Paulina Brelińska-Garsztka
I am a freelance independent art critic, curator and graduate of curatorship studies at the University of Arts in Poznań, PL. I curated solo and group shows and worked with institutional collections in Poland. I am a member of Artistic Research Collective Czy badania artisticzne? Currently I work as an international projects and residency coordinator in Wrocław Institute of Culture being responsible for both national and international program of an institution. I love mountains and run a small guesthouse in Karkonosze, PL.
Areas of interest: visual arts, artistic research, foreign artists living in Poland, interdisciplinary studies, artist management.
Past projects you are proud of (before MC)
CO-CREATOR of RESIDENCY PROGRAM for foreign artists living in Poland
In 2020 and 2021 I was a co-creator of the concept for residencies for foreign artists living in Poland (part of Strefa Kultury Wrocław programme). The project consisted of the following residencies: 1) Overdue time off (Pablo Ramirez Gonzalez), 2) Belarusian Winter (Zlata Lebedz, Palina Komarowa, Jana Shostak, Volha Martynenka, Alesia Maisei)
CURATOR OF GROUP EXHIBITION
Voyager’s Record
It was my final year graduate project which was a real exhibition in Galeria SKALA, Poznań Art Week 2018 30.05–09.10.2018 but also online on Research Catalogue Platform.
About exhibition:
The exhibition “The Voyager’s Record” refers to traveling as such a form of mobility, which results from the internal need to see inaccessible, undiscovered, lost and mysterious places. Its title is related to the name of two gold-plated disks – The Voyager Golden Record – which was placed in the 1970s onboard of spacecraft launched as part of the Voyager program. There were some specific recordings and photographs on these disks that were supposed to show the life cycle of the human species on Earth to the extra-terrestrial viewers. The exhibition shows the latest works created by artists and figuratively refers to the untamed dreams of seeing unknown lands and what is more the cosmos. Artists’ projects pay attention to the images and elements of nature that interest them during their “expeditions” (expedition is translated as “mobility organized for a specific purpose”). Such concept situates the artist in the position of a researcher/explorer who archives/documents reality and nature for a specific purpose. These objects are deprived of the features of the “artifact” (translated as “incorrect element of the scientific research result”). On the contrary, they become a specific scientific record depicting life on Earth.
C0-ORGANIZER of CONFERENCE
¿ Czy badania artystyczne? (¿Whether artistic research?), online https://czybadaniaartystyczne.com.pl/
22-23 October 2021
I was a co-curator of an online conference about artistic research and its influence on Central and Eastern European art discourse.
The conference “Is there artistic research?” was a three-day scientific and artistic event which aims at reviving and developing the discussion around the issue of artistic research practices in Poland. The topic of “artistic research” has been arousing great interest in the west and north of Europe for more than two decades and is gaining more and more attention of artists and researchers also in Poland. What if it turned out that the close relationship between art and research has its own tradition here for at least half a century? The organisers of the conference (Paulina Brelińska, Zofia Małkowicz, Zofia Reznik) have set themselves and the participants the task of reconstructing the national artistic and research traditions on the one hand, and systematising knowledge on contemporary activities combining art and research on the other.
CURATOR of GROUP EXHIBITION The thing about collecting. What is it all for? MBWA Gallery, Leszno, PL (03.07-09.2020). It was an exhibition of institutional collection.
About exhibition: The eleventh exhibition presenting the collection of the Municipal Art Exhibition Office in Leszno, entitled The thing about Collecting. What Is It All For? focuses not only on the interesting history of this collection of works of art but is first of all an escape from reality. In this peculiar pre-holiday pandemic, we, the curators, have decided to encourage viewers to take a break and breathe in the gallery space. To this end, we propose an exhibition filled with colour, nature, sunshine and relaxation.
We begin the story of the collection quite broadly, namely by recalling a scene from the film La migliore offerta directed by Giuseppe Tornatore: A mature man is in a high room that is accessible only to him. He is a collector. He sits in a comfortable armchair with a high grey backrest. He is looking at works hung very tightly, one above the other. These are outstanding works, acquired at auctions. There is practically no space on the high walls without a canvas. The owner is very sentimental about his collection, treats it like a treasure and can contemplate it for hours. After a long time, however, he closes the room and leaves. He is the only person who had access to it.
With this scene in front of our eyes, we are tempted to ask why all this? It is safe to say that many institutional or private collections experience their little lockdown in storage rooms or homes. The works are left there on their own, just like in the mysterious room of the main character in the film La migliore offerta. The chance to see them is by regularly showing works from the collection at temporary exhibitions.
CURATOR OF INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITION Lia Kimura, Show me your face, Gallery Wejście przez sklep z Platerami, Warsaw, September 2019. Solo exhibition of paintings created by Lia Kimura.
Why have you chosen to be a curator or why has curatorship chosen you? Curational studies help to think about art in the frame of space and it is a driving tool for establishing interesting collaborations and contacts. What is more, it is a helpful and practical knowledge about how to run various cultural projects.
What do you think is the purpose of art? Art is a tool of expression and emphatic way of getting to know the world.
Contact Information
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