Ninth edition of the Young Triennial focuses on themes connected with sustaining… the global climatic balance

To participate, the curator Marta Czyż has invited 32 young generation artists who address these issues in their everyday practice. Within the framework of the Triennial all the artists have had a meeting with the curator as well as their mentors (Bożena Kowalkowska, Urszula Zajączkowska, Agata Zbylut, Leszek Golec and Jarosław Lubiak), during which the participants discussed what art should look like, what tasks it ought to perform and how it should be displayed in order to minimize the degrading activity of man – including artists’. The worked out ideas and solutions are going to be presented in an exhibition and in the form of joint activities.

[…] So Long as We Still Live is an attempt to become part of the process of changes in art because young artists who look around themselves notice global problems as well as those lurk- ing round the corner. They fear the changes which have just occurred and those they perceive every day – important on the eve of developing their professional practices. The participants of the exhibition respond to these changes in the language they use. This awareness is revealed not only in their works but also in their way of life and way of co-participating. Some of them display anger and negation, others show hope and a willing- ness to solve the matters which they may not be able to solve systemically, but thanks to their work they will still be able to function in the profession.

On the island, there are about 300 churches and chapels that were built to protect fishermen during their long sea voyages. The white houses carved into the rock, or more precisely into solidified lava, contrast with the blue domes. Today’s buildings on Santorini were constructed upon an ancient civilization that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. And this could actually be read as some sort of metaphor. Archaeological research is still uncovering valuable artifacts, such as a stone sacrificial table with a painted underwater landscape, among which dolphins swim.