Parallel World … Poland 50°//N-52°//N

Krakow has always been and will be a city of artists and art. The rich cultural tradition of the city is a fitting background for the modernity of its art scene incorporating a substantial number of artists who enliven the city’s image, at the same time being a representative sample of Polish contemporary art.

It will be a dynamic event - Polski równoleg©¯y œwiat (Polish Parallel World). This non-thematic presentation is a manifestation of new art and its intelligent interference into real life, incorporating such diverse media as painting, drawing, objects, installations, photography, film and performance. It is meant to provoke a dialogue and interaction.

These are some instances of what is to be expected: a fashion collection from a second-hand shop, a copy of the only remaining piece of furniture from the Pope’s house, an advertisement for winters windows, a transformation of urban waste land into a friendly space, pictures of passers-by in Lille and in Krakow, situational drawings, computer making a snowman, a tattoo firm marking art carriers.

The artists who will be exhibiting in Lille believe that passivity is artistic capitulation: 1. They develop most ingenious and surprising strategies. 2. Fully determined, they explore the world they live in. 3. Their reaction to overflowing information is to focus on particular everyday events concerning society, existence, public and private matters. 4. They have got a sensible perception of reality: they comment on it, reproduce it, tame it, and even direct it. 5. Their art successfully keeps up to date with the ever changing range of problems. 6. They freely exploit the huge potential of modern art media. 7. They make use of all accessible techniques and materials, ranging from the simplest to the most complex, from accidental findings to new technologies. 8. They do not shun traditional methods. 9. They do not imitate international art, but they do not violate it, either. 10. Their main features are distance, freedom, independence. 11. They all aim at combining life and art, crossing the borders that keep art separated from the rest of the world. 12. Their work is appreciated even by those who are doubtful about contemporary art. 13. They captivate the attention of those who believe art should provoke discussion and want to participate in it.

They would be the most accurately described by the French term "concernés" ("attentive, involved, intent"). Attentive to the world that surrounds them.

Parallel World … Poland 50°//N-52°//N / Young Art from Krakow
Kurator: Boena Gajewska

mit Rafal Bujnowski, Oskar Dawicki, Marta Deskur, Karolina Kowalska, Michal Kowalski, Marcin Maciejowski, Malgorzata Markiewicz, Janek Simon