The cultural autumn in London will have a distinctly Polish flavour. And you don’t even need to look far.
A new Polish movie called ‘Tricks’ is on general release now and it’s getting good reviews.
Dulwich Picture Gallery is having an exhibition called The Polish Connection. This from their website:
In 1790 the last King of Poland commissioned two art dealers, who later became the Founders of Dulwich Picture Gallery, to buy a collection of paintings as Poland’s national collection. His idea to start a Polish national collection is now the inspiration for a major new work by Antoni Malinowski, the distinguished London-based Polish artist, linking Dulwich Picture Gallery and Warsaw’s Royal Castle.
There are also some videos on the Gallery’s website introducing the exhibition and explaining more about the Polish king.
And at the end of September as part of POLSKA! YEAR Polish artist Robert Kusmirowski will transform The Curve at the Barbican into a replica of a World War II era bunker.
What’s interesting about this project is the fact that for two weeks at the beginning of the exhibition – from 30th September – you will be able to view Kusmirowski working alongside three assistants on the final touches of this installation. If you can’t make it to London, you can still follow the progress via a webcam on The Barbican website. The entire exhibition will open to the public on 16 October.
The project sounds intriguing as Kusmirowski will ”draw on the Barbican’s concrete architecture and its location on a site devastated by bombing during World War II”. So what to expect?
Derelict industrial machinery, discarded paraphernalia and the fragments of signage in the space suggest German and Soviet influence, alluding to their political and military presence in wartime Poland.
If that sounds a bit too heavy, you can always escape to the cinema as Barbican will dedicate its October Directorspective to the multi-award winning Polish filmmaker Wojciech Has. His films will be accompanied by a new installation by contemporary artists The Brothers Quay, commissioned by the Polish Cultural Institute and inspired by the films of Has.
If I had my pick, I’d go to see all of them. Particularly curious about the new film, ‘Tricks’ (have you seen it? as good as the reviews?) and really want to watch again Has’s “The Hour-Glass Sanatorium”. And so should you.
Images courtesy of Barbican Centre. Mouse over images for full credits
