Karolina Jarzębak – Selfpwned

Exhibition of new works by Karolina Jarzębak, ex aequo Grand Prix winner of the 46th Painting Biennale Bielska Jesień 2023*.

In her work, Karolina Jarzębak addresses cyberculture, examines online phenomena and their impact on socio-political processes. The exhibition analyses the phenomenon of conservatism as a politicised form of nostalgia. Using motifs drawn from recent socio-political events, pop culture and cyberculture, the artist looks at how the archetype of the knight and nostalgia for the past have become tools of political influence. From the legend of the sleeping knight of Mount Giewont to the toxic model of chivalry of contemporary internet “warriors”, the exhibition raises questions about the nature of violence, the power of myths and community in the digital age.

The exhibition includes new artistic creations, including monumental objects made in intarsia, installations and a video, which was produced according to a concept and scenario by Karolina Jarzębak, in collaboration with Kat Zavada, an artist and member of the cyber-feminist collective Nerdka.

* Solo exhibitions of the winners of the largest painting competition, Bielska Jesień, are a customary addition to its formula, contributing to the promotion of the most valuable phenomena of Polish contemporary art.

 

Karolina Jarzębak – born in 1990 in Kraków. Graduate of the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, degree in 2017 in the studio of Prof. Andrzej Bednarczyk. She creates objects, installations, video and performance. She is the founder of How to Forget gallery (since 2018) and co-founder of Gallery 404 (2015-2017) in Kraków. She is interested in online phenomena - in internet forums, chat rooms, online games - from which she creates new narratives. She brings online memes to life using traditional techniques, such as intarsia. She has participated in numerous exhibitions at Widna Gallery, Szara Kamienica Gallery, Henryk Gallery, BWA Wrocław Główny, Gdańska Galeria Miejska, Bunkier Sztuki Contemporary Art Gallery, Galeria Bielska BWA, BWA Katowice, Promotional Gallery, Zachęta National Art Gallery, CRICOTEKA Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor and Museum of Contemporary Art in Odesa (Ukraine) and others. Winner of the ex aequo Grand Prix of Bielska Jesień 2023, she took part in the residency at the Centre for Polish Sculpture in Orońsko and MeetFactory in Prague. She lives and works in Kraków.

Ada Piekarska – curator of exhibitions and projects, author of texts on contemporary art, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and the history of art at the Polish Academy of Sciences. She works at Galeria Bielska BWA, where she heads the programme team. In her curatorial practice, she looks at, among other things, the non-artistic functions of art. Winner of the Jerzy Stajuda Art Criticism Award (2024).

Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała, ul. 3 Maja 11
Karolina Jarzębak – “Selfpwned”
30 April – 22 June 2025 (top floor)
Curated by: Ada Piekarska

The opening: Wednesday, 30 April 2025, at 6 pm
The opening of the exhibition will feature a performance by Karolina Jarzębak.