25 Jun 2014

Katarzyna Krakowiak at City Culture Institute, Gdansk

Katarzyna Krakowiak

the first shock of the great escape / pierwszy wstrząs ucieczki

Opening: 26th of June, at 7 p.m.,
Wielka Zbrojownia ASP, 6 Targ Węglowy, entrance from Tkacka Street
Exhibition dates: 27th of June - 6th of July 2014 (everyday 3 p.m. - 8 p.m.)
Curator: Patrycja Ryłko
Research framework: Jacek Dominiczak
Organizer: City Culture Institute (Gdańsk)
Partner: Academy of Fine Art in Gdańsk

Katarzyna Krakowiak often taps in her practice into the method of confronting contradictory and mutually excluding concepts: she communicates isolated and closed urban spaces in Tel Aviv with her free radio Jaffa; she activates unused parts of buildings, like Warsaw's Zachęta, among others, with sound compositions; she contrasts the mass of buildings with pure sound, which is the only thing to escape gravitation.

In her latest project at Wielka Zbrojownia in Gdańsk, Krakowiak again focuses heavily on the sensitive interface between two very different narrations which exclude one another temporally and spatially. The artist once again uses the matter of the building in 1:1 scale, which directly determines, in turn, the real dimension of her sculptural, temporal work.

Krakowiak makes full use of the specific dimensions of the building, she annexes the found space – more than seven hundred square metres of void and more than four hundred years of history, which weighed on the internal organisation of the spatial layout. With her intervention in space she defines its parameters anew through a partial introduction of only seemingly abstract spatial divisions. In reality, these are specifically defined divisions based on fixed formulas that regulate functionalism, understood here as the most economical and efficient way of creating public space. Inserting a geometrically elaborate solid into the space at Wielka Zbrojownia, tapping into void within a void, she uses abstracted guidelines which determine mechanically the most programme-wise and spatially complex objects of public space, and what follows, she uses entirely instrumentalised and modular norms of space meant for common use.

Treating functionalism as a physical limitation of space, defining it anew in the categories of systematised limitation that formats the way the building really works, which often contradicts its organic dynamics, Krakowiak highlights the complex relation between the shell of the building and its internal content, capacity of meaning and functional potential. Through a juxtaposition of two formulas which exclude one another temporally and spatially and regulate the workings of the Wielka Zbrojownia space, whose internal logic is beyond doubt not entirely understood at the moment and not used naturally, the artist reveals the hidden codes of dependence, especially those related to communication breakdown, dysfunction and the concept of mistake.

Katarzyna Krakowiak (1980) is a sculptor, who uses sound to explore the limits of architecture. She creates large-scale sound sculptures involving existing buildings, more than often applying a 1:1 scale. She fabricates different types of acoustic devices and creates a parallel acoustic system enabling to understand the logic of the building. She explores the problem of gravitation as sound is the only element of architecture that is totally free from this. She 'sonifies' buildings, their hidden air trajectories and highlights waste spaces in search of moment when they cease to be buildings and become sculptures. Krakowiak graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Poznan, (2006), was awarded the Ph.D. supervised by Miroslaw Balka at the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, (2013). Making the walls quake as if they were dilating with the secret knowledge of great powers received honorable mention at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2012). Her works were presented at many solo and group shows. Group shows: 2014'Episode 1-9 Sound Composition'/ As you can see Polish Art Today, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, curators: Sebastian Cichocki, Lukasz Ronduda; 2013'The great and secret show, The look out gallery'/ PERFORMA13, commission work by Storefront Art &Architecture, NYC, curators: RoseLee Goldberg, Eva Franch and Gilabert; 2013Lisbon Architecture Triennale, commission work; 2013 Gotheborg Biennal, All. FM, Gotheborg, curator: Joanna Warsza; 2013'When a stem breaks the water...: Sounds of the Sogetsu Ikebana school', commission work by postMoMA, NYC; 2013 'Chute'/ Turning FACT Inside Out, commission work by FACT Gallery, Liverpool, curators: Mike Stubbs, Aneta Krzemien; 2011'Gateways'/ Radio Intervention, commission work, Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn, curator: Sabine Himmelsbach; 2011 'Our mistakes are perfect, too'/ Gone to Croatan, Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund, curators: Daniel Muzyczuk, Robert Rumas; 2008 'Wall Zone'/ Games & Theory, South London Gallery, London, curator: Kit Hammonds 2013 'Rise and Fall of Air', solo shows: 2013 commission work Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, curator: Michal Libera; 2012 The Polish Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition — la Biennale di Venezia - 'Making the walls quake as if they were dilating with the secret knowledge of great powers'/ Common Ground, curator: Michal Libera / special mention; 2012 'Shorthand', P-exclamation, NYC, curator: Prem Krishnamurthy; 2011 'Panorama', Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow, curator: Anna Smolak; 2010 'Metaphones'/ Ekspektatywa, Warsaw, publication, editor: Krzysztof Gutfranski; 2011 ' Who owns the air?', Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, curator: Monika Wejchert-Waluszko; 2008 'All.FM Radio Free Jaffa', The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon, curators: Galit Eliat, Eyal Danon; 2006 'Mumijo', Space Gallery, Bratislava, curator: Juraj Cerny.