When: 18.06–29.08.2021
Opening: 18.06.2021 (Friday), 6:00 p.m.

Curators: Krzysztof Stanisławski, Andrzej Saj, Anna Paleczek-Szumlas
CoCA Curator: Paulina Kuhn
Arrangement: Krzysztof Stanisławski
Exhibition realisation: Wojciech Ruminski

Artists: Sylwester Ambroziak, Marcin Berdyszak, Bożenna Biskupska, Rafał Borcz, Janusz Buczkowski, Wacław Cisowski, Henrikas Čerapas, Tomasz Domański, Jonas Gasiūnas (LT), Patricija Gilytė (LT/D), Ryszard Grzyb, Tadeusz Jakubik, Renata Jaworska (D), Piotr Kaleta, Jerzy Kamoda, Jarosław Kozakiewicz, Włodzimierz Kulej, Romuald Kutera, Alvydas Lukys (LT), Aleksandra Mańczak, Angelika Markul, Jerzy Mierzejewski, Leszek Misiak, Neringa Naujokaitė (LT), Zdzisław Nitka, Andrzej Pęczalski, Jerzy Piątek, Paweł Pierściński, Agnieszka Polska, Marlena Promna, Natalia Rybka, Zygmunt Rytka, Jan Spałwan, Mariusz Stanowski, Maciej Szańkowski, Leon Tarasewicz, Eglė Ulčickaitė (LT).

The exhibition features selected works from the jubilee edition of the Sacrum Art Triennial in Częstochowa. These include paintings, photographs, sculptures, and video installations. The leitmotif of the Triennial is the question of the sanctity of nature, or perhaps our ‚to be or not to be’. This is one of the most important topics we currently have to reflect on. Let us approach the Triennial as a message, an appeal, a wish expressed through art… let us consider it as a call to come to our senses.
The artists invited to the 10th Triennial employ a variety of artistic languages, different words and grammar styles, with more or less complicated metaphors and figurative expressions, but in essence they all say the same thing: that we will be in a dire situation if we do not recognize the sanctity of nature today, as well as its superior role in the life of our planet and of each individual human being. If we persist with the question mark, that is, question and challenge this approach, it will mean that we do not see the danger, that we treat the danger in terms of possible events, but not certainties. In fact, the meaning of religion or the understanding of the concept of sanctity is not important, because it is not at all certain that we have a chance of survival, regardless of whether we consider nature to be sacred or not, even when we believe or do not believe in God, in the Trinity – or any other, or all of them at the same time. With God or without Him, we can (and, unfortunately, consistently do) exhaust nature, annihilate it, while condemning ourselves to non-existence. We must realize that without nature – whether sacred or not – we will not exist.
The Sacrum Art Triennial is one of the most important art events in Poland with a 30-year tradition, inviting artists who in their work address important, if not fundamental, questions about the human condition and its relation to the Absolute. The initiator and first curator, the eminent critic Wojciech Skrodzki, wrote the following about the intentions of the Triennial: „It is about creating a certain ‚spiritual space’ through the selection of works that combine contemporary creative consciousness with the expression of the experience of the Sacred.”
This year, besides Polish artists, artists from Lithuania and Germany were invited to participate in the Triennial.

The exhibition is co-organised by the City Gallery in Częstochowa.
Partners: Meno Parkas Galerija in Kaunas and the editorial staff of the “Format” magazine from Wrocław.
Works on display come from the private collections of the Artists as well as from the Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, the BWA in Kielce, the In Situ Contemporary Art Foundation in Sokołowsko and the CoCA „Znaki Czasu” in Toruń.
The 10th Sacrum Art Triennial was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport.