Subversive Strategies
The 2007 Prize for Young Polish
Art
Since 2003, a biennial prize for young Polish art
has been awarded as a joint project between Deutsche Bank and the Zacheta
National Gallery. Poland's Culture Ministry has honored the Bank's efforts
by naming it an official "Patron of Culture". Achim Drucks
presents the artists competing for this year's prize, worth €10,000.
Michal
Stachyra, Mission: Defence, 2006,
courtesy
Galeria Biala, Lublin
These days, it
seems every biennial features Polish artists. Monika
Sosnowska, who created the Polish pavilion at this year's Venice
Biennale, is a hot tip to win the Golden Lion. And names such as Wilhelm
Sasnal, Pavel
Althamer and Paulina
Olowska represent a boom in a country that continues to be in flux. It
seems precisely the juxtaposition of the country’s socialist past and
capitalist present that most inspires Poland's young, lively art scene.
But despite the international success of Polish artists, the country still
lacks collectors, sponsors and stipends. So Deutsche Bank has supported
Polish art since the 1990s, buying works by young Polish artists for its
collection. Along with the Zacheta
National Gallery, Poland's most famous exhibition space for
contemporary art, it increased that support in 2003 by launching Views,
a biennial exhibition at the Warsaw museum presenting the most interesting
of Poland's up-and-coming artists. A jury then chooses one artist to
receive the prize for young Polish art, which includes €10,000. One other
artist is given the opportunity to work in Berlin for six months.
Michal
Stachyra, Mission: Defence, 2006,
courtesy
Galeria Biala, Lublin
A glance at the
work of the nominated artists makes clear just how controversial the
statements currently coming from Poland are. The seven positions chosen
employ absurdist humor, criticize institutions and deal with controversial
topics such as terrorism. One example is Michal Stachyra from Lublin, who
plays different roles in his performances. For Mission Defence, his
final project for the Lublin arts academy from early 2007, he turned
himself into a kind of civilian anti-terrorism fighter. He learned to fire
weapons, studied self-defense and first aid, practiced an excessive
physical fitness program and suggested that the academy's facade be
painted with camouflage colors to protect it against possible attacks. In Views,
Stachyra presents Saddam Hussein lying in state. But visitors have to go
through a security check before they can view the reproduction of the
executed dictator.
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Rafal Jakubowicz, Plywalnia/Swimming Pool,
2006,
courtesy Rafal Jakubowicz
A
fondness for provocation appears typical of contemporary Polish art. One
only has to think of Katarzyna
Kozyra's Midget Gallery,
a group of dwarves who wreak havoc at international art fairs. Or, perhaps
the most famous example, Piotr
Uklanski's controversial photo series The
Nazis. During its showing at the Zacheta in 2000, Polish actor Daniel
Olbrychski used a saber to attack the series of portraits of famous
actors in German SS and WWII army uniforms, causing the biggest art-world
scandal in Poland's post-war history. Rafal
Jakubowicz also takes a controversial approach to Germany and Poland's
shared history: in 2002, his piece Arbeitsdisziplin
caused heated debate. The photographs show the Volkswagen factory in
Poznan, the artist's hometown, which lies close to the Poland's border
with Germany. A tower with the carmaker's logo rises up behind barbed
wire, against an evening sky. Below the photo is the German word
"Arbeitsdisziplin", or "discipline at work". This reference to VW's
involvement with the Third Reich caused quite a stir – and not just among
the automobile manufacturer’s management.
Janek
Simon, Chleb krakowski/Cracow Bread, 2006,
courtesy
Galeria Raster
For Jakubowicz, the
context in which he creates his projects is of vital importance. He
projected the word "swimming pool" in Hebrew on the facade of a former
synagogue that had been turned into a public pool by the Nazis, allowing
the past to return like a ghost. At the Zacheta, he addresses the role of
Deutsche Bank as the sponsor of Views. He carved the Bank's logo
into the wall of the gallery, then plastered and painted over it. The wall
is now as smooth and white as ever. Only the plaster on the floor hints at
his activity, documented in a folder designed to look as if it came from
Deutsche Bank.
Sedzia
Glówny, Rozdzial XX/Chapter XX, 2004, Performance,
Photo
Marek Swiech
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