28 May 2011

Alternativa opens in Gdansk on May 28

Located in the legendary Gdansk Shipyard, where the workers' strikes of 1980 began the process of the disintegration of the Communist bloc, Alternativa looks at the atmosphere of political momentum and its possibilities. Alternativa aims to investigate the ways in which contemporary art intersects with the political. It seeks diverse modes of knowing and is searching for a performative, affectual apparatus through which we can explore possible ways of existing in contemporaneity. For the exhibitions and events, the newly renovated spectacular space, Hall 90B, is made available along with Wyspa's and Modelarnia's own spaces.

The Summer 2011 programme will materialise in two exhibitions.

Labour and Leisure is a project encompassing that other side of labouring or what is out of sight of the typical representation of the work or worker. It seeks interest in stagnation, spare time and its uses, dreams and phantasies, false identities, forms of survival, frustrations of engagement and failures of transformation.

Artists: Anders Bojen & Kristoffer Ã?rum, Kalle Bröllin, Jane Cheadle, Maureen Connor, Roman Dziadkiewicz, Köken Ergun, Elżbieta JabÅ‚oÅ„ska, Hiwa K, Grzegorz Klaman, Zbigniew Kosycarz, Kasia Krakowiak, Joanna Malinowska, Ekta Mittal & Yashaswini Raghunandan, Ines Moreira, Jacek Niegoda, Cora Piantoni, Konrad PustoÅ‚a, Jadwiga Sawicka, Dominika Skutnik, Marek Sobczyk, Å?ukasz Surowiec, MichaÅ‚ Szlaga, Pilvi Takala, Milica Tomić, Anna Reinert, Zorka Wollny & Anna Szwajgier, Mariusz Waras, Julita Wójcik, and Artur Å»mijewski.

The project is curated by Aneta Szylak in collaboration with Maks Bochenek as curatorial assistant. The exhibition reader is edited by Krzysztof Gutfrański.

Estrangement: At the very core of the project there is the question of the circulation of cultural forms. The idea of considering the notion in this way arises at the intersection of the poetics of Shklovsky—a representative of Russian formalism—and the Arabic term taqseem, which means both musical improvisation and mathematical division. Found forms and 'everydayness' are points of entry into the way the project takes shape and disintegrates. 'Estrangement' works with various elements that do not seem to be connected then places them under observation and sometimes sets them to work.

Artists: Sherko Abbas, Shirwan Can & Horen Gharib, Shirwan Fatih, Gaylan Abdullah Ismail, Maryam Jafri, Hiwa K, Poshiya Kakil, Hüseyin Karakaya, Anton Kats, Reben Majeed, Rozhgar Mahmud Mustafa, Mattias Olofsson, Sener Ozmen, Diary Muhammad Osman, Joanna Rajkowska, Avan Sidiq, Cengiz Tekin and Knutte Wester.

Estrangement is curated by Aneta Szylak and Hiwa K. The exhibition reader is edited by Francesca Recchia.

The opening on May 28th is followed by the performance night that includes Zorka Wollny & Anna Szwajgier, Kasia Krakowiak as well as Anders Bojen & Kristoffer �rum. Please check regularly Wyspa and Alternativa websites for the updates about screenings, seminars and performances during the whole Summer that include contribution of Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Microsillons, Carrot Workers Collective, If I Can't Dance I Don't Want to be a Part of Your Revolution, Linda Pollack with Kareem Ibrahim, Elżbieta Matynia as well as Goldex Poldex among others.


Gdansk is easy to reach by plane via direct flights from Aarhus, Alicante, Bremen, Bristol, Cologne, Copenhagen, Cork, Dortmund, Dublin, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Helsinki, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Malmo, Milano, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Stavanger, Sheffield, Tampere, Turku as well as major Polish airports.

Alternativa operates in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Art in Riga and the curatorial platform If I Can't Dance I Don't Want to be a Part of Your Revolution in Amsterdam.

Alternativa is supported by the City of Gdansk and obtains additional support from the Province of Pomerania, European Union, Shipyard City, Pro Helvetia, IASPIS, Danish Embassy in Warsaw, US Embassy in Warsaw and the Delfina Foundation. The project is taking place in partnership with the Gdansk 2016 office, Baltic Property Trust and Gdansk Shipyard.