław Bester, Olgierd Walicki, Michał Jelonek, Joszko Broda, Tomasz Ziętek, Jakub Staruszkiewicz, and the Trys Keturiose Choir from Lithuanian and the String Orchestra from Vilnius Kristoforo consisting of 21 musicians. 34 artists will spend together 5 days working creatively, exchanging ideas and jointly arranging musical compositions. The results of the project will be two concerts: in Gdansk (The Coastal Theater, September 8, 2013) and in Vilnius (St. Catherine's Church, September 15, 2013 ). The concerts sell out every year. The last year’s project has been summarized by a concert album. The Festival is also an occasion to present recording releases concerning the common projects of Polish and Lithuanian artists. This year an album by a band from Gdansk – Meadow Quartet with a special guest – a multi-instrumentalist Tomas Dobrovolskis from Vilnius (September 7, 2013 – outdoor stage) deserves particular attention. The band have been awarded at Polish Radio Festival “New Tradition.”

A detailed program of the music events is available on www.wilnowgdansku.pl