Zachęta – National Gallery of Art

curators: Taras Gembik, Joanna Kordjak, Antonina Stebur

Exhibition opening: October 16, 7 PM

The exhibition opens the archives of Zachęta to revisit the networks of global artistic relations forged during the socialist era in Poland. Contemporary artists confront these histories with the present, asking what remains of the “internationalist friendships” from before 1989, and how they might shape our understanding of a shared past.

Curatorial text:

This exhibition of contemporary art and archival materials critically examines a forgotten chapter of cultural policy from the Polish People’s Republic, focusing on the role of Zachęta, then the Central Bureau of Art Exhibitions (CBWA), and the function of cultural institutions today. The show explores Poland’s artistic relationships with regions and countries of the global majority, including Latin America, India, Vietnam, and Palestine. The point of departure is the concept of ‘internationalist friendship’ and its underlying infrastructure. This friendship was profoundly ambivalent — an expression of emancipatory and unifying aspirations that was simultaneously based on dependencies rooted in the exploitation of natural resources, cheap labour, and violence.

The curators turn to the past not to idealise it, but rather — by acknowledging its complexity — to consider what this history can reveal about our present and the possible scenarios for a shared future. Within the history of these international friendships, abandoned after 1989, lies the potential of art as a tool for political resistance and solidarity.

Together with invited artists and activists, the curators raise questions about the role of cultural institutions in the context of Poland’s growing ethnic and national diversity, and in a time of intensifying xenophobia, exclusion, and discrimination. They invite us to see contemporary Poland as a space open to a multitude of voices, languages, identities, and experiences; a place where diversity is not a problem to be solved, but the very foundation of a shared life. They seek to envision a cultural institution that is not merely a space for presenting art but, first and foremost, a site of dialogue and shared reflection.

The exhibition features historical works and documents alongside recent pieces by contemporary artists from across the globe, the majority of which have been commissioned specifically for this occasion.

contemporary works: Aravani Art Project, Arpilleras, Oliwia Bosomtwe, Oksana Briukhovetska, Colectivo Punto Espora, Ciudad Abierta (Victoria Jolly, Sebastián de Larrechea, Javier Correa), Minerva Cuevas, GALAS (Vladyslav Gryn), Nadira Husain, Hamlet Lavastida, Marysia Lewandowska, Ibrahim Mahama, Amy N. Muhoro, Marina Naprushkina, Thục Linh Nguyễn Vũ, Ahmet Öğüt, Alicja Rogalska, Marta Romankiv & Weronika Zalewska with Alaksandr Belaruski, Takunda Charlton Dzikiti, Eshwet Dube, Syed Talha and Mubashir Hussain, Laila Shawa, Janek Simon

The work of Ibrahim Mahama was supported by the OmenaArt Foundation.

works from the collections: Conflict Textiles collection in Northern Ireland, associated to Ulster University; National Museum in Warsaw; State Museum at Majdanek

historical context: documentation department and archive of Zachęta — National Gallery of Art; Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago de Chile; Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, Archive of the Film School in Łódź; National Film Archive — Audiovisual Institute; Documentary and Feature Film Studios in Warsaw; Educational Film Studio in Łódź