Rear Windows
More and more often, contemporary art departs from galleries and museums to engage with particular places and communities. It is becoming a tool for conversations, getting to know each other, spending time together, and building relationships. Rafał Skwarek’s residency at ul. Ruska 46 is an example of a project which came into being by scrutinising a place and responding to the real needs of its community. Then, at the next stage, through cooperation with a local artist, this need evolved into a shared story about people, employees, and daily life in the courtyard. The starting point for the Rear Windows project was a greater need for community integration, which, over the years, has operated in one space while comprising various groups, initiatives, studios, and individual stories. Ruska 46 is a unique place, full of corridors, hidden alleyways, and spaces where artists, galleries, social organisations, and independent cultural institutions operate. Even though many actions take place here on a daily basis, most remain hidden from outsiders, visitors to the courtyard, and even sometimes from the people creating this space. Rafał Skwarek’s project was an attempt to pause at the invisible stories and to create a shared tale of a place built by inspiring people.
The initiative was developed in parallel with Marijonas Verbel’s residency, forming two complementary models of working with the community. While Verbel invited the residents of the courtyard to co-create a large-format installation, Rafał Skwarek focused on mindful investigation of the people, places, and daily relationships that comprise this unique community. Both projects were presented at the Courtyard Festival. The exhibition Rear Windows in the coffee bar Recepcja brought together people who had previously co-created the project.
The focal point of the process was a series of meetings with the people who formed the community of Ruska 46. The artist visited galleries, foundations, social organisations, and art studios, had discussions with people, and took portrait and documentary photographs. At the same time, he worked with archival materials and historical architectural plans, juxtaposing contemporary portraits with the material history of the place. The perspective adopted by Rafał Skwarek resembles a filmic device known from Alfred Hitchcock’s movies: watching life through a window. A camera becomes a tool for mindful observation, inviting viewers to look at a community up close through the lens of a sympathetic observer.
From the very beginning, the residency was developed in cooperation with the GUA Collective, whose members participated in both preparing a substantive concept suited to the community’s needs and in the subsequent stages of the artistic project. Together with the representatives of the community, the project’s guiding principles were developed, and the artist whose practice was based on documentary photography and work with local stories was selected, as this approach suited the needs of the community the best. Close cooperation with the GUA Collective enabled the development of a process grounded in trust, openness, and genuine collaboration. The effect of the residency was the photographic microcosm of Ruska 46, which was placed on the archival map of the courtyard. Skwarek created a mosaic of images that presents the diversity of the community and the network of relationships, adding a unique flavour to the courtyard. The project unveils both portraits of people as well as spaces normally unavailable to visitors. In addition to the exhibition at Recepcja, the artist left the aforementioned tiny photographic installations for the community to see throughout the courtyard. They have become fixed traces of the residency and a symbolic gesture conveying the effects of cooperation to the people who shaped the process. Thanks to this, the multi-dimensional images of public and private spaces were created.
The culmination of the project was the celebration at the Courtyard Festival. The exhibition’s vernissage brought together the project’s participants, representatives of organisations and studios, and Wrocław residents visiting Ruska 46. A natural conclusion to the process was a shared breakfast and a meeting devoted to the exhibition. Rear Windows shows that participatory art can be a tool for building community, while an artist’s social involvement can help strengthen social bonds.
We looked through the windows of Appendix Studio, Women’s Rights Center, Ukrainian Centre for Culture and Development, Kormorany, Klub Szalonych, ArtBrut Gallery, Galeria Kanał, Neon Side Gallery, Toy Piano Gallery, Galeria u Kosałki, TYC ART Gallery/Studio, GUA Collective, Foundation of Social Integration Prom, Koliber Foundation, Foundation Ukraine, Association of Ukrainians in Poland; associations: Association of Greeks in Poland ODYSSEAS, IP Studio; artistic studios of Barbara Idzikowska (Atelier Si, Pb), Beata Rojek, Mariusz Mikołajek, Piotr Butkiewicz, Artur Raczkowski (Utraberg), Wojciech Skiba, Graphic Studio of the City Gallery, Open Art Studios im. Eugeniusz Geppert, coffee bar Recepcja, studio of BWA Wrocław, Surowiec, Wrocław Institute of Culture, Wrocławscy Kameraliści, Ad Spectatores Theatre, Association of Polish Karaites.
Resident: Rafał Skwarek
Curatorial support: GUA Collective (Magdalena Mądra, Agata Grzych)