Let them weave! Contemporary Polish Sewn Sculpture
oryginal tittle: “Niech szyją! Współczesna polska rzeźba uszyta”
Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Toruń
Curators:
Leszek Golec, Stanisław Małecki
Photo:
David Lewandowski (courtesy of the CSW in Toruń), Piotr Szmyt
Sculpture:
Fashionista (2016 – 2019)
Mixed media. Jute bank bags, clothing tags.
113 x 38 x 128 cm
In times of crisis, art returns to its roots, finding new meaning in the ancient craft of textile work.
In recent years, we have witnessed a shift by artists towards traditional craft techniques. Particularly significant in this context is working with fabric, which, on the one hand, serves as a therapeutic escape from reality, and on the other, as a response to what art should look like in times of deep crisis, which we are currently experiencing on various levels.
The exhibition „Let Them Sew!” addresses the need to create a cross-section of practices related to working with textiles, which Polish creators have engaged in over the past 60 years. The audience will be guided through the history of creating three-dimensional textile objects and sculptures. Its beginning will be marked by iconic works related to the successes of the so-called „Polish School of Textile” and avant-garde experiments from the 1970s.
However, the most important part of the exhibition will be the contemporary statements of creators, presenting the fabric medium as a space for communal expressions about our everyday life.
The exhibition, presented in the interiors of the Centre for Contemporary Art (CSW) in Toruń, is the second, expanded version of the curatorial selection of works that the Centre for Polish Sculpture in Orońsko presented in 2022 at the 59th Venice Art Biennale. This exhibition intertwined with the history and context of one of the most important capitals of contemporary art and presented works by the most interesting Polish creators whose practices intersected with the spatial medium of fabric. In Toruń, the Centre for Polish Sculpture in Orońsko aims to expand the set of both classical and contemporary experimenters, shaping today’s renaissance of the fabric medium, encouraging Polish audiences to embark on a journey through the „woven” threads and contexts they have created.
Artists: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Ewa Axelrad, Basia Bańda, Agnieszka Basak-Wysota, Jan Baszak, Bettina Bereś, Jerzy Bereś, Paweł Błęcki, Tatiana Czekalska, Ewa Dąbrowska, Iwona Demko, Lia Dostlieva, Monika Drożyńska, Diana Grabowska, Helena Hafemann, Władysław Hasior, Alexandra Hołownia, Radka Horbaczewska, Sylwia Jakubowska, Małgorzata Kalinowska, Ida Karkoszka, Jan Kucz, Małgorzata Lisiecka, Cecylia Malik, Aurelia Mandziuk, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Magdalena Moskwa, Teresa Murak, Mariia Mytrofanova, Franciszek Orłowski, Ewa Pachucka Maria Pinińska-Bereś, Krystyna Piotrowska, Wojciech Sadley, Elwira Sztetner, Agata Zbylut, Izabela Żółcińska, Sofi Żezmer.
SCULPTURE 
Fashionista
(2016 – 2019)
113 x 38 x 128 cm
Mixed media. Jute bank bags, clothing tags