To celebrate its institutional opening as Poland’s first newly erected venue dedicated to contemporary art since 1939, Centre of Contemporary Art in Torun invited Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary to present works from the foundation’s collection as part of the inauguration exhibition.

The selection of artworks drawn from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Foundation (T-B A21) explores the question of artistic representation of today’s ever more precarious work spheres within advanced economies. The dramatic but also multi-voiced “work histories”, as narrated or presented by Julian Rosefeldt, Allan Sekula, Los Carpinteros, Anetta Mona Chisa & Lucia Tkácová and Andreas Siekmann result from radical shifts in production and work processes, such as the outsourcing of services to migrant workers, often “sans papiers”, and from larger social re-stratifications reflecting the changing orders of social representation. These histories are the symptoms of transitional states, where larger, planetary readjustments create localized distortions and conditions of morbidity and entire sectors of skilled labor are at risk of displacement or disappearance.

The exhibition is complemented by a daily film program True [Hi]stories of Work, consisting of films and videos both from the holdings of T-B A21 and many other selected video and filmic works framing the topic within various geographical and contextual parameters.

Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary

Founded in Vienna in 2002 by Francesca von Habsburg, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary represents the fourth generation of the Thyssen’s family’s dedication to the arts. The foundation is committed to supporting the production of contemporary art and actively engaged in commissioning and disseminating unconventional projects. T-B A21 sustains a far-reaching regional and international orientation and explores modes or presentation that are intended to broaden the way viewers perceive and experience art.

The exhibitions Other than Yourself currently on view in T-B A21’s space at Himmelpfortgasse and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary. Collection as Aleph at Kunsthaus Graz are thematic manifestations of the foundation’s collection. The new commission by Matthew Ritchie/Aranda Lasch The Morning Line in the scope of the Art Pavilions project will bring about major participations in this year’s Biennales of Venice and Sevilla.

Exhibition sponsor:
Meinl Airports International

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