Tadeusz Rolke: EVERYTHING IS PHOTOGRAPHY

Opening reception: 29.05, 6 p.m.

The Tadeusz Rolke birthday exhibition is an extensive retrospective that focuses on his most recent work. Tadeusz Rolke, a legend of Polish photography, has contributed extensively to the growth of this medium in Poland. His many years of work as a photographer, lecturer, extremely active participant in current artistic life, his many years of membership of the Polish Art Photographers Association and its Art Council, cooperation with periodicals and magazines in Poland and abroad make him one of the most eminent personalities of Polish photography.

Rolke (b. 1929 in Warsaw) began photographing during World War II. He was deported into forced labor to Germany for his participation in the Warsaw Uprising. He returned to Poland after the War. As an art student, he was jailed in 1951 for alleged participation in an "antistate association." After the political thaw of 1953, Rolke worked for the Stolica weekly and the lauded Polska monthly.

Rolke spent 1970-1980 living in Germany and photographing for periodicals like Stern, Spiegel, and Die Zeit. His Fischmarkt series from Hamburg received international acclaim. After returning to Warsaw in 1980, he initiated and produced group shows, including in the Stara Galeria of the Polish Art Photographers Association. In the mid-1990s, Rolke began closer cooperation with the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, where, in the Magazyn Gazety, he runs photojournalistic reports from Poland and abroad, including places diverse as Ukraine and Tunisia. He also began work with the prestigious German art periodical, Art. Rolke lectured at the University of Warsaw's journalism department, ran workshops for young journalists and photojournalists and is often invited to be a juror in Polish and international photography competitions.

Notable exhibitions: To the Living and the Dead, with Jerzy Budziszewski, synagogue in Tykocin, 1986, Galeria BWA in Białystok, 1986, Polish Architects Association in Warsaw, 1986; I photographed the 60s and more..., 1997, CCA Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw; Neighbor, with Chris Niedenthal, Galeria Zachęta in Warsaw, 2001; Stiklo Karoliukai Gallery in Vilnius, 2002; Before and After 1945 - Poland, 2002, Striped House Gallery in Tokyo; Baja Mare, 2002, Gallery Foksal Foundation in Warsaw; We Were Here, Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, 2003, National Museum in Bratislava, 2003, Festival Est-Ouest in Die, France; Fischmarkt, Hamburg Photography Triennial (as a special guest), 2002; Places, Polish Institute in Paris, 2005; retrospective, Photography Gallery in Kowno, 2005; Hier waren wir, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Gallery in Berlin, Karl Marx Haus in Trier, 2006; That's Not All, Wroclaw in the Dolnośląska Photography Gallery - Romansch House in Wrocław, Gallery M in Poznan, 2008, Anna Roza Art Gallery in Oslo. Recent publications: album Photographs 1944-2005 published by the Gallery Foksal Foundation in Warsaw (2006), book Hier waren wir (We Were Here) published by foto-TAPETA Berlin-Warsaw (2008), which Tadeusz Rolke cofounded.

Tadeusz Rolke's extensive photographic catalogue focuses on humanistic photography. He is deeply concerned with people as well as their public and private surroundings. Rolke's series of portraits depicting artists, people of culture and politics constitute important artistic photographic achievements. This CCA exhibition references his previous show at the Ujazdowski Castle in 1997, and presents about 120 photographs and distinct thematic cycles that accent the circumstances and times during which they were taken. After CCA, the exhibit will travel to Poznan, Łódź and Wrocław.

Tadeusz Rolke
EVERYTHING IS PHOTOGRAPHY
photography
Kurator: Marek Grygiel