Tears of Joy
08.06 – 29.09.2024 Tears of Joy
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Who are exhibitions made for? Whose stories do they tell, who do they leave unrepresented, and who feels out of place in an art gallery space? What social needs should a cultural institution address today?
These questions became our starting point for this exhibition. Dozens of artworks from the last few decades, including pieces that are crucial to Polish art history as well as those linked to ground-breaking events in Zachęta’s history, form a narrative about the emotions they once evoked and continue to evoke today. Some of them provoked disgust, outrage or even scandal because they touched on taboo subjects such as illness, old age, animal cruelty or disability. We wondered how these works would be received today and whether they could even be made in the current climate. Meanwhile, the question arises: what social issues are we, as a society and as a cultural institution, still unable to confront, and what problems or social groups do we still turn our backs on?
The selected works, their contemporary interpretations and current comments from artists and the public reflect changes in social sensibilities over the years. They also highlight the role of contemporary art and cultural institutions in helping systematically marginalised social groups to regain their voice. Whose voice is still unheard? In the works on display, that voice is sometimes replaced by a muffled scream, a stifled cry or a whisper. As staff of the institution, we aim to use its programme to raise awareness of these barely audible voices and to create a safe space not only to express anger and dissent against injustice and empathy for the wronged, but also to work together on their behalf.
The exhibition is conceived as a space where public activities and a performance programme are as important as the works on display. Invited artists and art practitioners will engage in a dialogue with selected works through their performances. Like the exhibition’s choreographer, they suggest the possibility of an alternative gallery experience, a physical encounter with artworks and a lively, emotional engagement with contemporary art.
The exhibition includes artworks depicting nudity and scenes that could be considered drastic.
works from the collection: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Azorro, Wojciech Bąkowski, Przemek Branas, Olaf Brzeski, Oskar Dawicki, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Zuzanna Janin, Katarzyna Józefowicz, Katarzyna Kozyra, Zofia Kulik, Zbigniew Libera, Goshka Macuga, Jacek Malinowski, Maria Pinińska-Bereś, Joanna Piotrowska, Agnieszka Polska, Mariola Przyjemska, Joanna Rajkowska, Erna Rosenstein, Paweł Sakowicz, Jadwiga Sawicka, Sędzia Główny, Mikołaj Smoczyński, Monika Sosnowska, Jonasz Stern, Alina Szapocznikow, Iza Tarasewicz, Teresa Tyszkiewicz, Piotr Uklański, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Julita Wójcik, Monika Zawadzki, Liliana Zeic, Artur Żmijewski
choreographic score: Alka Nauman
object design: Aniela Fidler Wieruszewska
performance programme: Olaf Brzeski, Oskar Dawicki, Edka Jarząb, Filip Kijowski, Daniel Kotowski, Katarzyna Kozyra, Katarzyna Lewandowska, Jacek Malinowski, Nadia Markiewicz, Alka Nauman, Ania Nowicka, Joanna Pawlik, Radio Kapitał, Jana Shostak, Elwira Sztetner, Teatr 21, Anna Zaradny, Liliana Zeic, Hubert Zemler, Marta Ziółek, Katarzyna Żeglicka, Paweł Żukowski
Laboratory — technical supervision and coordination of activities: Pamela Bożek, Taras Gembik
collaboration: Maja Demska, Plenum Osób Opiekujących Się
installations in the public space of Plac Małachowskiego and on the façade of Zachęta: Anna Zaradny
activity on the Gladiator sculpture: Olaf Brzeski
curatorial team: Maria Brewińska, Michał Jachuła, Katarzyna Kołodziej-Podsiadło, Joanna Kordjak
curatorial collaboration: Jess Łukawska
exhibition production: Karolina Jezierska-Pomorska, Anna Muszyńska, Dominika Kaszewska
exhibition installation: Andrzej Bialik, Dariusz Bochenek, Jędrzej Iwanicki, Andrzej Olszewski, Remigiusz Olszewski, Grzegorz Ostromecki, Paweł Ostromecki, Marcin Przybyłek
collection conservation and research: Joanna Egit-Pużyńska, Julia Leopold, Ewa Skolimowska, Michalina Sobierajska, Monika Zaleszczuk
educational programme: Daria Kubilisz, Zbigniew Szymańczyk, Monika Weychert, Adam Wilk, Jędrzej Zakrzewski
accessibility: Paulina Celińska, Emilia Rudzka
text editing and print preparation: Piotr Antonów, Małgorzata Jurkiewicz, Dorota Karaszewska, Krzysztof Łukawski, Jolanta Pieńkos
translation: Tomasz Jurewicz
exhibition communication: Zofia Koźniewska, Milena Liebe, Alicja Malicka, Aleksandra Sienkiewicz, Alicja Sznajder, Justyna Wydra
visual identity: Grzegorz Laszuk
documentation and archival research: Karolina Vyšata, Zuzanna Sękowska, Marta Korzekwa, Adrianna Artowicz, Sara Rivas
- 7.06–23.06 Katarzyna Kozyra, I Am Myself, performance
- 7.06–11.06, 27.06–15.09 Jana Shostak, Studio in the Exhibition Space, performance
JUNE
- 27.06, 7 pm Daniel Kotowski, delighting, performance
- 28.06, 6 pm Ania Nowicka, Dream Languages, workshop with adults
- 29.06, 12.15 pm Ania Nowicka, Dream your World – the Land of Dreams, workshop for children
- 29.06, 7 pm Paweł Sakowicz, JUMPCORE, performance from Zachęta collection, Narutowicz Room
- 30.06, 12.15 pm Alka Nauman, performative tour of the exhibition
JULY
- 11.07 12–6 pm Elwira Sztetner and Katarzyna Lewandowska with guests, Tears of Misfortune. On the ‘Pyramid of Animals’, performative reading and intervention
- 19.07, 5–8 pm Liliana Zeic and Filip Kijowski, Fertility, exercises for anger, movement workshops, talking, exercises for mindfulness
- 20.07, 2–6 pm Liliana Zeic and Filip Kijowski, Nawłociowisko, anger exercises, movement workshops, talking, mindfulness exercises
AUGUST
- 25.08, Taras Gembik, Sunday with ГALAS
SEPTEMBER
- 10.09, 6 pm Liliana Zeic, discussion on the film Dear Lady
- 12.09, godz. 18 Anna Nowicka, Uvula, performans
- 13.09, godz. 19 Anna Nowicka, Uvula, performans
- 14.09, godz. 17 Edka Jarzab i goście, Zwykłe wycie, performans
- 14.09, godz. 18 Anna Nowicka, Uvula, performans
- 14.09, godz. 19 Joanna Pawlik, Oddzielona, performans
- 15.09, godz. 18 Jana Shostak, Krzykucha (wersja 2.0) Stand Up for Your Rights, performan
- 22.09, godz.12.15 oprowadzanie choreograficzne Alki Nauman
- 27.09, godz.18 Marta Ziółek, Wound, performance
- 28.09, godz.18 Anna Zaradny, Infiltration, performance
- 29.09, godz.18 Marta Ziółek, Wound, performance
- La Seur1979
- Family2004
- Spoken Movie 32008
- Untitled2017
- Untitled, from the Art is Violence series2006
- Tears of Happiness2014
- Negative book # 52012
- Negative book # 72012
- Negative book # 82012
- Negative book # 92012
- Negative book # 122012
- Negative book # 252012
- Negative book # 352012
- Negative book # 452012
- Negative book # 542012
- Negative book # 622012
- Negative book # 632012
- Untitled (Belly), from the Follow Me. Change me. It's Time series1995
- Between Words2018
- The Rite of Spring1999
- Pyramid of Animals1993
- Summer Tale2008
- Archives of Gestures1987
- Placebo1995
- The Doll You Love To Undress1997
- Intimate Rites1984
- Dog2011
- The Attack of Mohair Berets2011
- Bad Blood2011
- I'm a Rebel2011
- Meteor in the Hands of the MPs2011
- Anti-collage (Julita Wojcik)2011
- HalfAWoman2000
- De(con)struction of the Leaning Tower II1995
- Untitled2019
- Untitled (Self-defense)2014
- Untitled2019
- Holiday with the Professor2008
- Frontfix1996
- Camping Jenin2008
- Fountain1965
- Jumpcore2017
- Hopelesness. Chapter 0. Furies2007
- Cultural Advertisements2005
- The Secret Performance1985
- T2017
- Composition of Killed Forms1975
- Oval Composition
- Oval Composition1975
- Headless Torso1968
- Plait2010
- Pin - Scripture1988
- Untitled (Open Wide)2012
- Projection on the facade of Zachęta National Gallery of Art, 14.11.20052005
- Peeling Potatoes2001
- Self-portrait 1, 2 (Diptych)2014
- Strong Sisters Told Their Brothers2019
- Singing Lesson 22003
Tears of Joy
08.06 – 29.09.2024
Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
pl. Małachowskiego 3, 00-916 Warsaw
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Godziny otwarcia:
Tuesday – Sunday 12–8 p.m.
Thursday – free entry
ticket office is open until 7.30 p.m.