Wro Art Center

Year opened to the public: WRO Art Center – 2008; WRO Media Art Biennale – 1989

WRO Art Center in Wrocław, which opened its new site in February 2008, is connected with the international WRO new-media festival, launched in 1989. WRO festivals were originally devoted to audiovisual art involving electronic and digital media, with sound taking a major role. Besides the obvious allusion to the city in which the festival is held, the name WRO was short for Wizualne Realizacje Okołomuzyczne, “sound basis visual art”. WRO festivals became one of the major new-media art events in Central Europe. Since 1993, WRO festivals have broadened their scope and have been organized bi-annually; the name WRO Media Art Biennale was adopted in 1995. Its rich public event program attract approximately 20,000 people to each WRO Biennale. It is the largest art event held in Wrocław in early May, simultaneously occupying several of the city’s major cultural institutions and other spaces.

Artists who have participated in WRO Biennales over the years include; Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, Irit Batsry, Stelarc, Volker Schreiner, Istvan Kantor, David Larcher, Jaron Lanier, Muntadas, Józef Robakowski, Robert Cahen, Takahiko Iimura, Olia Lialina, Ken Feingold, Masaki Fujihata, Jeffrey Shaw, Perry Hobbermann, Scanner, Granular Synthesis and the Gameboyzz Orchestra Project.

The WRO Art Center occupies over 550 m² of space in an early-20th-century building that formerly housed a coffee-roasting plant. The space has been fully adapted to the requirements of contemporary art presentations, combining restored elements (including the original rafters) with a newly designed glass façade. The multifunctional gallery and workshop/lab spaces can simultaneously house a number of different events. WRO also uses the former WRO Foundation offices on Kuźnicza Street in Wrocław, now called the WRO Atelier, as a secondary event space.

WRO Art Center exhibits and develops media art projects in the broader context of visual and performance art, as well as providing a critical perspective on contemporary culture. The Center aims to support artistic and educational activities, to expand and make accessible WRO’s collection, and to organize international cultural and intellectual exchanges through collaboration with renowned international art galleries and institutions, through a program of residencies for artists and curators.

In addition to a steady program of national and international exhibitions, educational activities and publishing endeavors (including the Polish/English multimedia periodical WIDOK: WRO Media Art Reader), WRO is currently developing international multidisciplinary projects both in contemporary art and cultural theory.

WRO Biennales feature a wide range of events and activities in a variety of formats and venues, presenting an overview of current media art, along with educational and archival programs.

Artists’ and curators’ residences and research facilities: Every year two or three artists working with new technologies, who take innovative approaches to image, programming and perception, are offered the opportunity to make use of WRO’s resources and archives to develop their own projects.

The Media Reading Room provides access to WRO’s collection of Polish and international media art. The collection, initiated in 1989, now holds around 6,000 works, representing a cross-section of media art from the 70s to the present day. Its holdings include unsurpassed archives of Polish video art, along with Polish and international media art, recordings and documentation of audiovisual performances, art action projects, multimedia objects, interactive installations and online projects. The archives are systematically digitalized, restored and made easily accessible.

Number of projects exhibited yearly (total):Six to eight in-house exhibitions, three to four exhibitions held in other art institutions in Poland and abroad.

Most outstanding projects of the last 3-5 years: Mirosław Bałka, Jetzt

Nam June Paik: Driving Media (+ international conference)

Igor Krenz, Illegal Practices

Zbigniew Rybczyźski, On Visual Image

Art-in-Residence: an exhibition of young Franch and Polish artists’ works produced under the auspices of WRO’s residence program

Wolf Kahlen, Video Tapes 1969-2010

WRO Art Center is designed for a broad audience; artists, curators, critics and art theoreticians, as well as the active and creative culture-oriented public.

In addition to exhibitions, WRO Art Center presents shows, concerts, screenings, lectures, workshops and publications of both Polish and international art. These include:
WRO on Tour, a screenings and lecture series presenting a selection of works from the most recent WRO Biennale, held in art institutions in Poland and abroad, and; WRO LAB on Tour, a series of workshops on central issues in new media art, such as constructing nonlinear works, directing interactivity, using motion-sensor systems and network environments, offered in art institutions in Poland and abroad.

Number of activities by type per year: 20 (lectures, artists’ talks, screenings and workshops in connection with the exhibition program). WRO on Tour: up to 30 events (screenings and lectures from the WRO Biennial). WRO LAB on Tour: between eight to ten workshops per year.

A significant part of WRO’s program is comprised of projects for children, carried out under the collective title Media Kindergarten, an evolving educational series of workshops, exhibitions, presentations and other forms of cultural participation.

WRO’s education programme aims to give children, teachers and parents a better understanding of contemporary art, media and communication technologies through play and various workshop activities held at WRO Art Center. Interactive Playground is an experimental exhibition of interactive installations and media objects that has been evolving since 2008, and has been presented at the Center and at various other art institutions in Poland. Art Mediation is WRO’s program specifically designed for individuals with learning difficulties.

WRO is involved in long term academic collaboration: Members of the WRO Art Center team hold lectures, workshops and courses for Wrocław University and the Poznań Academy of Fine Arts. WRO also organizes scholarly conferences.

Types of publishing/number per year: Two – three

Surface area/capacity: total, 550 m²

Type: Main gallery and mezzanine, 225 m²; Digital Library / Media Reading Room, 70 m² (occasionally also used for exhibitions); office space, 78 m²; workshop / lab areas, 32 m²; other usable space and 3-story staircase, 146 m².

Director: Violetta Kutlubasis-Krajewska, viola@wrocenter.pl

Chief curator/artistic director: Piotr Krajewski, kraj@wrocenter.pl

Executive producer: Zbigniew Kupisz, zk@wrocenter.pl

Public: 50% of WRO’s annual budget is from the Wroclaw City Authorities, and 25% from other public grants.
Other sources: 25% various
The WRO Foundation is a public-service not-for-profit organization.