An exhibition in the Polish Institute in Berlin, prepared with German and Polish cooperation, offers insights into recent Polish history and history in general.
It is called "Was nehmen wir mit?" which our German colleagues in Polish Radio tell us could mean "What are the takeaways?" - i.e. "What have we learned?". The artists presented at the exhibition, Karin Sander and Michał Martychowiec both share insights into history and what we have learned from it.
White Passageways in Łódź
Karin Sander visited Poland in 1990, invited to participate in an exhibition entitled "Construction underway". Her work turned on the use of large amounts of paint to highlight elements of Łódź architecture like the passageway above, but also inspiring local inhabitants to take some of the paint and use it in their own way.
One of the photos in the exhibition, for example, shows a balcony that has been "refreshed" in this way and stands out as a kind of symbol of both the past and the future. These "site-specific" interventions also inspired building authorities to renovate certain passageways. In general, some of the areas Sander illustrates in Lódź have since been renovated as part of the large-scale work Łódź is undergoing, while others still wait.
The "passageway" of time is thus brought to our attention and we are asked, in the interpretation of the new exhibition in Berlin: "What should we preserve, take away, forget?"
The sands of time
The title of Michał Martychowiec's work in the exhibition, "Sous les pavés, la plage!" ("Under the cobblestones, the beach!") uses a phrase from the 1968 rebellion in France. The meaning could be debated, but is usually understood to mean that there lies freedom under the oppression of institutions, buildings.
"Under the cobblestones, the beach!", a series of works by Michał Martychowiec, photographed by Yelizaveta Vlasenko. Used with kind permission.
Martychowiec's work in the exhibition in a way reverses the "layers" in the title by covering up images of important historical events with sand-like glass crystals. These are then removed revealing the historical even that had almost been obliterated from view. Perhaps the beach is not the emblem of liberty the 1968 students thought.
As can be seen above, Poland's Solidarity movement is one of the key moments of history Martychowiec invokes.
Sources: Polish Institute Berlin
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