WROCłAW.- Monumental spatial installations, the iconic figure of ”Jednonogi” [The One-Legged], series of paintings and visionary designs on the borders of sculpture and architecture are among the works by Bożenna Biskupska which can be viewed in the retrospective exhibition held in the Four Domes Pavilion. The artist has developed her unique artistic language which she uses to describe the universal history of existence shown against the background of time, space, transience and persistence. For over a decade, Biskupska has also been engaged in the creation of the international centre for artistic experiments in Sokołowsko in Lower Silesia. The exhibition also involves other creative personages, who in reference to the genius loci of that place, undertake a dialogue with the body of work created by Bożenna Biskupska.

”The spectrum of the means of artistic expression used by Bożenna Biskupska spans from painting and drawing, sculpture and multiple figurative groups, extensive spatial installations, video art, to performative and interdisciplinary projects”, says Stach Szabłowski, co-curator of this exhibition. “This diversity is reflected in the showcased selection of the artist’s most important works and in the series of her works. One can find here forms and motifs which Biskupska has elaborated from the time of her debut in the late 1970s/early 1980s, as well as her visions which transcend the horizon of the present directed to the future”, added co-curator Emilia Orzechowska, who together with Szabłowski created the concept of this exhibition.

Visitors can see different versions of ”Jednonogi” [The One-Legged] – the most recognisable figure created by Biskupska, which has become her trademark. This ambiguous creature is present in her work in a variety of formats, materials and configurations, becoming a universal hero of existentialist drama. The exhibition shows the One-Legged sculpted in cement and cast in bronze, monumental and in the smallest possible size, monochromatic and painted in pure colours, also multiplied in the form of a drawing on paper, a carving in cement, and in video clips.

The work entitled ”Misterium czasu” [The Mystery of Time], with which Bożenna Biskupska represented Poland at the 41st Venice Biennale in 1984, is also showcased here. It is a set of 32 anthropomorphic sculptures, recalling the form of a sarcophagus as well as of a cocoon – a symbol of existence spanning from duration to transcendence.

Other exhibits include paintings and drawings realised by Biskupska, including pieces from the series “Rysunek rzeźby” [Drawing a sculpture], “Wytyczanie obrazu” [Demarcation of an Image], and “Klatka wielka” [Large cage]. Visitors can see the artist’s sketches and drawings, large-format monochromatic canvases in which oils are used together with linseed oil, pencil and coal. These pieces, created in long series, provide a continuation of Biskupska’s sculpture designs, in which she addresses such issues as rhythm, repetition, cyclicality, sign, trace, and records of human presence in time and space.

The exhibition of works by Bożenna Biskupska is not only a platform presenting the artist’s output, but also a space shared with other invited guests involved in artistic creativity. For nearly two decades, Biskupska has been evoking the spirit of cooperation, repeating the gesture of hospitality offered in Sokołowso, a village in Lower Silesia at the foot of the Suchy Mountains. In 2007, together with another artist, Zygmunt Rytka, and with Zuzanna Fogtt, Biskupska established there the International Culture Lab – a unique independent institution – which in time has evolved into a phenomenon on the European scale. What was once a health resort, has become a stage for festivals, artist residence stays, meetings and exchange among Polish and international artists.

The heart and symbol of these initiatives is the building of Brehmer’s Sanatorium, a 19th-century monumental neo-Gothic structure which inspired the architects of the famous health resort in Davos, immortalised by Thomas Mann in the novel “The Magic Mountain”, and also served as the setting for the novel by Olga Tokarczuk, “Empuzjon”. When Biskupska commenced her activity in Sokołowsko, this historical building was a ruin, which is now in the process of comprehensive restoration owing to the immense involvement of the artist, returning to its former glory. The artistic actions realised in Sokołowsko were included by the curators in the body of work by Bożenna Biskupska presented in this exhibition in Wrocław.

Other artists, for whom both the work of Biskupska and Sokołowsko itself have become an inspiration for the realisation of their own artistic projects, also feature in the exhibition. Visitors can see, among others, photographic objects and the optical machine of Nicolas Grospierre, a sound installation by Piotr Pawlak formed from the recordings of the voice and heartbeat of Bożenna Biskupska, an on-camera choreographic performance by Magda Jędra, and also a painting / sculptural / architectural realisation by Stach Szumski. As part of the project entitled ”Artystka i Budowla Możliwa”[The Artist and Possible Construction], the viewer can look at Brehmer’s Sanatorium through the eyes of the late Zygmunt Rytka (d.2018), a prominent multimedia artist and co-founder of Fundacja In Situ. The exhibition shows for the first time the photographic series of a performative visual description of Sokołowska recorded by Rytka, and at the same time is the artist’s self-portrait set in the context of that place.

The exhibition concludes with the multimedia installation “Budowla Możliwa_spotkanie” [Possible Construction_The Meeting] presented in the Immersion Room at the Four Domes Pavilion, created in the cooperation by Bożenna Biskupska with new-media artists Laura Adel and Bartosz Radzikowski, and curated by Ryszard W. Kluszczyński. The installation literally transports the audience into the space of the imagination of Biskupska, to whom the exhibition “Artystka i Budowla Możliwa” [The Artist and Possible Construction] is dedicated.

”The exhibition of these works by Bożenna Biskupska in the Four Domes Pavilion Museum of Contemporary Art is another retrospective exhibition – following those dedicated to Ewa Kuryluk and Magdalena Abakanowicz, and prior to that of Maria Pinińska-Bereś – of art created by a woman, an extraordinary Polish artist. Viewing Biskupska’s works provides a unique opportunity to explore her artistic philosophy, in which art is both a record of personal experience and a tool creating social context”, suggests Iwona Dorota Bigos, Director of the Four Domes Pavilion.

The exhibition is co-organised by the Contemporary Art Foundation In Situ.

The National Museum in Wrocław is an institution of culture directed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
Four Domes Pavilion Museum of Contemporary Art
Branch of the National Museum in Wrocław
'Bożenna Biskupska. The Artist and Possible Construction'
March 10th - June 9th, 2024