Kraków Artistic Meetings – Territories

Thursday, May 26, 2022 - Sunday, July 31, 2022

  • Thursday, May 26, 2022 - Sunday, July 31, 2022
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During the 1970s and 1980s, Poland’s most important presentations of the latest trends in painting, printmaking and sculpture included the regular reviews “Kraków Meetings” and “Sculpture of the Year” organised by the Association of Polish Artists and Designers at the the BWA Exhibition Pavilion and the Palace of Art of the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts. The tradition was revived in 2017 by the Kraków Branch of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers by inviting Cracovian artists to participate in a great celebration of the arts under the banner Kraków Artistic Meetings. The biennial event was held again in 2019, and the pandemic meant the opening of the 2021 edition has been moved to May and June this year.

The meetings are always accompanied by a set motto: 2017’s “Configurations” were followed by “Dialogues” in 2019, while this year’s leading motif is “Territories”. “The motto refers to how people perceive their living and working spaces, and the limitations of internal and external standards, conditions or circumstances. The works presented at the exhibitions refer to the global COVID-19 pandemic which started in spring 2020 and completely changed the world and how we perceive our freedom, independence, safety and sudden threats,” explains Joanna Warchoł, President of the Kraków Branch of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers. She adds, “The territories of the motto are the spheres of progress and achievement which allow us to believe in the unlimited scope of human thought on one hand, and on the other the effects of how some of this thought is implemented, leading to widespread destruction of the environment and even threatening our safety and that of our planet.”

The main collective exhibitions present a review of works by Cracovian artists, from drawings and small-scale sculptures (Palace of Art), multimedia (Promotional Gallery at the Academy of Fine Arts), paper artworks (Palace of Art), art books and prints (Pryzmat Gallery) and art photography (Nowa Huta Cultural Centre). The Nowa Huta Cultural Centre also hosts an interdisciplinary exhibition and a presentation of outdoor sculptures. The official opening is held on 26 May at the Palace of Art, followed by a concert by Cracovian fine artists and vocalists at the Nowa Huta Cultural Centre and a discussion panel at the Academy of Fine Arts. Galleries throughout Kraków present exhibitions and accompanying events from April.

“Artists present works exploring our place in a world filled with threats to our activities and lives. They indicate existing territories of freedom and independence, external safety of individuals and societies, and limitations, restrictions and prohibitions which have a direct effect on our mental health and functioning and on the stability of nature and the laws which govern it,” adds Joanna Warchoł.

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