Posters of cult Polish works by young artists
Imagine that someone asks you to select the most important modern works of art from your national culture, preferably those that are known not only at home but also abroad. This question stood at the beginning of the ABCs OF POLISH CULTURE exhibition. Each of us can think of works from areas that are close to us. Someone mentions films or theatre, another recommends paintings or books. But not many will list the best from all artistic fields. Our exhibition has been created as a guide, a hint as to whom we should not forget, which works and their authors we should know, and what anecdotes and interests are connected with their creation and the lives of their creators. Our choice is entirely subjective and surely anyone could find arguments for a hundred other Polish works and artists, but that is what we wanted to do: to talk about art and learn more about it. The second important reason for this exhibition was the desire to collaborate with great young artists. The show features their posters which are original visual interpretations of selected works. The exhibition is therefore not only one of the voices in the debate about the Polish art scene after 1918, but also an attempt to show the incredible explosion of artistic talent in contemporary Poland. We will not hide the fact that working on the exhibition was one big cultural adventure. We could watch films, listen to music and read for hours and hours – and at the same time it was work. The ABCs OF POLISH CULTURE is exhibited abroad here for the first time. Czech culture is very popular in Poland and with this exhibition we are happy to return the compliment to our neighbours. And now we invite you to take a walk through Polish culture in the heart of Prague!
Curators – Ewa Solarz, Karol Szafraniec
Design of exposition – Urszula Prokop
Editing of Polish texts – Aneta Paździor
Graphic design – Iwona Kobryń, Hana Fialová
Translation into English – Katarzyna Kożuch
Proof reading – George Cremaschi
Translation into Czech – Jitka Rohanová, Lucie Zakopalová
Typesetting of Czech texts – Studio Datle
Co-organisers – Polský institut v Praze, Národní knihovna ČR
44 posters / 11 artists
Barbara Flores – popular culture / new technologies
Igor Kubik – jazz
Aleksandra Jasionowska – architecture
Karolina Lubaszko – film
Łukasz Majewski (Tin Boy) – graphic design
Julia Mirny – sculpture / art installation
Małgorzata Nowak (Studio Acapulco) – theatre
Tomasz Opaliński – classical music
Urszula Palusińska – literature
Marta Tomiak – photography
Łukasz Zbieranowski (Fajne Chłopaki) – painting
44 artists / 11 artistic areas
Ingarden / Konieczny / Korngold / Nowicki – architecture
Holland / Kieślowski / Polański / Wajda – film
Gudzowaty / Hartwig / Niedenthal / Rydet – photography
Cieślewicz / Lenica / Szaybo / Themerson – graphic design
Bagiński / Rosiński / Rybczyński / Sapkowski – popular culture / new technologies
Komeda / Seifert / Stańko / Urbaniak – jazz
Lem / Miłosz / Szymborska / Tokarczuk – literature
Łempicka / Sasnal / Strzemiński / Wróblewski – painting
Górecki / Lutosławski / Penderecki / Szymanowski – classical music
Abakanowicz / Bałka / Szapocznikow / Wodiczko – sculpture / art installation
Grotowski / Kantor / Lupa / Warlikowski – theatre