Who is the Bielska Jesień Grand Prix 2023 for?

On Thursday, November 9 this year. the most important opening! We will meet the winners of the competition and see the paintings selected by the jury for the final exhibition from a record number of entries.

Is the Bielsko Biennale an image of what is happening in Polish painting in the third decade of the 21st century? Are the 1,006 artists who submitted their works to this year's Bielsko-Biała competition, considered one of the most important art competitions in Poland, a representative group of contemporary Polish painting? What artistic personalities did the Bielska Jesień 2023 jury select from this group, chaired by Aleksy Wójtowicz, art critic and historian? Who will receive the Grand Prix, i.e. the financial prize (PLN 30,000) including the Award of the Director of Galeria Bielska BWA for the winner of the Grand Prix in the form of organizing an exhibition and the Bielska Jesień 2023 Statuette by Przemysław Jeżmirski?

Aleksy Wójtowicz, chairman of the jury: We invited people to the final exhibition whose attitude to reality and the identity of being a person painting worlds is ambiguous. Some of them will remain painters forever. Some of them become so in special circumstances and for prosaic reasons, estimating the chances of their own visibility through the complicated algorithms of the art world's visibility. Don't forget that this is only 5% of all the people entered this year, so it's a fragment of a much larger whole, and what's more, it was examined by five pairs of jurors' eyes. It is a very specific and objectively small mirror, or even a tiny funnel.

Agata Smalcerz, director of Galeria Bielska BWA, member of the jury: Which painting, out of over three thousand submitted to the Bielska Jesień painting competition in 2023, is the best? A painting that will capture the emotions not only of the competition participants, but also of the collectors, art dealers, gallerists, art critics and journalists observing its results. A painting that viewers will want to see to find out what is most valuable in contemporary Polish painting.

Ada Piekarska, curator of the 46th edition of the biennial: This year's edition reflects something more than the condition of the painting medium itself - the works presented at the final exhibition reveal cracks in the current structures of the world; they talk about life in times of transformation, about a reality that is slipping away. New approaches to the body appear in which it is portrayed as diverse, multi-layered, combined with what is non-human. Rejected subjects regain their voice.

We invite you to the opening of the 46th Bielska Jesień 2023 Painting Biennial under the honorary patronage of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the official announcement of the competition results on Thursday, November 9 this year. at. 6 p.m. During the opening of the final exhibition, we will learn the full verdict of the jury, which awards the main prizes and five statutory distinctions. An additional distinction is the awards given by the editors of magazines and online magazines devoted to visual arts or, more broadly, culture. The event will be broadcast live on the gallery's Facebook page.

The program of the opening evening also includes an after party at the Aquarium Café Club (7 p.m.), and on the next day, Friday, November 10, at 11 a.m. the gallery invites you to an open tour of the exhibition with the participation of jurors, the curator and the finalists of the competition; then, at 12.00, everyone can take part in a discussion about painting - this year's theme will be: "Can competitions change the world? The Praise of Individualism and the Practice of Solidarity.

The final exhibition of Bielska Jesień 2023 will be accompanied by many accompanying events:

– Thursday, November 16, 2023, at 3 p.m. – guided tour with interpretation into sign language (PJM)

– Friday, November 17, 2023, at 6 p.m. – curator's tour of the final exhibition, led by curator Ada Piekarska

– Thursday, November 23, 2023, at 12 p.m. – guided tour with audio description for blind and visually impaired people

– Thursdays, November 16 and 30, 2023, at 10 a.m. – Guided tours. Meetings for parents and guardians of children under two years of age.

Galeria Bielska BWA, the organizer of the biennial, traditionally also gives a voice to the exhibition visitors, inviting them to choose the most interesting painting of the 46th Bielska Autumn 2023 in the Viewers' Competition. Competition coupons will be waiting for viewers. We will inform you soon about the events accompanying the exhibition in December. Details will be provided on the gallery's website.

The exhibition can be visited from November 9 to December 31, 2023, from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free entrance.