Absolute Elimination of Sculpture. Polish Sculpture in the First Half of the 1970s

The Absolute Elimination of Sculpture. Polish Sculpture in the First Half of the 1970s exhibition showcases an important moment in the post-war history of Polish sculpture – a time of spectacular transformation resulting from the new artistic trends and practices spreading across the world, influencing the world of art. Its title refers to Wanda Czełkowska’s famous piece Bezwzględne wyeliminowanie rzeźby jako pojęcia kształtu (Absolute Elimination of Sculpture as a Concept of Shape) designed in the early 1970s and created at the Centre of Polish Sculpture and presented for the first time during an exhibition there in 1995.

The first half of the 1970s saw the emergence of numerous trends in art, including minimal art, object art, conceptual art, environment art, land art, as well as body art/performance. Polish sculpture is hardly indifferent to new phenomena – it leaves its historical baggage behind, sheds the chains of the previous forms and gains new qualities. This exhibition aims to capture this very moment.

Given that many works and pieces failed to break through to the consciousness of a wider circle of critics to this day and only now lived to see the recognition they deserve in art history, the authors of this exhibition also want to showcase the contemporaneous works present in the global cultural context, as well as to present a well-documented material as a starting point for new debates and interpretations of the achievements of Polish sculptors.

The exhibition features works by more than 30 artists: Jan Berdyszak, Jerzy Bereś, Karol Broniatowski, Krystian Burda, Emil Cieślar, Elżbieta Cieślar, Wanda Czełkowska, Andrzej Dłużniewski, Barbara Falender, Paweł Freisler, Wiktor Gutt, Oskar Hansen, Władysław Hasior, Anna Jarnuszkiewicz, Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz, Krystyn Jarnuszkiewicz, Grzegorz Kowalski, Jan Kucz, Zofia Kulik, KwieKulik (Zofia kUlik i Przemysław Kwiek), Przemysław Kwiek, Zbigniew Makarewicz, Maria Pinińska Bereś, Waldemar Raniszewski, Adolf Ryszka, Maciej Szańkowski, Alina Szapocznikow, Olgierd Truszyński, Jan Stanisław Wojciechowski i Barbara Zbrożyna. Some of the pieces are shown for the first time since their creation, presented within their respective categories that tackle specific problems and issues – a solution that suggest the viewer what they might think about them, without imposing the desired interpretation.