Paweł
Kowalewski

On the last day of Paweł Kowalewski's exhibition "The Failure of Reason", we invite you to a meeting with the artist and guided tour. During the finissage, a documentary film by Agata Milewska "Genius Without a Head, or an Artist Can Do Anything" about the work of Paweł Kowalewski will be presented. In addition to the artists themselves, the documentaries featured: Anda Rottenberg, Kuka Rittersschild, Leon Tarasewicz, Krzysztof M. Bednarski, Jarosław Modzelewski, Ryszard Woźniak, Ryszard Grzyb, Jerzy Porębski, Paweł Sosnowski, Zofia Gołubiew and Stefan Gierowski.

The number 18 has a special meaning in Jewish philanthropy. It symbolizes life and luck - traditionally, donations on the occasion of important events are made in amounts of 18 or multiples of 18. This is the number of works that we have decided to collect for the charity art auction "Friends in support of POLIN Museum" on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of this institution, of which the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland is the initiator and co-organizer. We have invited individuals to participate in the auction who, during the ten years of POLIN's existence, have created a circle of friends and acquaintances united by the ideas that guide the Museum - freedom, equality and openness. To preserve and recall the memory of the history of Polish Jews and to counteract antisemitism, discrimination, and exclusion by fostering mutual understanding and respect. One of the works available is the work "7/10/23. IN ETERNAL MEMORY OF ALL 1139 LIVES LOST TO HAMAS" by Paweł Kowalewski, created especially for this occasion with usage of unique technique of lenticular printing on dibond. More about the artwork: Paweł Kowalewski has spent his life experimenting with art, using various technologies and techniques—from 3D printing to photography, performance, and installation. For him, the most important goal of every artistic endeavor is to convey an idea or thought. The techniques he chooses are merely tools to effectively and appropriately express or illustrate a specific concept. In his art, the medium serves as a tool to help communicate a message. Speaking about the piece created specifically for the auction in support of POLIN Museum, the artist says: “This work is a tribute to the 1,139 victims brutally, cynically, and deliberately murdered by Hamas terrorists. Imagine that 1,139 people suddenly vanish—people who, not long ago, were enjoying life, perhaps in a park, or at a concert… These victims—defenseless, ordinary Israeli citizens whose lives were taken away from them—deserve a tribute”.   Auction will take place on 16th of October at 7 pm CET

‘Art is everything’ Pawel Kowalewski, Aleksander Hudzik LUNA HOUSE Paweł Kowalewski, one of the most recognisable Polish artists, in his book Sztuka to jest wszystko (Art is Everything) tells not only about his artistic and life choices, but also reflects on the condition of Polish art, and on what it means to be an artist today. This book, however, is not only about words, but also about images. Each copy comes with a special bookmark with a QR code, which will allow us to virtually hang one of Kowalewski's paintings in our home. Paweł Kowalewski is one of the founders of the legendary Gruppa, an icon of Polish art in the 1980s, as well as the author of such works as Mon Cheri Bolscheviq or Totalitarianism Simulator. His works have been exhibited in the most important museums and galleries around the world, and he himself was a long-standing lecturer at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. In his book Art is Everything, the artist tells Aleksander Hudzik about his artistic beginnings, personal successes and failures, but this book is also an attempt to take a broader look at the Polish art market and its subsequent transformations. According to Kowalewski, art and the world around it are never separate entities, but rather connected vessels that directly influence each other. That is why he firmly admits that he believes art can change the world. And what about the artists themselves? Kowalewski has witnessed great careers that burst out unexpectedly and fade just as quickly, but he has also accompanied those personalities of the art world who have not allowed themselves to be pushed into obscurity over the years. What determines this? Kowalewski claims that talent and luck alone are not enough. You still need intelligence, the ability to be. ‘About this I made a series of postcards featuring Anda Rottenberg and Achille Bonito Oliva, among others. They wink at us from these 3D printed postcards. Because they know that art is the most important thing, but it is also a game in which you have to exist, know how to manage your career, make decisions, sometimes difficult, sometimes bad.’ The book Art Is Everything is not only a conversation, but also a cross-section of Paweł Kowalewski's most important works, which, brilliantly displayed, take the reader on a journey into the artist's extraordinary world. And thanks to augmented reality (AR), we can also experience the works in the book in an additional dimension. In each book, the reader will find a bookmark with a QR code. By pointing their phone's camera at the code, they will be redirected to an application that allows the reader to ‘try on’ the selected image on the wall in the selected room of their home. So far, augmented reality (AR) has not been used in any Polish publication. With this book, art can really take over us - both literally and figuratively. And all according to the principle that ‘art is everything’. O autorach: Paweł Kowalewski – artysta, emerytowany profesor ASP, założyciel legendarnej Gruppy, ikona polskiej sztuki lat 80. Autor znanych dzieł: „Mon Chéri Bolscheviq”, „Symulator Totalitaryzmu”, „Moc i Piękno”, „Pop Art” czy słynnego cyklu „Psalmy”. Prace Pawła Kowalewskiego wystawiane były m.in. w NS- DOK w Monachium, Castello di Rivoli w Turynie, Artistsʹ House w Tel Avivie, Galerii Isy Brachot w Brukseli. Część z nich znajduje się w największych polskich kolekcjach Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie, Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie, Zachęty – Narodowej Galerii Sztuki, Muzeum Jerke, a także Fundacji Sztuki Polskiej ING czy Fundacji Rodziny Staraków. Aleksander Hudzik – redaktor naczelny „Mint Magazine”. Dziennikarz kulturalny. Prowadzi podcast „I taki to jest miesiąc w kulturze” emitowany w radio newonce. Przez lata związany z redakcją tygodnika „Newsweek Polska”, magazynami „Vogue Polska”, „Notes na 6 Tygodni” „Forbes Women”, „Dwutygodnik”, „K Mag”, „Przekrój”, „Esquire” i „Aktivist”. Współautor tekstów w książkach My Art Guide, Polski Street Art i w przewodniku About Polska. Nominowany do nagrody Mariusza Waltera w 2024 roku w kategorii Młode Głosy Dziennikarstwa. Premiera książki odbędzie się 29 września o godzinie 14 w Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki podczas Warsaw Gallery Weekend. Książka w sprzedaży będzie od 30 września.

Kowalewski’s exhibition The Failure of Reason encompasses artworks created within the last seven years. It includes not only paintings but also sculptures, installations and works made with the use of photography. Kowalewski’s work is extremely diverse in terms of genres – it includes painting on canvas and paper, photography, sculpture, NFT, installations and ready-mades.

Characteristic for his style are conceptual and Dadaist commentaries and titles which the artist has given to his works from the beginning of his artistic activity. In his art, each artwork has a profound meaning, it is a commentary on reality, a reference to a literary text, personal life or history. The artist keenly watches absurdities and threats to the contemporary reality, and is not afraid to ask difficult questions through his art.

The exhibition presents pictures created in the years 2019–2014, inter alia a vast series Objects, in which the artist provocatively declares that his canvases are not paintings but objects and ostentatiously inserts them in decorative frames, whose style is far from the one currently encountered in exhibitions of contemporary art. At the Elektrownia you can also see the artist’s other artworks which escape easy classification.

The work which inspired the title of the exhibition is the installation Contempt for Reason – a brain levitating in space, made of Sterling silver and set with sapphires. The artist asks questions: Do we, contemporary society, hold reason in contempt? Has the era of reason given way to the era of applause? The exhibition also shows Kowalewski’s latest paintings and installations which so far have never been presented anywhere.

Disappearing portraits of Jewish women on view at the Polish Institute in Berlin at the exhibition by Paweł Kowalewski. A new exhibition of works from the "Strength and Beauty" series opens on July 9.

In 2015, Paweł Kowalewski created a series of disappearing paintings. “Strength and Beauty. "A very subjective history of Polish mothers" are large-format portraits of women of Jewish origin living during World War II, including a portrait of the artist's mother. The works were painted with a special paint that will fade completely over time, turning the portraits into abstract shadows.

It is a commentary on the human tendency to forget, disrespect or even contempt for history, which the artist perceives as extremely dangerous. The project is a tribute to young women who lived during the war and the heyday of the two largest totalitarian regimes. The works are accompanied by extremely moving stories of the portrayed heroines.

The exhibition was presented, among others, at The Artist's House gallery in Tel Aviv, the Museum of Photography in Krakow and the NS-Dokumentationszentrum in Munich. With each exhibition, the works fade more and more and disappear forever.

📌 The opening of the exhibition will take place on July 9, 2024 from 7 p.m. The exhibition will last until August 30, 2024. Admission is free. This is not to be missed!

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Food in Art is the 11^th exhibition in MOCAK’s flagship series Civilisation in Art, in which we confront important areas of life with the reflections of artists. We have previously looked at themes such as history, sport, economics, crime, gender, medicine, motherland, art, nature and politics. Food in this context has an exceptional position, since it is crucial to existence itself, which lends it significance in many areas of our lives.

Food is indispensable for satisfying one of the physiological needs at the very base of Maslow’s pyramid of the hierarchy of human needs – yet, in parallel – also a number of other of the higher order ones, psychological and social, such as a sense of social belonging or security. Vital for survival, food has shaped our civilisation. It has served as payment for labour; the process of its acquisition has powered the engine of progress. It was the search of food that triggered the migrations of peoples and thus led to the discovery of the world. Food scarcity has given rise to conflicts and contributed to social upheaval and bloodshed. To this day, food accompanies rituals and ceremonies and is the foundation of every community, culture and religion.

The exhibition will present the work of 66 artists from many different countries, exploring a variety of media such as painting, photography, video, object and installation. Taking part in a meal is a social activity, lays a basis for our identity and can serve as a tool of resistance. Contemporary artists take on board both the problems resulting from scarcity as well as those from an excess of food. The former can result in hunger and starvation, causing social inequality and individual indignity and leading to humanitarian crises and large-scale devastation; the latter manifest themselves in rampant or indeed debauched consumerism, accompanied by waste and the detrimental health effects of pursuing a poor-quality diet. Artists will analyse both the aesthetic potential of food, which art has explored for centuries as well as its ethical and philosophical dimensions.

Among other works, the exhibition shows two works by Paweł Kowalewski from the series "Exercises in aesthetics in which I grew up," created in the early 1990s.

The exhibition is open until March 16, 2025!

Since 13 December, the Museum of Photography in Krakow has been showing Paweł Kowalewski's work "Totalitarianism Simulator", an immersive art installation that allows viewers to confront the experience of living under totalitarian regimes. The work is presented on level -1, and its presentation began with a meeting with the artist. - In the face of totalitarianism, we are all alone. - says Paweł Kowalewski. In order to allow contemporary viewers to understand what the loneliness of the individual in the face of an inhuman system consists in, he decided to prepare 'Totalitarianism Simulator', an immersive show combining the crimes of totalitarian regimes with peaceful images of everyday life under these conditions. Images of the arrest of Jews during the Second World War or the execution of homosexuals in Iran are interspersed here with photos of a family walking the streets of Milan during the Mussolini era or a group of men drinking beer under a picture of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. The "Totalitarianism Simulator" allows viewers not only to confront these two faces of historical tragedies, but also - by weaving the photo of the viewer watching the projection into its structure - to feel part of them, another individual in uncertain and frightening times. Each use of the simulator will therefore be different - after use, the individual viewer's photos are erased, and each user can expect an experience prepared just for her/him. The show is for viewers of legal age only. The installation can be viewed until 28 January 20214.  

  The German museum is opening an exhibition titled "Materializing. Contemporary Art and the Shoah in Poland," which will tell the story of how contemporary Polish artists are addressing the Holocaust. Among the works on display will be six "vanishing" portraits of women of Jewish descent by Paweł Kowalewski.   The works presented at the exhibition by Paweł Kowalewski are a series of works created in 2015, titled "Strength and Beauty. A Very Subjective History of Polish Mothers". The portraits were previously shown at The Artists House gallery in Tel Aviv in 2015 and at the Museum of the History of Photography in Krakow in 2017.    The large-format portraits, which were based on archival photographs from the first half of the 20th century, depict women of Jewish descent living during World War II. Among them is also a portrait of the artist's mother, Zofia Jastrzębska-Kowalewska, who took part in the Warsaw Uprising.   From the works straight into our eyes these beautiful women look, slightly smiling. At the time their pictures were taken, they were young and full of joy. They had dreams and plans for the future, which were destroyed by the war and the rise of two totalitarianisms. They went through traumas that stayed with them for life.   - This is a project about women and the strength of these women, thanks to whom the world survived. Raped, abused, wounded, mutilated, they had many reasons to pass the pain of remembrance on, yet they nurtured an element of kindness and love within themselves. Despite their traumatic experiences, they became tender, good mothers, wives, lovers. Some were heroines from the barricades, and others were heroines of everyday life who survived and returned to everyday normality," says Paweł Kowalewski.   The works were created using a special paint that will fade over time, turning the portraits into abstract shadows. All that will remain are these traces and the stories from the wartime fate of the heroines that accompany the photos. This is the artist's commentary on the human tendency to forget, disrespect or even despise history, which the artist sees as extremely dangerous. However, anyone who owns a portrait, be it a museum or a private individual, decides for themselves when to stop the process by applying anti-UV glass to the work. - Works of art do not disappear completely. They become ghosts of memory that remain in us," comments Kowalewski.   The NS - Dokumentationszentrum in Munich will also feature works by Zuzanna Hertzberg, Elżbieta Janicka, Wojciech Wilczyk, Paweł Kowalewski, Agnieszka Mastalerz, Natalia Romik, Wilhelm Sasnal, Zofia Waślicka and Artur Żmijewski.   The subject of a photographic and video installation by Artur Żmijewski and Zofia Waślicka-Żmijewska are objects excavated from the ground in the Warsaw Ghetto during archaeological work carried out at the construction site of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Numerous everyday objects were found, for whose owners the world as they knew it suddenly ended. In a poignant project, the artists transfer them into contemporary contexts and give them a second life.     The materialized, aching emptiness after the Holocaust can be experienced by viewing the objects of Natalia Romik, who researched and recorded the hiding places of the Jews, and, materializing them in the form of sculptures, transferred them to the present. The work on display is part of a large series entitled "Hideouts. Architecture of Survival" (2022) - the result of a long research into the various hideouts where Jews took refuge during World War II in Poland and Ukraine. The artist searched for these places, visited and documented them, coming into physical contact with the former, often frighteningly microscopic spaces of concealment.   In the more traditional medium of painting, Wilhelm Sasnal will show a series of paintings that refer to the Holocaust either directly or more allusively - as is often the case in the artist's work when he evokes images embedded in collective visual memory. The largest painting, measuring 200 x 280 cm, is from a sequence of works based on photographs taken from a car passing by the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial museum. The artist took these sobering photos while returning with his wife from a New Year's party in another city.    Although the media and ways in which the artists address the exhibition's theme will be varied, according to Piotr Rypson, an art historian and critic, literary scholar, and one of the exhibition's curators, "What they have in common, however, is the artists' method of working, in which shaping the structure and giving form to the work is preceded by a careful study of the subject. It can be said that the artists enters the field of work of a historian or archaeologist, but for the publication of results they use quite a different instrumentarium, characterized by a high degree of causality. Most of the works operate precisely the title function of materialization. Instead of symbolizing or using metaphors, they refer to concretizations of various types." The exhibition is a unique opportunity to get acquainted with these attempts at materialization and the art of outstanding Polish artists, but also to cultivate memory, because "when words are not enough, we reach for attempts at materialization. So that the memory doesn't completely fade away." - Rypson adds.   Symbolic is also the location of the NS museum - Dokumentationszentrum, which is located on the site of the former Nazi party headquarters, which played an important role during the rise of the party and the implementation of Nazism.   The exhibition will run from October 20, 2023 to February 25, 2024, curated by Piotr Rypson, Anna Straetmans and Mirjam Zadoff.