FIGURES FROM THE NEW WORLD at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle
Artists: David Altmejd, Huma Bhabha, Aaron Curry, Thomas Houseago, Ohad Meromi 

May 18  –  August 26, 2012 
Curators: Fabio Cavallucci, Agnieszka Tarasiuk 
Coordinator: Małgorzata Garapich 

SKONTRUM Evolutions at the Królikarnia Palace
Artists: Paweł Althamer, Anna Baumgart, OIaf Brzeski, Krystian Czaplicki, Zuzanna Janin, Agnieszka Kalinowska, Piotr Kurka, Tomasz Mróz, Konrad Smoleński, Iza Tarasewicz and the authors of the sculpture collection of the National Museum in Warsaw 

May 18 – December 4, 2012
Curators: Aleksandra Janiszewska, Agnieszka Tarasiuk, Michał Suchora

Two exhibitions of contemporary sculpture open on 18 May 2012

• at 6:00 pm SKONTRUM Evolutions at the Królikarnia Palace
• at 7:00 pm FIGURES FROM THE NEW WORLD at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle
  
  
  

On 18 May 2012 in the Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture at the Królikarnia Palace, a branch of the National Museum in Warsaw, a new edition of the SKONTRUM exhibition opens for public under the title SKONTRUM Evolutions. The collection of sculptures presented since December 2011 has been completed with the works of artists creating within the last two decades. The works have been rented by their authors and private collectors as this period is not represented in the collections owned by the National Museum. It is a rare occasion to see the old and contemporary sculptures standing next to each other. Next to the noble busts of great leaders, poets and ladies, you can see porcelain frights by Olaf Brzeski in which he combines the classical portrait convention with fantasy aesthetics. Anna Baumgart’s "Bombowniczka" adjoins Xawery Dunikowski’s "Motherhood" – although created in the span of over 100 years, the both sculptures artistically rework similar tensions arising around the problem of motherhood. Tomasz Mróz’s pack of rubber rats crawls around the bourgeois bronze figurines, thus introducing the disturbing atmosphere of C horror movies into the museum.

The exhibition FIGURES FROM THE NEW WORLD, opening for public on the same day at 7 pm at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, will extend its present collection of contemporary figurative sculptures with the works of artists recognised world-wide and working in the US, i.e. David Altmejd, Huma Bhabha, Aaron Curry, Ohad Meromi, Thomas Houseago. They create large, traditionally understood sculptures, for which they use lo-fi materials, such as plaster, plywood and concrete, or even recycled industrial waste. While the 21-century art is dominated by conceptual strategies and the artistic language by multimedia, their massive figures resembling ritual totems might pass for an artistic novelty. As the history of art shows, every new artistic fashion very often refers to the past times. The artists presented at the exhibition FIGURES FROM THE NEW WORLD return in their works to their very essence, to the traditional role of the artist and physical significance of the work of art. The exhibition also offers workshops for the students of the Academy of Fine Arts which will be conducted by Ohad Meromi.



The opening of the both exhibitions at the Królikarnia Palace and Centre for Contemporary Art will have a form of a picnic.
The audience gathered in the Królikarnia park will have a chance to try cotton candy which for years has been used by Zuzanna Janin as her favourite sculpture material. The Anna Dymna music band will give a performance in the palace. Do not let the name of the band mislead you – the group is comprised of the young visual artists Tomek Kowalski and Agnieszka Polska presenting her work at the SKONTRUM exhibition. Additionally, you will be able to rent a bike in order to take a picturesque route along the Vistula River bank, through the Ujazdowski Castle, all the way up to the refurbished and recently reopened building of the National Museum in Aleje Jerozolimskie. We would like to invite you to use this cycling path also during the Night of Museums and throughout the whole summer.


Project Partner: Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture in Królikarnia Division of The National Museum in Warsaw

Sponsor: Consorzio Colline di Vinci



The opening is supported by the Warsaw Critical Mass. The bicycle trip from the Królikarnia Palace to the Centre for Contemporary Art constitutes a part of the Warsaw edition of Święto Cykliczne 2012 (Cyclist Holiday). 

CCA Media Patronage: Aktivist, Exklusiv, Stolica, Elle Decoration