The monumental installation authored by Smoleński, in the image of a symphony, will regularly repeat a piece composed for traditional bronze bells, full range speakers and other sonorous objects placed in the space of the Polish Pavilion. All the elements will play an equal part in this composition meant as both a visual and audio construction, where the delaying and modifying of the initial sound of the bell is of critical importance. The curators engage in a discussion of the treatment, to which the artist subjects the sound of a traditional instrument through the perspective of contemporary literary texts and scientific theories, which concur in their conviction of the inaccuracy or atrophy of the concept of time. Among them we find the hypotheses that challenge the classical understanding of these problems in physics, science-fiction stories, as well as in scientific elaborations on experiments and sound illusion. By this means, the dialogue of the artist with the curators of the exhibition will result in a vision of the dissolution of language and the end of time and history as we know it, without placing a value judgement on this phenomenon.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication featuring texts by Craig Dworkin, Alexandra Hui, Andrey Smirnov, as well as Daniel Muzyczuk and Agnieszka Pindera, who, in their previous projects undertaken together or individually, have already commented on the problems pertaining to the field of the history of science and sound. Supplementing this interdisciplinary book are interviews with a physicist Julian Barbour, a philosopher Simon Critchley, a legend of electro acoustic music Eugeniusz Rudnik, and the curator Thibaut de Ruyter.

Konrad Smoleński – graduated from the Poznań Academy of Fine Arts (2002). He has had one-man shows at the following venues, among others: Platán Gallery, Budapest, 2006; Stereo Gallery, Poznań, 2009; LETO Gallery, Warsaw, 2009 and 2012; Pinchuk Art Center, Kyiv, 2012; Frederic Chopin Museum, Warsaw, 2012. He has shown his work in numerous group exhibitions, e.g. Stomach, Słodownia Gallery, Old Brewery, Poznań, 2008; They don’t know why, but they keep doing it, Waterside Contemporary, London, 2011; Freedom of Sound, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, 2012; HOOLS, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, 2012; Scontrum Evolutions, Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture, Królikarnia, Warsaw, 2012; Happines Is a Worm Gun, Rizzordi Gallery, St. Petersburg, 2012; Coming Soon, Temporary Gallery, Cologne, 2012; Twisted Entities, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, 2013. As BNNT he has participated in shows such as Was ist ist...!!, Manifesta 9, Genk, Belgium, 2012; Intense Proximity, La Triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2012; Second Chance, Offen auf AEG, Nuremberg, 2012.
Member of the Poznań-based artist collective Penerstwo. Member of the music bands Mama, Kristen, KOT, Sixa, BNNT. Artist-in-residence at the Center for Contemporary Arts, Prague, (2009); 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, Los Angeles (2011). Holder of a Ministry of Culture and National Heritage fellowship (2000). Winner of the Deutsche Bank Foundation Award – Views 2011. He lives and works in Warsaw (PL) and Bern (CH). www.konradsmolenski.com

Organizer of the exhibition:
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw

www.labiennale.art.pl

Polish participation in the 55th International Art Exhibition in Venice was made possible through the financial support of Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Shipping Sponsor: FF Fracht