ANIMAL PLANET – exhibition of the works from the collection of Arsenal Gallery and Podlaskie Association for the Promotion of Fine Arts

An exhibition organized as part of ART TRANZYT 2

Animal Planet is another presentation of the Arsenal Gallery and Podlaskie Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych’s (Podlaskie Association for the Promotion of Fine Arts) collection. It supports the notion of flexibility in creating numerous, very often highly divergent, narrations from works of art possessing their own, autonomous mythology. Izabela Kopania writes in her book An Open Set, referring to Krzysztof Pomian’s studies on the collecting phenomenon: Hence, a collection is a publically-displayed manifestation of its creator’s vision – an assortment of objects selected according to what they represent and the meanings attached to them.*In case of Animal Planet the materialized vision is focused on an egalitarian and easily accessible narration.

The title of the exhibition refers to the TV channel which broadcasts scientific films and programmes about nature and animals. The same can be said about the exhibition presented in the old power station – it gives the audience information about ways in which animals function and are presented in contemporary art. The artistic depictions of animals date back to the prehistory of artistic creativity. One of the oldest figurative images created by men are the animals painted on the walls of Altamira and Lascaux caves. On the other hand the images, often influenced by mythological or religious poetics, which are the allegories of virtues, moral values etc., can be found both in the Eastern cultures and the cradle of the Western world.

The animal theme in Polish contemporary art is not limited to Katarzyna Kozyra’s Pyramid of Animals. Many artists decide to reach into the world of fauna, using its metaphorical and symbolical potential. These methods are present in, among others, Arachne by Bogna Burska, in which the artist very literally approaches the myth of Arachne and Athena, or The Polish Forest by Marek Wasilewski, where the author plays an ironic game with cultural symbols, juxtaposing pathos and homeliness with exoticism and stupidity. This shows how the contemporary art plays not only with the artistic tradition but also with the current status of reality.

Similarly to the TV programme, the exhibition is focused on educating. Its goal is related to the goals of the Animal Planet’screators – to offer a pleasant way of spending free time while at the same time discovering the mysterious animal world. The exhibition, presented in the “industrial jungle” of the old power station, allows us to discover this part of the contemporary art world. However it is not done through the medium of television, but by the direct experience of a work of art.

The goal of the exhibition is not limited to presenting the collection and surrounding it with an erudite interpretation. It is an exhibition, which is supposed to not only educate about the depiction of animals in contemporary art, but also to allow the viewer to actively enter the sphere of art. The audience has an opportunity to supplement the exhibition presented in the old power station by photos of their own house animals. The goal is to create an interactive space, where the exhibition will be created not only from the pieces from the collection, but also through the active participation of the viewers.

Sebastian Kochaniec

translated from the Polish by Konrad Pormańczuk

* Kopania, I., Open Set. Podlaskie Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych, Białystok 2012, p. 7.