curator: Joanna Zielińska

Angelika Markul is one of the most interesting artists of the new generation. The artist made her debut with the Sen Muchy (A Fly’s Dream ) exhibition in Galeria Foksal in 2006. During the inauguration of CoCA in Torun (2008), she presented her spectacular foam sculpture entitled Iceberg.

Markul uses an extremely specific repertoire of forms, combining video images with installations constructed of glass, wood, black foil, eye irritating lamps, or industrial ventilators. Certain elements constantly appear in her works, forming new configurations and arranging the space differently. During the NEW MOON exhibition – an extensive presentation of Angelika Markul’s art – CoCA’s interiors will become a giant installation, composed of her previous videos, sculptures and a site-specific project.

The title of Markul’s exhibition is derived from one of the phases of the Moon, in which it can’t be seen from the Earth. This particular season is described in many cultures as an extremely fortunate period, the time of purification, balance, transformation, or the time of sowing. Paradoxically, the works of Angelika Markul manifest neither harmony, nor alleviation.  The highly sensual world, created by the artist, is disturbing, even repulsive;  a world on the verge of decay, that makes us avert our eyes. The artist is fascinated with places covered with dirt and mantles of snow. The eye of the video camera leads us throughout nooks frozen in time, through attic spaces that seem neglected, where we can witness micro catastrophes…  While manoeuvring through this world, the viewer is  forced to lean on one’s senses and intuition. Reality mixes with irrational, overscaled landscapes, inhabited by trapped exotic plants and animals. Movie scenes take place in the radically composed, dramatic background, illuminated with pale, glimmering light, surrounded by ‚latex’ forms and wheezing ventilators.

Angelika Markul was born in Szczecin. She has lived and worked in Paris since 1997. In 2003 she graduated from Paris Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in multimedia, directed by Christian Boltanski. Collaborates with the Galerie Frédéric Giroux in Paris and Kewenig Galerie in Koln. She has participated in many international exhibitions, both group and individual, e.g. in Paris (Fondation Cartier, Museum d’Art Moderne Contemporain de la Ville de Paris, Méta Zone, MK2 Bibliotheque, Museum Luxembourg , Grand Palais du Louvre, Hudson au Grand Palais, Chatelet Theatre,  Cosmic Galerie a Paris,  Galerie Frédéric Giroux), at Castello di Rivoli, at Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Turin, at Spazio Culturale La Rada in Locarno, at Kewenig Galerie in Köln, at Trondelag Senter for Samtidskunst w Trondheim,  at Substitut in Berlin, at the ART BRUSSELS 2007, at Galerie Salvador Diaz in Madrid, at Musée BankART LIFE a Yokohama in Japan,  at Warsaw Foksal Gallery, at Galeria Miejska Arsenał in Poznan, at CSW Zamek Ujazdowski in Warsaw and at the CoCA Znaki Czasu in Torun (her ICEBERG installation was presented during the inauguration of the Centre, on 13-14 June 2008).