University of Lodz 2 exhibitions – Community’s Histories + Works of Photosophy: Sampler

The more and less official history of the University of Lodz as seen and portrayed by artists of different generations plus another batch of artistic developments in Andrzej Różycki’s Photosophic Archive – come and see the next edition of UŁ exhibitions in the beautiful Alfred Biedermann’s Palace. Sixteen artists, two archives, eighty years of the University of Lodz.

COMMUNITY’S HISTORIES

The University of Lodz is its people, their stories, and memories. This year, the institution celebrates its 80th anniversary, and for that momentous occasion it organised a special project. A collection of photos was gathered – from official and private archives – pertaining to UŁ’s history, and then given to various artists with the request to create something based on these images.

That is how this project-exhibition-installation has come to be – community in history.

The artists have chosen topics that refer to the university’s values, identity, science, collective memory, and challenges posed over the decades, as well as those we are facing today as the UŁ community, but also as the society for whom education is the foundation for freedom and awareness.

Sometimes, their attention was drawn to the regular and not-so-regular daily life of the university over the past eighty years.

All these notions will come together to answer one question: What kind of community was, is, and will be the University of Lodz?

/ Group exhibition: Basia Budniak, Anka Leśniak, Karolina Wojtas, Filip Appel, Jerzy Grzegorski

/ Curators: Maciej Andrzejewski and Jolanta Sławińska-Ryszka

WORKS OF PHOTOSOPHY: SAMPLER

Students of the Lodz Film School have brought to life the archival material of one of the most valued Łódź photographers, Andrzej Różycki. They adapted the same method of work as Różycki, who for his FotoAndrzejoZofia series entered into both personal and artistic dialogue with photographer and his close friend Zofia Rydet, making collages using her and his own photographs. This very gesture – awakening the memory of the deceased close one – was reimplemented by young artists today.

Andrzej Różycki’s collages have been essentially “decollaged”, i.e. disassembled into their base elements, individual layers, and then symbolically complemented. The new works allow to see and understand the ways of Andrzej Różycki’s artistic practice. The “sampler” created as a result of that process is like a summarised overview of the most important themes utilized by the photographer, and a representation of his unique, philosophical approach to photography.

The exhibition is a continuation of the Photosophic Archive, founded by the University of Lodz, which houses artworks and private collections of Andrzej Różycki. The mission of the Archive is to promote Photosophy, the idea on which Różycki worked since the 1960s until his passing in 2021. Combining many artistic domains, the Photosophic Archive is e.g. a part of the educational process, as it holds regular classes for UŁ students, and collaborates with many centres and festivals across Poland.

The exhibition is organised in cooperation between Fotofestiwal, the University of Lodz, Lodz Film School, and the Viva Archiva! Foundation.

/ Group exhibition of students: Kacper Bijoś (PL), Weronika Coghen (PL), Natalia Dukin (PL), Rui Gu (CN), Adam Karpiński (PL), Olimpia Kopiec (PL), Julia Lejawa (PL), Weronika Mugaj (PL), Jan Suchorab (PL), Kacper Trzeci (PL).

/ Curator: Marcela Paniak

/ Zine: Michał Wąsik (PL)

/ Co-ordination of exhibition production on the part of the Photosophical Archive: Hanna Kireyeva

/ Coordination of the exhibition handling: Daria Chruścińska and the interns of the Photosophical Archive

__________

Event accompanying the exhibition:

20 June 18:00, Art_Inkubator: Sampler, or how to create from archives?

More information HERE