Extensive exhibition of nearly twenty artists from the Art Bunker Collection. The exhibition was an attempt to bring Poznan audience closer to institutional art collecting in Poland. The Art Bunker Collection has been put together since the beginning of the 21st century. The works gathered in the collection correspond to the current state of artistic thought and are selected following voices from independent curators and art critics. Within a period of merely several years, until the end of 2007, the collection has acquired as many as 92 works of 27 artists. It included works of international and Polish artists, with special emphasis put on the Kraków-based ones.
To reflect the overall character of the Collection, Art Stations has chosen a selection as representative and as comprehensive as possible. It was displayed on both levels of the gallery building.
On the lower one – devoid of natural light, – films, projections and lightboxes has been shown. In this environment the masters of Polish avant-garde have been presented (public projections of Krzysztof Wodiczko and films of Józef Robakowski) as well as younger artists (Marta Deskur, Wael Shawky, Karolina Kowalska, Małgorzata Markiewicz and one of the collection’s latest acquisitions – a projection of Bogna Burska).
On the upper level – lit by natural light -, the works of Polish classics of modern painting has been displayed (Tomasz Ciecierski, Edward Dwurnik, Marek Sobczyk), and the co-founders of the famous Ladnie group active between 1995-2001 (Rafał Bujnowski, Marcin Maciejowski, Wilhelm Sasnal, Oskar Dawicki), as well as the works of Łukasz Skapski and the humorous, ironic objects of Janek Simon. Several works presented in this section emphasized the themes of identity and sexuality at the same time making references to culture, tradition and stereotypes, e.g. the photographs of Katarzyna Górna, Alicja Zebrowska or the latest painting cycle of Lidia Krawczyk and Wojtek Kubiak – representatives of the young generation of Kraków-based artists (series titled Genderqueer). Speaking of the artist involved in this exhibition it is impossible not to mention the work of Jadwiga Sawicka, represented by numerous paintings, objects and photographs. The whole exhibition was brought to a closure with a set of sophisticated, poetic, rich in reflection and tensions black-and-white photographs of Mikołaj Smoczynski.
The exhibition at Stary Browar Gallery was the fifth presentation of the Art Bunker’s collection, preceded by three successive displays in Kraków (2005, 2006, 2007) and one in Rome (2008).
