“Changing the Guard,” authored by Piotr Bernatowicz and organized under his curatorship, was created to present young art of the Poznan community. The artists exhibiting their works as part of the series are united by their age – all were born in the 1970s – and they also connected by the fact that they graduated from Poznan’s Academy of Fine Arts. They are not debutants however – most of them already have the experience of intense artistic life, first awards and participation in important exhibitions.
It is they who will soon change the older generation of artists and shape the cultural image of the city, as well as the country.
The “Changing the Guard” project planned for the 2004/05 season is constituted of six exhibitions presenting the works of twelve artists: Marek Glinkowski, Lukasz Kiepuszewski, Maciej Kozlowski, Piotr Zawada, Maciej Kurak, Malgorzata Kopczynska, Karolina Komasa, Alicja Swiatlova, Elzbieta Piatkowska, Rafal Jakubowicz (Wunderteam), Wojtek Duda (Wunderteam), Pawel Kaszczynski (Wunderteam). The conclusion of the series was meant as a group exhibition of all participants, planned for October 2005.
Each exhibition was an attempt to confront two artistic attitudes toward one separate subject: attitude toward artistic tradition and observation of social relations. This scheme perfectly fitted the two-story structure of the gallery, thanks to which the artists’ statements, while conducting a dialogue with each other, at the same time gained their own separate space. The language of artistic expression in which the presented works were created is mainly painting and sculpture.
An important element of the project was the desire to break down the negative attitude of viewers towards contemporary art. At each exhibition, art history students provided visitors with expert commentary. The series was aimed at a wide audience: people connected with art, but also those who are not professionally involved in it. The main goal was to initiate a discussion in the art community of Poznan about local young art, as well as to present the young generation of artists to the residents of our city.