IMPERATIVE

IMPERATIVE / 01.02.2021 - 05.03.2021

On 5 November, the City Gallery becomes the showcase for art works by six Polish artists. The exhibition includes drawing, glass, photomedia projects, fabric, spatial objects and installations. The show will be open until 11 December.

The concept of a garden of sciences and arts, in which the power of human intellect and spirit is manifested, is firmly lodged in the collective consciousness. The garden is as old as humanity itself – humanistic and natural sciences confirm that ever since man emerged from the darkness of history, he has appeared as an individual that rationalizes, but also aestheticises reality.

A close look at the panorama of the garden of arts would lead to a conclusion that it is not situated as an autonomous part of the human world, that is culture, and that it is not characterised by homogeneous and monocultural content. Thus, it appears as an island, unrestricted by precisely defined borders and floating in the endless flowery meadows of culture. On its outskirts, or just outside them, there are its separate manifestations, hardly visible at the first glance, nearly unprecedented and sometimes rebellious. Perhaps this is because the hosts of these enclaves are the innate children of the Absolute, who, as Plato claimed, “are inspired, possessed, and that is how they utter all those beautiful poems. […] these beautiful poems are not human, not even from human beings, but are divine and from gods”. While creative spiritual outbursts naturally apply to all artists and all their creation, the feature that makes it possible to separate some of its inhabitants from the art garden is a particular kind of enthusiasm, that is, permanent disposition and determination in artistic practice.

The concept of imperative seems to be an appropriate term to explain and justify this creative determination.  It is an unshakeable and indisputable rule resulting from intellectual and emotional assumptions: artistic, ideological and sometimes moral. Formulated in many ways in reference to an individual artistic strategy, although it does not refer to a universal ethical obligation it always indicates the necessity of fulfilling it, even against one’s will, including the will of the artist involved in delivering their artistic mission.

The idea adopted by the curators of IMPERATIVE exhibition is to present the achievements of six original creative attitudes. Some of them have found their permanent place in the history of contemporary art, and it also includes authors whose artistic achievements show ideally determined creativity that has already had a chance for positive verification. The audience gets an opportunity to encounter artistic creations delivered in various materials and artistic techniques, such as drawing, sculpture, fabric, glass, spatial objects as well as in photomedia and screen projects.

Artists: Andrzej P. Bator, Łukasz CEKAS Berger, Łukasz Gierlak, Wacław Szpakowski, Stach Szumski, Igor Wójcik

Curators: Mirosław Jasiński, Manfred Bator

Organisers:

Centre of Culture and Art in Wrocław [Ośrodek Kultury i Sztuki we Wrocławiu] | www.okis.pl
City Gallery in Wrocław | www.galeriamiejska.pl