Up Against the Wall

07.12.2008 – 25.01.2009 Up Against the Wall

Zachęta National Gallery of Art

artists: Maurycy Gomulicki, Katarzyna Kozyra, Anna Myca, Wojciech Bąkowski, Jan Christensen, Josefine Lyche, The Midget Gallery, Mark Mulroney, Robin Rhode, Yngvild K. Rolland, Paul Zografakis
curator: Maria Brewińska

The starting point for the project are murals which, associated above all with wall painting, on this occasion are to be a pretext for a variety of different interventions in/on the architectural interior of the Zacheta gallery. In addition to classical painted murals, the exhibition will also witness the realisation of non-murals: that is to say non-painted installations created from big format prints or other unconventional materials, which somehow reproduce or imitate painted effects. 

An essential element in the project is the inscribing of artistic actions in the context of the Zacheta’s classical exhibition space. These actions are to take over the existing architecture: the walls, floor, skylights, and staircase whose history reaches back to the beginnings of the 20th century, and which in the beginning of the 50s started to function in the context of the specific aesthetic of the white cube. The monolithic and objective context of the white cube passes in contemporary exhibition-making as a universal space. It is a convention of a space outside of reality, in which the attention of the spectator is to focus on the work of art, while peripheral significations emerging from the realia or context of the exhibition space are neutralized. Prior to entering into relation with the work, however, the spectator often casts an eye over the space of the gallery; and it is this reflex that provides the overarching context for the objects shown within. The sacralised, conventionalised nature of the white cube is sustained as a system of values, through which objects always attain the status of art.

The wall – the symbol of the white cube – does not in itself contain any essential aesthetic features; it is simply a necessity. But from the times of the revolution in art at the turn of the 50s and 60s, and as a consequence in strategies for the making of exhibitions, the wall is no longer a passive support or foundation, but rather is often engaged as an active participant, as a field of confrontation, or as a surface on which artists strive to intervene.

In Zacheta, the architecture of the interior creates an unusual space that does not undergo transformation easily. The artists participating in the project have been asked to engage with the space of several of Zacheta’s rooms and create installations – murals/non-murals – which annex the architecture in a total way by taking over its monumental surfaces. These actions aim to create a new quality of space, in which the spectator feels the force of illusion, colour and apparently limitless forms stretching out to the scale of the existing architecture: more extended than a painting in a closed frame, but linked to the proportions of the size of the building. The spectator, who in general quickly identifies with pictures hung on the wall indicating a specified direction of perception, in the case of murals/non-murals receives non-defined vectors of perception – and can take up any possible point of view. The activisation of the wall and interventions in the gallery’s interior, the total annexing of space through the extension of painting and non-painting on the surfaces, thus aims to lead spectators into a transformed space of Zacheta. The wall as a tabula rasa available for the making of a record, for inscribing a tattoo.

Such interventions of a temporary nature in an institutionalised exhibition space are also, and perhaps first and foremost, actions in opposition to art as manifested through objects exhibited in the white cube, circulating in the realm of art, filling museum and private collections. They touch the sphere of the social functioning of art as an art-product and luxury object. In the artistic and institutional field, they are therefore a confrontation with the sorts of exhibition strategies in which art appears in a way that is “typically imperial”. The space taken over by an intervention becomes exceptionally politicised - it removes objects from the circuits typical of capitalism: the growing circulation of goods and their exchange for money. It can be asserted that such a space becomes an anti-capitalist space, an “anti-market”: one which it must be admitted maintains authoritarianism, but tries to undermine it from within.       

Works on exhibition

  • Zdjęcie pracy Anna Myca, 30 seconds to what you like, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    Anna Myca, 30 seconds to what you like, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Anna Myca, 30 seconds to what you like, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    Anna Myca, 30 seconds to what you like, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Maurycy Gomulicki, Fertility Pop, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    Maurycy Gomulicki, Fertility Pop, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Maurycy Gomulicki, Fertility Pop, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    Maurycy Gomulicki, Fertility Pop, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Midget Gallery, 1 Midget Biennale. From Caves to Art Basel and e-flux. The Third Way to the Communism, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    The Midget Gallery, 1 Midget Biennale. From Caves to Art Basel and e-flux. The Third Way to the Communism, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Midget Gallery, 1 Midget Biennale. From Caves to Art Basel and e-flux. The Third Way to the Communism, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    The Midget Gallery, 1 Midget Biennale. From Caves to Art Basel and e-flux. The Third Way to the Communism, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Wojtek Bąkowski, Polifonic G-Funk, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    Wojtek Bąkowski, Polifonic G-Funk, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Wojtek Bąkowski, View; The futher the bigger, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    Wojtek Bąkowski, View; The futher the bigger, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Ynvglid K. Rolland, Faster, Faster, Faster, 2008, installation, photo S.Madejski
    Ynvglid K. Rolland, Faster, Faster, Faster, 2008, installation, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Mark Murloney, Be Generous, Stay bloody, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    Mark Murloney, Be Generous, Stay bloody, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Paul Zografakis, Volcanic Reality of Mordor, 2008, photo S.Madejski
    Paul Zografakis, Volcanic Reality of Mordor, 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Mark Murloney, Paul Zografakis, Be Generous, Stay bloody; Volcanic Reality of Mordor, photo S.Madejski
    Mark Murloney, Paul Zografakis, Be Generous, Stay bloody; Volcanic Reality of Mordor, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Josefinr Lyche, White Light (black), 2008, photo S.Madejski
    Josefinr Lyche, White Light (black), 2008, photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy an Christensen; Josefinr Lyche, Horror Vacui; White Light (black), 2008,photo S.Madejski
    an Christensen; Josefinr Lyche, Horror Vacui; White Light (black), 2008,photo S.Madejski
  • Zdjęcie pracy Jan Christensen, Horror Vacui, 2007, collection: Nicolai Gerner-Mathisen, photo S.Madejski
    Jan Christensen, Horror Vacui, 2007, collection: Nicolai Gerner-Mathisen, photo S.Madejski

Artists' works in the Zachęta collection

  • Zdjęcie pracy z cyklu Ucieczka do Bizancjum
    z cyklu Ucieczka do BizancjumAnna Myca1992
  • Zdjęcie pracy Untitled
    UntitledAnna Myca1996
  • Zdjęcie pracy Untitled
    UntitledAnna Myca1996
  • Zdjęcie pracy
    Maurycy Gomulicki2000
  • Zdjęcie pracy from the cycle A Glade of Fairy Tales
    from the cycle A Glade of Fairy TalesMaurycy Gomulicki2001
  • Zdjęcie pracy Madonna from Regensburg
    Madonna from RegensburgKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Olimpia
    OlimpiaKatarzyna Kozyra1996
  • Zdjęcie pracy Cheerleader
    CheerleaderKatarzyna Kozyra2006
  • Zdjęcie pracy A Quarter of an Hour
    A Quarter of an HourKatarzyna Kozyra2004
  • Zdjęcie pracy Summer Tale
    Summer TaleKatarzyna Kozyra2008
  • Zdjęcie pracy Lords of the dance
    Lords of the danceKatarzyna Kozyra2002
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Bathhouse
    The BathhouseKatarzyna Kozyra1997
  • Zdjęcie pracy Punishment and Crime
    Punishment and CrimeKatarzyna Kozyra2002
  • Zdjęcie pracy Dance Lesson
    Dance LessonKatarzyna Kozyra2001
  • Zdjęcie pracy It's better to know nothing, from series Eight
    It's better to know nothing, from series EightKatarzyna Kozyra2000
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Rite of Spring
    The Rite of SpringKatarzyna Kozyra1999
  • Zdjęcie pracy Blood Ties
    Blood TiesKatarzyna Kozyra1995
  • Zdjęcie pracy Non so piu
    Non so piuKatarzyna Kozyra2004
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Castrate / Il Castrato
    The Castrate / Il CastratoKatarzyna Kozyra2006
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Castrate / Il Castrato
    The Castrate / Il CastratoKatarzyna Kozyra2006
  • Zdjęcie pracy Pyramid of Animals
    Pyramid of AnimalsKatarzyna Kozyra1993
  • Zdjęcie pracy Men's Bathhouse
    Men's BathhouseKatarzyna Kozyra1999
  • Zdjęcie pracy In Art Dreams Come True
    In Art Dreams Come TrueKatarzyna Kozyra2006
  • Zdjęcie pracy Faces
    FacesKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy
    Katarzyna Kozyra1991
  • Zdjęcie pracy
    Katarzyna Kozyra2011
  • Zdjęcie pracy Casting. Tel Aviv
    Casting. Tel AvivKatarzyna Kozyra2011
  • Zdjęcie pracy Beauty-Preview with Gloria Viagra
    Beauty-Preview with Gloria ViagraKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Stairs from the series Boys
    Stairs from the series BoysKatarzyna Kozyra2001
  • Zdjęcie pracy Spears from the series Boys
    Spears from the series BoysKatarzyna Kozyra2001
  • Zdjęcie pracy Ragazzi from the series Boys
    Ragazzi from the series Boys Katarzyna Kozyra2001
  • Zdjęcie pracy Madonna from Pelago
    Madonna from PelagoKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Teatro di cani. Lou Salome a Roma
    Teatro di cani. Lou Salome a RomaKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Appearance as Lou Salome
    Appearance as Lou SalomeKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Nightmare
    The NightmareKatarzyna Kozyra2004
  • Zdjęcie pracy Facade Concert
    Facade ConcertKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Diva: Reincarnation
    Diva: ReincarnationKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Tribute to Gloria Viagra: Birthday party
    Tribute to Gloria Viagra: Birthday partyKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Winter's Tale
    The Winter's TaleKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Midget Gallery
    The Midget GalleryKatarzyna Kozyra2006
Related media
  • Grafika obiektu: Up Against the Wall
    mediateka / posters
    Up Against the Wall
Related events
  • Grafika wydarzenia:
    26.11.2008 (Wed) 00:00
    Zachęta – National Gallery of ArtZachęta

Information

Up Against the Wall
07.12.2008 – 25.01.2009

Zachęta National Gallery of Art
pl. Małachowskiego 3, 00-916 Warsaw
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The exhibition supported by Ministry of Cultury and National Heritage.
sponsors of the gallery: PERI, Leroy Merlin, Centrum Medyczne Damiana, Netia, Klima San, Le MERIDIEN Bristol/Warsaw
sponsors of the opening ceremony: A. Blikle, Freixenet
media patronage: Gazeta Wyborcza, Polityka, TVP, TOK FM, The Warsaw Voice, Onet.pl, empik