Artists: Jerzy Ludwiński, Włodzimierz Borowski, Jan Chwałczyk, Wojciech Gilewicz, Rafał Jara, Katarzyna Krakowiak, Mateusz Kula, Stefan Müller, „Moje Archiwum” Collection
Curated by: Piotr Lisowski

The Filling the blanks exhibition is dedicated to Jerzy Ludwinski (1930-2000) – art historian, critic, theoretician and curator, one of the most important anmators of polish art scene of the last century. Ludwiński remains an inspiring figure not only to scholars in contemporary art history but also to artists. The dynamics of Ludwiński’s actions and beliefs cannot be easily described in the process of analytical reflection; they belong to the realm of conceptual ideas, right where he left them.

The project mostly draws upon sources documenting Jerzy Ludwiński’s output and takes the form of a peculiar trip through archive materials. This has largely been determined by the critic’s biography; in his professional life he was active in a variety of creative centres and circles striving for decentralization of art and development of a language of art criticism.

The exhibition enters into a dialogue with the critic’s views on several levels. First of all, it scrutinizes his curatorial strategy that resulted in a unique duet of the curator / critic and the artist wishing to reveal artistic facts while treating gallery space as a studio / workshop where the focus is on the processual nature of actions. Another important aspect of the exhibition is the examination of his theoretical and critical works. The exhibition is an attempt to initiate discourse on above-mentioned aspects within the context of archival representation of facts, attitudes of selected artists who worked at the time, and references found in contemporary art discourse. Its objective is to present the figure of Jerzy Ludwiński through the idiom of exhibition which he himself developed, where all elements are merely symptoms of a process.

Filling the Blanks features works that contribute to the ongoing reinterpretation of which this exposition is merely a stage. The synergy of modern art, science and technology, greatly valued by Ludwiński, is referred to by Jan Chwałczyk in his examination of the relation between light and space, while Katarzyna Krakowiak is concerned with the interdependence between space and sound. Another kind of fascination is discernible in Stefan Müller’s visionary but also utopian urban projects from the 1970s. The idea of eliminating the object and the subject is taken up by Włodzimierz Borowski. The boundary between art and reality is overstepped by Wojciech Gilewicz, who blurs the line between the real world and its representation in art as well as by Mateusz Kula who discovers the potential of art in everyday activities. Finally, Rafał Jara’s map / diagram becomes a visual reflection on Ludwiński’s biography.
The project was realized in cooperation with the “Moje Archiwum” Foundation
www.mojearchiwum.org