[spectre] dockwatchers exhibition (Gdansk) (Modified by Geert Lovink)

[Aneta Szylak]

Dockwatchers
Curator: Aneta Szylak
 
Wyspa Institute of Art / Wyspa Progress Foundation
ul. Doki 1, Building 145B
PL 80-958 Gdańsk
Tel.: +48 58 320 44 46
 
Opening party September 2,7 p.m.
The exhibition is open from 3 September to 30 October, Tuesday-Sunday 
12.00-18.00

In what way do we relive history? How does participation in important 
historical events affect our attitudes, decisions, life choices? How do 
we perceive history today and how do we relate it? What can be saved 
and what is doomed to oblivion? “Dockwatchers” is an exhibition about 
the artistic image of the memory, history and mythology connected with 
the foundation of “Solidarity”, a social movement which had a 
significant influence on the process of system changes in Poland and 
Central Europe. “Dockwatchers” addresses the person, the individual, 
caught up in political and historical processes, whose personal memory 
is inscribed in collective experiences, the official representations of 
history and various forms of commemoration and mythologisation. The 
stormy quarter-century that has passed since 1980, despite or perhaps 
because of the uncommonly rapid transformation, was also a time of 
violent conflicts and disagreements, including about the shape of 
memory. How many personal histories of Solidarity are there and to what 
extent are they contradictory? It is people, their dreams, hopes, 
frustrations, ideals and disenchantments that are the heroes of this 
exhibition, which juxtaposes the oral tradition connected with the 
heritage of Solidarity with its media image. It recalls known and 
unknown figures, faces, symbols and images. It poses questions about 
the contemporaneity that grew from the seedbed of the ideals of the 
1980s.
 
Apart from works directly referring to history and the people who 
created it, we also have works that speak of the ambiguous perception 
of the past. About the doubts, fears and impossibilities of discovering 
the truth, because of the uncertainty of sources and the breakdown in 
the credibility of former figures of authority. The exhibition is then 
a project about the current state of the Poles’ spirit. It shows the 
drama connected with the appearance of a crack in reality. It is also 
charged with a considerable load of irony in the way of looking at 
national disputes and stereotypes.
 
The focal point of the exhibition is the original Solidarity logo 
designed by Jerzy Janiszewski and signed by Lech Walesa. This work 
constitutes the symbolic reference point for the whole project, since 
it played a significant role in creating and cementing the myth of 
Solidarity. The exhibition contains works by Polish and foreign 
artists. These include works specially created for the exhibition by 
resident artists at the Wyspa Institute of Art: Zbigniew Libera, Fanny 
Adler and Cecile Paris and Rene Lueck. These artists will spend August 
in the Shipyard in order to realise their works in the context of this 
specific place. The works will be shown alongside works from the 
Collection of the Wyspa Progress Foundation: “Himalaya Bahn” by Rene 
Lueck, “Flag for the 3rd Polish Republic” by Grzegorz Klaman, “What? 
Repeat [Solidarity]” by Marek Sobczyk, “Lightsphere” by Andrzej Syska 
and recently created works by Polish artists who have undertaken 
related themes: “Long Ago and Untrue” by Jadwiga Sawicka, “Is Your Mind 
Full of Goodwill?” by Elżbieta Jabłońska, “The Lech Walesa 
Commemoration Room” by Grzegorz Klaman, “The Solitarity Museum” by 
Marek Sobczyk, “Dissenter” by Jacek Niegoda, “Really” by Alina 
Zemojdzin, a video installation by Ania and Adam Witkowscy and a whole 
series of portraits of activists from the early Solidarity days by 
Michał Szlaga. The exhibition will be complemented by a video 
installation of Andrzej Wajda’s 1981 film “Man of Iron”, an image which 
played a significant role in inscribing August into Polish culture and 
collective memory.
 
Participants in the exhibition:
Fanny Adler and Cecile Paris, Elzbieta Jablonska, Jerzy Janiszewski, 
Grzegorz Klaman, Zbigniew Libera, Rene Lueck, Jacek Niegoda, Jadwiga 
Sawicka, Marek Sobczyk, Andrzej Syska, Michał Szlaga, Andrzej Wajda, 
Ania and Adam Witkowscy, Alina Zemojdzin.
 
Project partners: Espace Croise in Roubaix, Hamburger Kunstverein in 
Hamburg, Fundacja Signum in Poznan, the National Museum in Gdansk, 
Synergia 99 Ltd.
 
Special thanks to:
Vera Bagalianz, Catherine Blondeau, Wojciech Bonislawski, Krzysztof 
Czerwinski, Eric Deneuville, Krzysztof Dolny, Yilmaz Dziewior, Marek 
Frankowski, Gabriela Gantenbein, Bogdan Garstecki, Mo Gourmellon, Zenon 
Grudzien, Andrzej Kwiatkowski, Janusz Lipinski, Jaroslaw Przyborowski, 
Arkadiusz Rybicki, Dorota Sadowska, Roman Sebastyanski, Dominika 
Skutnik, Dorota Swinarska, Monika Szuba, Tadeusz Z. Wolanski, Pawel 
Wrobel.
 
The project constitutes the inauguration of the artists’ residence 
programme in the Wyspa Institute of Art. On 3-4 September the 
exhibition will be accompanied by a conference entitled “Arte.Akt: the 
Political Potential of Art” organised in co-operation with the 
quarterly “Krytyka Polityczna” [“Political Critique”]. The curators of 
the conference are Magda Pustola and Aneta Szylak.  
 
Since September 2004, the Wyspa Institute of Art, in the grounds of 
Gdansk Shipyard in the building of the former Basic Shipbuilding 
School, has been the home of the Wyspa Progress Foundation, an 
innovative artistic organisation combining the presentation of 
contemporary art with deliberations on the shape of social culture. We 
invite you to look at the architectural plans for the extension of the 
Wyspa Institute of Art by Robert Brodzinski and Andrzej 
Niegrzybowski.More information on our website: www.wyspa.art.pl and 
www.mlodemiasto.pl
 
The Wyspa Progress Foundation is a public benefit organisation entered 
in the National Court Register under the number 0000063731.
 
The Wyspa Progress Foundation and the exhibition are supported by: the 
French Embassy, the Goethe Institute, the French-German Cultural 
Projects in Other Countries Programme, the Marshal of the Pomorskie 
Voivodeship, Peri Polska sp. z o.o., Gawrychowska & Nierzwicka Tax 
Chancellery, Femax sp. z o.o., Centaurus sp. z o.o., Koło S.A., 
DeDietrich, Sony, Klaman Print and anonymous donors. 
 
If you are interested in supporting contemporary art, here is the 
Foundation’s account number:
Bank PKO BP S.A. 98 1020 1811 0000 0002 0076 0355 Swift: BPKOPLPW
 
English translation © Tadeusz Z. Wolanski