BATTLEFIELD

What are the results of different perceptions of signs and symbols? The artists turn the viewer’s gaze not to history itself, but to different ways in which it may be recounted.

Featuring works by a group of accomplished, and mostly young, Polish artists who deal with current social issues, this exhibition is an attempt at analysing the current dispute over various signs and symbols and the associations they evoke. The viewer is exposed to the universal, though latent, conflict over the right to interpret history.

The exhibition is curated by Ada Piekarska.

Ada Piekarska:
Alluding to the term “symbolic violence” which was coined by the French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu, the exhibition “Battlefield” is an attempt at revealing the mechanisms behind that “violence”. The sides in a social conflict often reach into the collective memory in order to extract whatever narrative may represent their own, often vested, interests. The artists participating in this exhibition reach into a symbolic universe in order to turn the viewer’s gaze not to history itself, but to the different ways in which it may be recounted. The exhibition, which is focused on different areas of semiotics, will lead to the deconstruction of some commonly accepted standards that result from particular perceptions of signs. The overriding goal of the exhibition is to encourage dialogue, which will hopefully lead to a better understanding between the conflicting parties. Both the exhibition and the accompanying publication strive to exert some influence on people’s perception of social and cultural identities. The viewer will be able to reflect on individual and group "positions" on the semantic battlefield.

The exhibition features works created with the use of a variety of techniques, as well as some interdisciplinary activities that combine video, sculpture and installation - all these juxtaposed with traditional paintings.

Artists participating in the exhibition:
Paweł Baśnik, Piotr Bujak, Maciej Cholewa, Katarzyna Górna, Karolina Jarzębak, Robert Kuśmirowski, Nikita Krzyżanowska, Kasper Lecnim, Jan Możdżyński, Dominika Olszowy, Liliana Piskorska, Irmina Rusicka, Daniel Rycharski, Mikołaj Sobczak, Stanisław Szumski.

Ada Piekarska is an art curator, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and art history at the Polish Academy of Sciences, activist, and the president of the Galeria Bielska Foundation.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue edited by Ada Piekarska.


The exhibition runs from 4 December 2020 to 28 February, 2021.

SUPPORTED BY THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND NATIONAL HERITAGE FROM THE CULTURE PROMOTION FUND

Sponsors