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12/11/2009

Artur Zmijewski

Cornerhouse, Manchester

Cornerhouse presents the first major UK survey exhibition of Polish artist Artur Żmijewski, which brings together a number of works made between 2003 and 2009, taking the video Pilgrimage as its starting point and ending at his latest video works Two Monuments and the multichannel work Democracies. In addition to the gallery show, there will be a screening of Żmijewski’s earlier works on 6th January.

This exhibition includes Democracies (2009) - a series of 20 short documentary videos that record a demonstration, parade or re-enactment where people have gathered to express their opinion, or allegiance or opposition to a cause - and Two Monuments (2009), in which Żmijewski worked with Polish and Irish unemployed men and women at Fire Station Artists’ Studios in Dublin, highlighting the changing nature of Polish and Irish relationships and the labour market. Both works in the exhibition have not been shown in the UK before.

Alongside these, expect a number of other works, including a representation of his major installation work, Repetition (2005), in which Żmijewski revisits Professor Zimbardo's 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment and the critically acclaimed video work, Them (2007), first shown at Documenta 12.

In many of these works Żmijewski has developed a number of ways to explore art’s role in Poland’s transformation from communism to liberal capitalism, and how such strategies can help locate answers to the most difficult questions society faces today. Aggressive yet beautiful, humourous yet compassionate, Żmijewski’s film and video works challenge our sense of what should be made visible and what should remain invisible.

Artur Zmijewski was born in Warsaw in 1966. He has had solo shows at MOMA, New York; Kunsthalle Basel; BAK, Utrecht; and the Polish Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale. His work has been included in major international exhibitions such as the 11th Istanbul Biennial; Documenta 12, Kassel; The 2002 Liverpool Biennial; and Manifesta 4, Frankfurt-am-Main. British audiences will have seen his work in exhibitions at the ICA, London; Modern Art Oxford; and Collective Gallery, Edinburgh. This is his first major solo exhibition in the UK.

Creative Link for the Arts and the New Museum have also just announced Artur Żmijewski as one of the six finalists for the Ordway Prize, which is given to a curator/arts writer and an artist. His work Democracies (2009) has also recently been acquired as a gift to the Tate Collection.

This exhibition is part of POLSKA! YEAR in the UK 2009-2010. Exhibition will tour to Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland and Tramway Glasgow throughout 2010.

Produced by Cornerhouse. Curated by The Salford Restoration Office.

Image: Them, 2007, Courtesy of Foksal Gallery Foundation

Cornerhouse
70 Oxford Street Manchester UK, M1 5NH
Galleries Open:
Tue-Sat: 12:00 – 20:00
Sun: 12:00 – 18:00
Mon: Closed

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