Anna Klimczak „Zamknięte” / 'Closed’,  XX1 Gallery, Warsaw; exhibition open from 4 to 28 October 2022

The exhibition could only be viewed through the gallery windows. Visitors experienced a feeling of restriction and isolation. The theme of the exhibition was an archive consisting of sketches. Putting the old scribbles within the current site-specific installation resulted in something like double vision. The titular ‘closure’ blocked access to the gallery and the artistic processes reconstructed there, and provoked questions on the possibilities of cognition. The coinciding perspective of the gallery space seen from the distance of the street and deliberately highlighted by the objects assembled in the exhibition corresponded with the sketches. The materials used to create the objects elicited an association of rubble, and the individual components were reminiscent of charred wooden logs.

Preparatory work for the exhibition was prompted by a review of sketches and drawings from the past. Bridging the gap between the present and past events, and acknowledging selected facts and reflections, created a broader interpretative perspective. The viewers experience constraints on the interpretation of the exhibition, while the limits allow new ways of thinking about the exhibition to be triggered. The project shows the archive as an important aspect in mapping the future, while at the same time it identifies time and memory as obstacles to an unimpeded view of reality.

Przygotowanie wystawy sprowokował przegląd szkiców i rysunków z przeszłości. Zmniejszanie dystansu między teraźniejszością a dawnymi wydarzeniami, afirmacja wybranych faktów oraz przemyśleń, stworzyło szerszą perspektywę interpretacji. Widzowie doświadczają ograniczeń związanych z odbiorem ekspozycji, tymczasem limity pozwalają uruchomić nowe sposoby myślenia o wystawie. Projekt ukazuje archiwum jako ważny aspekt w wyznaczaniu mapy na przyszłość, a jednocześnie wskazuje czas i pamięć jako przeszkody w swobodnym oglądzie rzeczywistości. 

XX1 Gallery, 36 Jana Pawła II Avenue, Warsaw

Contributing to the exhibition:Tomáš Džadoň – artistic collaboration; photo by: Maciej Meru Adamczewski

Special thanks to: Ryszard Ługowski (the curator) and the XX1 Gallery team; Tomáš Džadoň for artistic collaboration; Mariusz Klimczak, Arkadiusz Kordalski and the Kluś&Kluś team for their help with the production of the exhibition; Małgorzata Krzanowska for her invaluable advice; Tomasz Miśkiewicz and Joanna Miśkiewicz for their technical assistance; Marianna Klimczak for her belief in the project’s success; Jerzy Klimczak for his audio design inspiration; Novie for video’s sound; to the photographers who documented the exhibition and supported its production (Maciej Meru Adamczewski, Jędrzej Sokołowski, Ignacy Skwarcan, Jarosław Barański); the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology for their organisational support in staging the exhibition and to all those who contributed to its creation, as well as to the visitors for their participation and valuable feedback.