The exhibition came into being as a result of a number of workshops and joint work of a group of students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. The starting point was a reflection on the experience of travelling and on the movement of things and people. The subject and concept were suggested and implemented by the artist Janek Simon, who played the role of a mentor in this edition of the workshop.
Movement, the very construction of which depends on numerous social, cultural and economic conditions, shapes the spaces we live in. For the middle class, a holiday on a tropical island is a fulfillment of their ambitions or ideas about how to spend free time successfully. The flight from Lagos to London takes seven hours, but for someone from Africa embarking on a trip to Europe in search of work and a better life such a journey may take even several years. We leave home in order to study in big cities, or to find a better future for ourselves, but often on our return we experience painful confrontations with our roots that have become distant. Last year alone, twelve thousand trains with containers full of products came from China to Europe. In turn, the recent invasion of Russia made millions of war Ukrainian refugees travel to other countries. These are just a few of the manifestations of the constant movement of people and objects.
The aim of this particular workshop was to get the participants to think about art in terms of a subject, not a medium – make them reflect and observe the subject matter more than focus on the technique only. The proposed works show how widely and differently the concept of travel can be understood and interpreted. The scope of approaches to the theme ranges from a parody of a tourist spot, through reflection on one’s relationship with the family home, through works which analyze the very choreography of moving around the exhibition, to suggestions how to interpret the topic in psychological terms. The exhibition, which was created as a result of the workshops, is also an invitation to go on this journey together.
Participants: Agata Becker, Klaudia Dębiec, Olga Galińska, Natalia Kędzierska, Beata Krześlak, Weronika Mendrek, Aneta Niekoraniec, Łukasz Olejniczak, Mateusz Pecyna, Kinga Stec, Dominik Szyga, Martyna Tamborska, Mateusz Zubel
Project supervisors: Janek Simon, Łukasz Ogórek (ASP), Jakub Gawkowski (MS)
