Two major exhibitions of Polish contemporary art will open in Germany in early November 2024. On 6 November, “Change To Come” – a comprehensive exposition devoted to engagement in Polish art over the past 80 years, will open at one of Germany’s oldest and largest art institutions: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. On 8 November, the vernissage of the first international exhibition devoted to the pioneer of Polish feminist art, Maria Pinińska-Bereś, will be held at the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig. Also in Leipzig, on 7 November, the theatre play “Mothers. A Song for Wartime”, directed by Marta Górnicka, which has won hearts of international audiences and is now completing its international tour, will be presented as part of the euro-scene theatre festival. The Adam Mickiewicz Institute is pleased to invite you to these events!

“Change To Come” – a comprehensive exhibition in Dresden devoted to engagement in Polish art

 “Change To Come”, curated by Magdalena Komornicka, is the first such extensive exhibition devoted to engagement in Polish art organised in Germany. The concept for the exhibition was created in 2023 upon invitation by Marion Ackermann, General Director of the SKD, and is a result of cooperation between Hanna Wróblewska and Magdalena Komornicka – the curator. Presented in the historic space of Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, the exhibition will tell the story of the phenomenon of engagement and the need for social, political and artistic change in Polish art over the past decades. It will feature the works of more than thirty male and female artists, living and working in Poland and in the Diaspora, which have been created over the past 80 years. At the exhibition, well-known Polish artists such as Andrzej Wróblewski, Marian Bogusz and Maria Jarema will be presented alongside contemporary male and female artists, including artists active during the Martial Law and the Solidarity movement, such as Marek Sobczyk and Włodzimierz Pawlak, as well as “provocateurs” of critical art from the 1990s, such as Katarzyna Kozyra. There will also be those who in their works use irony and sharp sense of humour, such as Oskar Dawicki and members of the Ładnie Group, which functioned in the early 2000s: Wilhelm Sasnal, Marcin Maciejowski, and Rafał Bujnowski. The exhibition will also provide an opportunity to explore the performative and activist practices of a younger generation of male and female artists living or working in Poland, including, among others, Mikolaj Sobczak, Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, Ala Savashevich, Joanna Piotrowska, Veronika Zalewska, Yulia Krivich, Marta Romankiv or the anonymous “Przybyszki” collective.

Exhibition poster: Zofka Kofta, based on the work of Joanna Piotrowska, Untitled (Self-Defense), 2014,
gelatin silver print, courtesy of the artist and Phillida Reid Gallery, London.

The exhibition “Change To Come” will also enter the urban space - an installation by Marek Sobczyk will be erected between the Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau building and the Albertinum on Georg Treu Square. This is a new version of the already iconic “Straight Rainbow”, which may be remembered by the public as standing in front of the Zachęta National Gallery of Art building in Warsaw, for several years animating the space of the Małachowski Square. The exposition will be accompanied by a performative programme.

Exhibition “Change To Come”

• Venue: kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden;
• Vernissage: 6.11.2024, 6:30 pm.;
• duration of exhibition: 7.11.2024–16.03.2025;
• Curator: Magdalena Komornicka;
• Curatorial cooperation on the part of Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden: Maria Isserlis;
• Partners: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation;
• For more information, please visit the website of Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau.

“Mothers. A Song for Wartime” - theatre play for the euro-scene Leipzig festival, which has touched hearts of international audiences

“Mothers. A Song for Wartime” is an international co-production directed by Marta Górnicka, which premiered at the Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw in 2023. The choral performance was created based on the testimonies of Ukrainian and Belarusian mothers and children who fled the war and persecution, as well as Polish women who opened the doors to their homes to them. It is a story about the situation of women during the war, the rituals of wartime violence against women and civilians, the defence mechanisms and the sense of responsibility. The play will feature The Chorus of Women – an ensemble formed by 21 female artists from Poland, Ukraine and Belarus, aged between 9 and 71. Some of them come from Kyiv, Sumy, Irpin, or Kherson, and are refugees, witnesses and victims of violence in the war in Ukraine instigated by Russia. Ukrainian counting rhymes, traditional songs, incantations and political statements are mixed together. The performance opens with Shchedrivka (Ukrainian: щедрівка), a traditional Ukrainian song supposed to bring good luck and rebirth.

photo: Bartek Warzecha

As part of an international tour, the play was performed across Europe including the prestigious Avignon Festival, where it won over the audience who rewarded the creators with a standing ovation lasting more than a quarter of an hour. The euro-scene festival in Leipzig on 7 November 2024 will be the last stop on the international tour. The play will then be performed later this year at the Powszechny Theatre and at the Divine Comedy Festival in Cracow.

Performance of “Mothers. A Song for Wartime” in Leipzig

• Venue: Euro-scene festival in Leipzig;
• Date: 7.11.2024;
• Concept and direction: Marta Górnicka;
• Cast: Liza Kozlova, Palina Dabravoĺskaja, Svitlana Onischak, Kateryna Taran, Svitlana Berestovskaya, Valeriia Obodianskaya, Sasha Cherkas, Mariia Tabachuk, Yuliia Ridna, Natalia Mazur, Aleksandra Sroka, Katarzyna Yajnicka, Bohdana Zazhytska, Anastasiia Kulinich, Hanna Mykhailova, Katerina Aleinikova, Elena Zui-Voitekhovskaya, Kamila Michalska, Maria Robaszkiewicz, Polina Shkliar, Ewa Konstanciak;
• For more information, please visit the website of euro-scene Leipzig.

The work of Maria Pinińska-Bereś, a pioneer of Polish feminist art, in Leipzig, presented to the international audience for the first time

The exposition “Maria Pinińska-Bereś,” which will be on display at the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig from 8 November 2024, is the first comprehensive solo exhibition of one of the most extraordinary personalities of 20th-century Polish art organised in Germany. The retrospective, curated by Heike Munder and Jaroslaw Suchan, will show the work of the Artist to an international public for the first time. In doing so, it will interfere with art history in two ways: it will question the widespread focus on male artists and point out that the Western perspective overlooks the diverse and multifaceted art scene of 20th-century Eastern Europe. Visitors to the exhibition will have a chance to become familiar with a wide selection of works created between the 1950s and the end of the last century, including the most important sculptures and performances of the Artist.

Maria Pinińska-Bereś, currently being rediscovered, explored the sphere of femininity and female eroticism, their socio-political entanglements as well as their relationship with the natural world. Central to her poetic and political art is an exploration of femininity and the social constraints associated with it. Along with Natalia LL or Ewa Partum, Pinińska-Bereś is seen as a pioneer of feminist art in Poland. The Artist opposed structural violence from the state and from the church and challenged the art industry. While her sculptural works from the 1950s were still in line with modernist traditions, her later art incorporated influences from the neo-avant-garde movement. She replaced items made of cement or metal with everyday materials such as papier-mâché or wood, and items such as quilts or aprons. In the 1960s, biomorphic forms started to increasingly appear in her works. She enhanced their feminine look with pink colour, which has become her trademark. Pink, the colour of dollhouses and dresses, functions as an instrument to prepare girls for their social role in the patriarchal society. By appropriating the colour, Pinińska-Bereś criticised the politics of gender roles and referred to traumatic experiences.

Exhibition “Maria Pinińska-Bereś”

• Venue: Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig;
• Vernissage: 8.11.2024;
• Duration of exhibition: 8.11.2024-23.02.2025;
• Curatorial team: Heike Munder, Jarosław Suchan, Małgorzata Micuła (National Museum in Wroclaw);
• Cooperation: National Museum in Wroclaw, Kunstmuseum Den Haag;
• Partners: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony (Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen);
• For more information, please visit the website of Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst.

The Adam Mickiewicz Institute is pleased to invite you to these events!