A US Embassy in Poland Grant Project
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The Solidarity Project / Projekt Solidarność: @home | @dom : virtual artist talk series
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Contact Us: solidarity2020project@gmail.com
EVENT DESCRIPTION // Saturday 26 June, 9am ET / 3pm CET
Enjoy our fourth @home | @dom: virtual artist talk series online public session: CULTURESCAPES: the politics of collective memory, shared identity, and contemporary art with Bogdan Achimescu + Aleksandra Wałaszek.
The Solidarity Project is in conversation with Polish-Romanian artist and professor Bogdan Achimescu + Polish multidisciplinary visual artist Aleksandra Wałaszek, moderated by artistic director Joanna Pottle. These artists will discuss their multidisciplinary artistic practices within both a Polish and transnational context.
As we continue to navigate complex physical, cultural, and socio-political landscapes, these artists share with us how art has the ability to facilitate powerful storytelling and truth telling through visual language. Through their unique creative practices, they investigate the liminal space between what is reality, physical and concrete and what is conceptual, immaterial, and interpreted. With an emphasis on the politics of identity, memory and heritage, these artists question what is preserved and why, while also considering how art bears witness to history, holding space for individual stories as well as discovering new, collective horizons. Join us for their stories, as well as Q&A and discussion.
SESSION SCHEDULE: Saturday 26 June, 9am ET // 3pm CET
Welcome and Introductions
First Artist Talk: Aleksandra Wałaszek
Q&A with Aleksandra Wałaszek, moderated by Joanna Pottle
- 5 minute break -
Second Artist Talk: Bogdan Achimecu
Q&A with Bogdan Achismecu, moderated by Joanna Pottle
Conclusion of public event
ZOOM MEETING LINK TBA
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES:
Aleksandra Wałaszek
Aleksandra Walaszek (1987) is an interdisciplinary artist. She received MA in Media Arts (2011) and Art Education (2015) from Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw. During her studies she was awarded exchange stays at École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg, France (2009-2010) and Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, USA (2010). Wałaszek is a co-founder of Fundacja Art House and artist-run space called Forma Otwarta in Oleśnica, Poland. She has received several stipends including the Individual Artist Grant from Polish Cultural Institute in New York. Often working collaboratively, she participated in many exhibitions, festivals, biennales and art residencies, including: R.A.T. in Mexico City, Mexico; It was, it is and will be - Wonderful times International Art Symposium, Wrocław; Mobile Museum, Dizajn BWA Wrocław; Voice Mail, Elswhere Museum, Greensboro, USA; Sun Effect, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, USA; Borders, Bludny Kamen, Opava, Czech Republic; Albedo, Junior High, Los Angeles, USA; Translocation, KunstHaus, Wiesbaden; MAD MAPs, Paradise AIR in Matsudo, Japan; ID, Milobela Kinshasa, Congo.
Born to a family of artists, she describes her childhood as a great social experience in the open air, where every story is being transformed into an image. Walaszek tends to focus on subjects such as: identity, memory, history and the meaning of a place and space as well as the language. Her work has involved the creation of conceptually based objects, videos and installations as well as happenings. Being a foreigner has become a source of great inspiration to Walaszek, who is currently celebrating mobility as a way of living.
Website: https://www.aleksandrawalaszek.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/framesforwords/?hl=pl
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Aleksandra-Wa%C5%82aszek-574515056058543.
Bogdan Achimescu
Born in Romania, in Timișoara, Bogdan Achimescu studied art at the Academy of Visual Arts in Cluj and earned his diploma within the Faculty of Graphics of the Academy of Fine Arts at the Jan Matejko in Krakow. His artistic practice includes drawing, photography and installation. His work explores themes of genetic inheritance, political dystopia and, more recently, imaginary architecture and artifacts.
He represented Romania at the Venice Biennale in 2001 as part of the Context Network project. His work is included in many collections in Poland and around the world (MOMA, Uffizi, etc.). In addition, his didactic work is represented at art academies in Poland (Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in 1992–93, from 2007 to today), Romania (ASW in Cluj - 1995), the United States (annual contracts with the University of Virginia 1999–2000, 2002–04 ; University of Arizona 2001–02 and he lectures at over a dozen other universities. His individual exhibitions span Europe, Asia and America.
Website: http://www.achimescu.info/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanachimescu/
Professor Profile: https://www.intermedia.asp.krakow.pl/wydzial/kadra/dr-bogdan-achimescu
What is the Solidarity Project / Projekt Solidarność?
The Solidarity Project / Projekt Solidarność is a virtual artist + cross-cultural exchange project that brings together emerging Polish and American artists to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis from 2020-2021 to investigate the critical need for togetherness and unity in an age when physical proximity is eliminated, isolation is mandatory, and life as we know it is drastically changing at a rapid, alarming rate. Emerging artists are invited to participate and established artists are invited to engage as guest artists and speakers to use the universal communication form of art to bring people together. Artists are also called upon to critically question and rethink what we do, the purpose of our work, the significance of artistic creation in a time of crisis, and how art can be used as a means of creating local and global solidarity in this moment of crisis as an artistic archival process. The project includes monthly virtual sessions with discussions, cross-cultural exchange, guest speakers, artist talks, and more. Concluding programming, specifically a virtual exhibition and remote opening, will take place in October 2021. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks and months and let us know if you would like to cooperate with us!
Who are we?
Joanna Pottle, Artistic Director // website | instagram
Born in Richmond, VA, Joanna is a visual artist, researcher, educator, curator and recent Fulbright Alumnae (2019-2020 to Poland). Her studio practice combines abstract mixed media techniques of painting, printmaking, drawing, and installations. She currently resides in Kraków, Poland, as a graduate student at the Jagiellonian University, cooperating with MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, while facilitating the Solidarity Project.
Julia Leś, Poland based Curatorial Assistant // website | instagram
Born and based in Krakow, Julia is a visual artist, focusing on painting, drawing, digital art, graphic design and animation. She is a student of Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (from 2018). In her third year of studies, she is a Solidarity project co-organizer and logo designer.
Jack Holloway, US based Curatorial Assistant // website | instagram
Born in Seattle, Jack is a film director, photographer, musician, and activist. His ongoing projects include Morbid Instinct, The Heavens, and Act for Abolition. He currently resides in New York City and is a researcher and contributor to @blackwomxnmarch and is a Solidarity project co-organizer.