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THE WAY: MAJKA FROM THE MOVIE
A solo exhibition of ZUZANNA JANIN
In collaboration with lokal_30 (Warsaw)
Curated by Rachel Rits-Volloch
OPENING 7 September 19:00 – 21:00
8 September – Extended until 7 November
PARALLEL EVENTS:
11 Sept – 14 October: SKY SCREEN Program, Running the Cities
12 Sept: MOMENTUM Curator’s Talk at Berlische Galerie
20 Sept: Panel Discussion at the Hoffmann Collection – Aspects of Revolt
In collaboration with lokal_30, MOMENTUM is proud to present the solo exhibition of Zuzanna Janin, THE WAY: Majka from the Movie. This exhibition marks the premiere of the complete series of Majka from the Movie – the first time all 9 episodes have been shown together. The serial video project Majka from the Movie (2009-2012) merges investigations into the history of art and film with a focus on rebellion. In the episode REVOLUTION (Heroes & Heroines) the artist addresses the history of urban protests: from the revolt of 1968, to the resistance movement in the totalitarian regime of Poland in the 1980s, to the protests against ACTA; thus highlighting an essential characteristic of contemporary art – the potential to visualise that which is ‘in-between’ – development processes, change, ongoing rebellion. The video Majka from the Movie (8 episodes and a pilot episode in collaboration with Tomasz Kozak) is a body of quotes from films and music of the last 40 years, which develops a vision of history and culture interlaced with ongoing political and social revolt. The video series will be accompanied by a sculptural installation, which will face Majka – rebellious fictional character from a 1970s film – with a boy, a notorious vagabond. In the episodes ‘JOURNEY’, ‘WALK’, and ‘THE WAY’ Majka encounters Zygmunt Bauman, Slavoj Zizek and Hans Ulrich Obrist, and talks with them about heroes, dreams and the role of artists in the world.
In the course of the exhibition at MOMENTUM | Berlin, works by Zuzanna Janin will be shown on SKY SCREEN, our public art initiative in Rosenthaler Platz. There will be a Curators talk at the Berlinische Galerie, and the private museum Hoffmann Collection will host a panel aimed at discussing the engagement of artists and art in contemporary social, political and cultural problems, as well as the role of art as a tool of social change. The project will be presented later at the Królikarnia Palace, part of the National Museum in Warsaw, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and The National Museum in Cracow. It has previously been shown at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011) and Kunsthalle Wien (2010).
Zuzanna Janin lives and works in Warsaw. She is the author of sculptures, installations, videos, photographs, actions and performances. The central themes of Zuzanna Janin’s works are space, memory and time, as well as the states in between. Her works invite reflection on the arbitrariness of social roles, their fluid boundaries and the place of individual freedom within the workings of state and society. Janin’s film and video practice, alongside her installations and three dimensional objects, frequently address ideas of social construction and formation of interactive singular and/or group identities. In her latest works, she visualizes how both singular and collective identities are manipulated and played off against one another in today’s contemporary culture. A singular identity thus finds itself – as Janin makes us aware – in a continuous state of personal construction and displacement. Majka from the Movie is a series of videos, based on the Polish TV series from the 70s. The episode “REVOLUTIONS” was included in the international group presentation at the 54th Venice Biennale. The multichannel video screened at MOMENTUM features 9 full episodes, including the new episode in this series – “THE WAY”, to be premiered the week before at the Krolikarnia, part of the National Museum in Warsaw.
“The shaping of identity is made in time and by circumstances, and it is not something that is a pre-given. This is most evident in her recent and ongoing major video serial project Majka from the Movie (2009), which is yet to be finally completed. The multi-part video serial Majka from the Movie takes as its point of departure and as a framing narrative a television soap opera of sorts, called the Madness of Majka Skowron (1975), a popular series made in Poland in the mid-seventies and still shown. The original series story was based on a generational conflict between a father and adolescent daughter…By using her daughter as both an extension and part of her own personal identity formation, the artist presents herself both in front of and behind the camera… The periodic intercutting or splicing in of Majka, and also her contemporary re-incarnation or life projection, operate as the shared unity against a backdrop or compendium of personal film and music appropriations…” (Mark Gisbourne, Identifying Identity, March 2010)
Since 2005 lokal_30 has been providing the space and environment for various projects and artistic actions. The venue continues to operate as a place for artists to meet and work, a site for artistic activities, a backdrop for photographers, a set of art movies, a creative workshop, an exhibition space, and a meeting-place for the art world and everyone interested in art. The mission of lokal_30 is to serve art and artists, and give rise to new projects of all kinds: one-off events, works-in-progress, performances, actions, socially-engaged initiatives, meetings and debates.
As a gallery, lokal_30 concentrates most of its exhibition and promotion efforts on video works, with a mission to provide the best possible conditions for contact with and reflection on contemporary video art, as well as debates with the artists. lokal_30 is run by Director Agnieszka Rayzacher and collaborates with a great many of artists and curators, who all make it a venue where innovative and fascinating high quality art is exhibited and created.
