In mid-November, two former shelters located beneath the surface of Wrocław’s Plac Grunwaldzki housing estate, usually closed to the public, will open their doors together with subtile interventions into public park where the ruins of the old shelters are located. For three days, they will host an exhibition organised by the Wrocław Institute of Culture, entitled “SHELTERS, COVERS, SLITS. It’s Somewhere Further Away. Don’t Worry. Now Closer, Even Closer” by Yuriy Biley.
The event is organised by the Wrocław Institute of Culture as part of the international Magic Carpets project. The exhibition is curated by Paulina Brelińska-Garsztka, Brigita Bareikytė, Ana Gabelaia and Linda Krumina. The project focuses on the artistic interventions of Yuriy Biley, a Ukrainian artist based in Wrocław, whose work explores themes of migration and displacement. The main part of the exhibition will take place in a former shelter beneath a tenement house on Maria Skłodowska-Curie Street, where the artist lives. Biley proposes adapting the space for practical use – combining technical requirements with a concern for sharing resources and creating a communal refuge in times of danger. The project was developed in collaboration with experts and documented in a film co-created with Piotr Blajerski.
The title refers to three types of shelter – shelters, hiding places and crevices – while the lines borrowed from Antoni Smoliński’s poem Alarm, “It’s somewhere further away, don’t worry. And now closer, even closer,” encourage attentiveness to the situations that surround us.
Biley’s new exhibition reflects on current social and political realities while also presenting works created during his ten years in Poland. His practice, rooted in personal experience, draws on borrowings and quotations to create installations, video works, collages and post-artistic forms.
“This autumn, with Yuriy Biley’s exhibition, we are venturing out into the city for the first time in the history of Magic Carpets. I am delighted that, as an urban cultural institution, we have the opportunity to host an event addressing such an important and timely theme,” says Dominika Kawalerowicz, Director of the Wrocław Institute of Culture.
Magic Carpets is an international network of artist residencies bringing together 17 organisations from across Europe and is co-funded by the European Union’s “Creative Europe” program. Its aim is to support emerging artists and curators while engaging local communities in the city’s cultural life. The Wrocław Institute of Culture has been part of the platform since 2022.
The exhibition will be open to visitors from 14 to 16 November, between 11:00 and 18:00. Guided tours in both Polish and English will be available. The full programme will be announced shortly on the Wrocław Institute of Culture’s information channels.