No. 22 of our online magazine brings materials – textual, visual and audiovisual – related to our current exhibitions. We begin with Joanna Rajkowska’s exceptional project Rhizopolis. The installation takes us on a tour to a suburban city of roots, which – according to the story of the futuristic film made by the artist – gives shelter to a handful of survivors. The tree roots build a new homestead, but also ensure survival. The incredible space of Rhizopolis must be experienced with all one’s senses. Equally important though is the idea behind the project whose heroes are… trees. And this is trees, their life-giving power and the risk that we expose them (and ourselves) to that Rajkowska talks about with Urszula Zajączkowska, a botanist and poet.
“A tree is not merely wood on a trunk, but an established, extremely complex being, an organism with a life history much longer than our own. We find it difficult to understand that due to our modest lifespan, or the physical limits to the strength of our bodies and its lamentable capacity compared to the lifespan of trees. Moreover, we find it difficult to understand that a tree does not have to kill in order to live. In its cells, it produces sugars from light, water, and air. Even though it is lignified, it also has living cells hidden in its body. They are very delicate – visceral. Breaking up a branch, you tear them”.
Sculpture in Search of a Place is another exhibition that we have been announcing for some time and that you can finally see “live”. The history of the last 50 years of Polish sculpture has been presented here through the prism of a unique narrative by Anna Maria Leśniewska, an expert in the field. That is why it is not merely a historical exposition, but rather a visual essay about art and space, capturing the growing cross-media character of the discipline. By way of encouragement, the magazine features, among others, the exhibition’s photo documentation.
Naturally, we could not overlook the exhibition that we have already wrote about – the first presentation of our annual project Living Storages. Until the end of the week, you can still watch a selection of artworks from our collection made by Michał Jachuła. And we invite you to the première of three Collection Videostories, produced during the extended period of lockdown. In our magzine you will find the video about Małachowski Square and its past and present narrated by Jarosław Trybuś and Magdalena Komornicka. We also recommend the story about the first artwork in the collection of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts and the iconographic design of the Zachęta building fascade – presented against the background of the gallery’s current activity.
Finally, we invite you to visit the Zachęta Project Room, where you can finally see Maciej Salamon’s exhibition Housework. This edition of our magazine issues an invitation to an unusal meeting with the artist – art workshop for children which will be fun also for adult visitors. Why? Come and check!
