Contemporary Artists on Jewish Warsaw
March 11–April 25, 2016
Presence/ Absence/ Traces. Contemporary Artists on Jewish Warsaw exhibition showcases works created during the thirteen artistic residencies at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. Presenting works by: Luísa Nóbrega, Eliane Esther Bots, Noa Shadur & Konrad Smoleński, Tamara Moyzes & Shlomi Yaffe, Jasmine Bakalarz, Itay Ziv, Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, Hubert Czerepok, Florencia Levy, Aslı Çavuşoğlu & Simone De Iacobis & Małgorzata Kuciewicz, Lukas Ligeti, Maya Schweizer, and Sharon Lockhart.
Artists from Poland, Israel, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Turkey, and North and South America represent a variety of approaches to the issues of Jewish heritage and multiculturalism in Warsaw. Thus creating a polyphonic commentary on its history and the present day.
The video and audio productions, photographs, and records of activity in the public space presented in the exhibition focus on the categories—presence, absence and traces. They address the questions: What is Jewish identity? What is the identity of Warsaw as a centre of Jewish life? What picture of the city emerges from collective memory, individual memory and present experience? What narrative is constructed by remembrance policies? And who is “a local”?
All of the works have been realized in cooperation with POLIN Museum, and most with the participation of the local Jewish community, the community of the Muranów district, and other Varsovians. The Presence/Absence/Traces exhibition will be the first collective presentation of these works and a record of a long-lasting activity that has connected the areas of art and adult education.
The exhibition catalog with texts by Polish philosophers, anthropologists, and historians is published online at issuu.
Ewa Chomicka and Agnieszka Pindera are the curators of the exhibition and the artist-in-residence program.
The exhibition is part of the “Faces of Diversity” component of the “Jewish Cultural Heritage” Project.
Supported by the Norway and EEA Grants by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
