28.08.2021 (Saturday), Opolno-Zdrój
 
 
4 PM

Opening of the exhibition Fountains of Imagination

venue: gymnasium at the Polish Red Cross Primary School in Opolno-Zdrój, ul. Narutowicza 7a

artists: Kinga Bartniak, Natalia Komorowska, Wiktoria Kruk, Iwona Ogrodzka

curator: Magdalena Worłowska

The exhibition titled Fountains of Imagination summarises the artistic residencies organised in Opolno-Zdrój between June and August 2021 as part of the project Openings. The Programme of Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Land of Zgorzelec ’71 Open-air Festival. The festival held half a century ago has now provided inspiration for three young artists whose actions base on social participation and processuality. Their work focused on Opolno-Zdrój as it is today, with its mysterious nooks and crannies. The venue turned out to be a fountain of imagination for both the visiting artists and participants in their activities.

4 PM

Welcoming by the organisers and introducing the subject of the exhibition by curator Magdalena Worłowska

4.30 PM

Rebirth of Social Justice – performance by Wiktoria Kruk

venue: square at Rzeźnicza and Narutowicza streets, at the pedestal of the sculpture Social Justice

During the opening of the exhibition Fountains of Imagination, the artist will show the performance Rebirth of Social Justice, which is her comment on the destroyed sculpture of Social Justice.

5 PM

Openings. Summarising discussion and refreshments

The discussion summarising the project will focus on the needs that have emerged at the intersection of culture, art and ecology as well as the results of the residing artists’ encounter with the inhabitants of Opolno-Zdrój.

Participants:

Małgorzata Rzerzycha-Myśliwy – coordinator of the Openings project at Wrocław Contemporary Museum.

Anna Wilczyńska – administrator of Opolno-Zdrój, president of the Na Trójstyku Association.

Maria Wrońska – manager of the project (together with Mariusz Kosiba) on behalf of the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław

Artists in residence:

Wiktoria Kruk – third year student of Graphics at the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław.

Kinga Bartniak – visual researcher, graduate of the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław; in 2019, she began her doctoral dissertation on the space between work and free time.

Iwona Ogrodzka – doctoral student at the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław working in painting and video art.

Natalia Komorowska – she is currently preparing to defend her MA thesis at the Faculty of Ceramics and Glass at the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław while also studying Art Mediation.

Moderator:

Anna Ptak – curator of artistic and research projects, anthropologist by education, interested in the ecological and political determinants of culture-forming practices. Book editor, co-curator of an international residency programme and curator of exhibitions at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw.

6.30 PM

short meeting with the creators of the social sculpture By the Linden Tree

venue: square at ul. Kasztanowa 12 (village common room)

Dominik Podsiadły has come up with the idea for the sculpture-bench By the Linden Tree, which was created in cooperation with Kamil Kowaliszyn and Bartek Kozłowski, inhabitants of Opolno-Zdrój. They spent almost two months designing the bench and then obtaining the necessary materials, such as stone and wood. Individual elements of the bench were made in a workshop in Opolno-Zdrój in such a way that it harmonises with the tree, creating a place to sit down around the linden in the centre of the village. The greatest challenge was to devise a method of joining wooden elements that drew on the local timber-framing technique. In this way, the sculpture has become a continuum of the past and future, a monument to the local carpentry tradition that facilitates social contacts while reminding people about the benefits offered by trees.

During the meeting, a plaque with a fragment of Jan Kochanowski’s epigram The Linden Tree will be attached to the bench.

Dominik Podsiadły works with a wide spectrum of visual arts, from painting, installation and assemblage to new media art, implementing projects that could be termed “Conceptualism 2.0.” His most important curatorial project in the field of new media is the #nfcdab project – “Near Field Communication – Digital Art Blast,” developed since 2014. He studies Art Mediation at the E. Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław.

7 PM

performance of special guests Nati Krawtz and Maria Bitka entitled How to Swim

venue: old swimming pool hidden in the forest at the junction of Sportowa and Bogatyńska streets (by the road to Jasna Góra)

The performance touches on some of the key issues connected with the residencies, such as memory, imagination, nature, water. It focuses on a swimming pool that is still vividly remembered by many inhabitants of Opolno-Zdrój. On 28 August 2021, it will come back to life again!

Nati Krawtz – artist-swimmer, curator, art researcher. For several years, her activity has been focused on hydrological issues. Her projects usually begin by entering the water – she treats swimming as her artistic practice. She can be often found swimming in the Bolko lake in Opole, but she will jump at every opportunity to submerge herself in the water.

ca. 7.30–8 PM

glass forming in the fire of an outdoor stove – action by Natalia Komorowska

venue: Witryna sztuki, ul. Kasztanowa 10

Glass forming using an outdoor stove is based on heating the selected elements of glass by holding it in a flame with a temperature of approximately 800-900 degrees Celsius, which increases its flexibility and potential as a sculpture material. Glass in sticks is typically used in this process. However, it is also possible to use material obtained from glass waste – broken bottles or jars can be melted into small items (e.g. jewellery) or organic art forms.

Magdalena Worłowska, curator of the exhibition Fountains of Imagination, in 2020 earned her doctorate in Art History at the University of Wrocław with a thesis on the beginnings of ecologically engaged art in Poland. She has also completed studies in Applied Linguistics and Romance Philology. Author of over a dozen scientific publications on ecologically engaged art published in Polish and international monographs and journals, lecturer at BWA in Tarnów and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. In 2019, she began working as a curator – together with Natalia Krawczyk, she curated the exhibition Harvest Disaster at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Opole.

Organizers:
Muzeum Współczesne Wrocław
Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Eugeniusza Gepperta we Wrocławiu

Partners:
Sołtys i Rada Sołecka Opolna-Zdrój
Stowarzyszenie Na Trójstyku

Media patrons:
Telewizja Bogatynia, ArtRadio Bogatynia, Portal Zgorzelec.info, TVP3 Wrocław, Polskie Radio Wrocław, Radio RAM, Portal Rynek i Sztuka