Solemn Minute | Exhibition of works by part-time students of Graphic Art

Solemn Minute

Exhibition of works by part-time students of Graphic Art

Gallery Curators’LAB

Opening: 2.06.2023, 18:00

On display: 1-9.06.2023

The Solemn Minute exhibition presents selected works of students of part-time studies in the field of Graphic Art, which were created as part of classes conducted in the academic year 2022/2023 at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan. The works that make up the exhibition were created in response to the topics discussed during the classes. They relate to the issues of contemporary culture in an individualized way. They are connected with the academization of artistic creativity, which reveals a dichotomous division of art into the presentation of craft competences, as well as creative thinking. Perfectly mastered skills such as healing, counting or polishing, etc., are often called art, which does not mean that we are actually dealing with creative activities in the context of aesthetics. Even a masterful technical performance of a graphic or drawing does not have to indicate that it is art. Focusing solely on form or technique alone “(…) becomes flat mannerism, virtuosity or empty conventionality (…)”¹. On the contrary, art is culture-creating activities that present universal human values, shape new social relations and influence the way of perceiving and functioning of an individual in everyday life. They are a special kind of language used to convey complex knowledge and truth about the world. In the field of culture, art is constantly fluctuating, adapting to changes in social behavior. It fits into the existing customs, while modifying them.

The Solemn Minute exhibition is a moment of transcending the academic approach to art in favor of a general discussion on today’s visual culture. Going beyond the presentation of technical aspects undermines the process of aestheticization of art, which most often results from isolating artistic activities, reducing them to formal decisions. The distance to superficiality, “showiness”, schematic actions is combined with the adoption of a creative attitude that goes beyond the routine and becomes an individualized statement embedded in society. The authenticity of art and its adaptation to culture creates a socialized version of the human environment. Thus, the essence of creative activities is a constant search for the cause of the formation of cultural patterns. Jerzy Kałucki pointed out that: “if there is a significant reason to perform some work, the risk of aestheticization is lower. The reason is more important than the presentation. But if the way becomes more important than the reason, we are in danger.”

                                                                                                                              Maciej Kurak

¹ Broder Christiansen, Philosophy of Art, Aesthetic library, Warsaw 1914, p.49.

² Jerzy Kałucki, quote from conversation with Piotr Cypryański [in exhibition catalogue], Gallery “Starmach”, Cracow 2001, p. 5, [cited for:] Bożena Kowalska, Spaces of Jerzy Kałucki, Art. Center Gallery EL, Elbląg 2007, p. 50.