Our Child
Our Child
Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, A. Mickiewicza 2, 15-222 Białystok
Artists: Karolina Balcer, Lucia Dovičáková, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Dagmar Hochová, Lenka Klodová, Eva Koťátková, Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei, Markéta Magidová, Rafał Milach / Archive of Public Protests, Tamara Moyzes and Věra Duždová Horváthová / ROMA BLACK PANTHERS, Pražské matky, Lucie Rosenfeldová, Kateřina Šedá, Jaśmina Wójcik
Curators: Jitka Hlaváčková, Zuzana Štefková, Eliza Urwanowicz-Rojecka
Our Child will explore the theme of children in personal and social relations, material practices of parenting, as well as institutional policies and wider ideological contexts. Bringing together examples of international contemporary art, the exhibition will seek to analyse how children are socialised into the matrix of our culture(s), and how these processes reflect on the experience of intersections between gender, ethnic, cultural, and other identities and social values and norms.
Using critical feminist theory, the exhibition will show how child-rearing, education and socialisation processes might reproduce oppressive power relations and stereotypes present in our society. It will also look at how art can challenge these discriminatory practices, seeking to promote just and respectful relations with the Other (including the more-than-human), acknowledging the personhood and agency of children, and envisioning ways of including children in shared processes of building and contributing to the world. Last but not least, artworks will bring forth the somewhat subversive potential of non-normative and marginalised experiences of parenting, and their translation into art practice.
Themes explored as part of the exhibition will span the period from (before) conception to adulthood, the fact that we never cease to be our parents’ children distinctly upheld: parenthood often takes us back to the “unfinished business” of our own childhood. In this sense, Our Child will examine intergenerational relationships, and how the issue of care is articulated in connection to raising children – as well as to circumstances of adult children taking care of elderly parents.
The exhibition will survey a wide array of subjects, ranging from reproductive rights (including abortion, contraception, and obstetric violence) to the impact of biotechnologies and genetics on parenting and childcare. Our Child will naturally focus on issues of education while exploring roles children play in diverse institutions beyond school and family. Moreover, the exhibition will address social pressures contained within the notion of raising a child, and the discriminatory dimension of social reproduction framed by gender stereotypes, economic factors, and systemic regulations and policies. Lastly, the show will investigate relations between children and artist parents, and the role of children in the context of art as an institution.
The exhibition includes mature content. Children may enter with parental consent.
“Our Child” Exhibition – accompanying events
Venue: “Arsenal” Gallery in Białystok, address: Adama Mickiewicza 2 (unless otherwise specified)
June 26th, Friday, 6 p.m. – Exhibition Opening
June 27th, Saturday, 12 p.m. – artists & curators tour of the exhibition in Polish and English
June 27th, Saturday, 1:30 p.m. – performance by the Maternal Fantasies collective: “The First Supper Enacted. A live performance in four episodes”
June 28th, Sunday, 11 a.m. – performance by the Mothers Artlovers collective: “Stories of Crying, Laughter and Whispers“
June 28th, Sunday, 12-3:15 p.m. – 37th Feminist Seminar “De-Learning. Creative and Collective Educational Practices”. The meeting will be held in Polish and English, simultaneous interpreting available on site at the Gallery. The Seminar will be streamed live (interpreting unavailable) on the Gallery’s Facebook page.
June 28th, Sunday, 5 p.m. – Sascia Bailer’s online speech: “Caring Infrastructures: Making the Artworld Accessible for Caregivers”. The speech will be screened at the Gallery in English, with simultaneous interpreting into Polish. The event will be streamed live (interpreting unavailable) on the Gallery’s Facebook page.
June 29th, Wednesday, 6 p.m. – meet-the-author session with Michał Radomir Wiśniewski, with a focus on his book “Zakaz gry w piłkę. Jak Polacy nienawidzą dzieci” (Playing Ball Forbidden. How the Poles Hate Children); moderated by Dawid Bujno
August 1st, Saturday, 12 p.m. – tour of the exhibition in Ukrainian: Yulia Kostereva
August 1st, Saturday, 1:30 p.m. – tour of the exhibition in Belarusian: Alina Wawrzeniuk
August 19th, Wednesday, 6 p.m. – meet-the-author session with Paulina Małochleb, with a focus on her book Mięśnie mam od miłości. O macierzyństwie. (Muscles Toned by Love. On Motherhood); moderated by Anka Wandzel
August 28th, Friday, 5 p.m. – screening of “King Matt the First” (2025), a film by Jaśmina Wójcik, and a meet-the-authors session. Forum cinema, Białystok Centre of Culture, address: Legionowa No. 5, Białystok
August 29th, Saturday, 6 p.m. – meet-the-author session with Anna Cieplak, with a focus on her book “Istoty zależne (Dependent Beings)”; moderated by Anka Wandzel
August 30th, Sunday, 12 p.m. – Exhibition Closing Day with artists & curators tour in Polish and English
August 30th, Sunday, 4:30 p.m. – Exhibition Closing Day with curators tour in Polish
August 30th, Sunday, 6 p.m. – meeting with Anna Krawczak with a focus on children’s rights and foster care; moderated by Anna Cieplak
Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund
Cooperation:
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Opening times:
Thuesday – Sunday
10:00-18:00
Last admission
to exhibition is at:
17.30