YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET – the works from Kolekcja II that have not been shown so far

exhibition leaflet (pdf) – click to download

Kolekcja II (Collection II)of Galeria Arsenał in Białystok and the Podlaskie Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych (Podlaskie Association for the Promotion of Fine Arts; henceforth: PTZSP)fulfils all of the conditions for it to be rightfully called a collection. Yet, much like other assemblies of new art in which we find works that are problematic in terms of traditional art collecting – video stored on digital media, project archives, props used in performance pieces, installations or films – it begs the question, often asked by researchers, of whether it is indeed still a collection.[i] Deliberations on the subject of contemporary collecting practices do not lead as much to a reconciliation of these complications (which appears to be impossible) as to a currently-ongoing redefinition and broadening of the sense of what an art collection is. Kolekcja II, chiefly comprising works created after 1989, can serve as an illustration of the manifold challenges that new art imposes on collectors. These challenges result as much from the nature of contemporary artistic practice as from objective financial and environmental concerns facing those assembling public collections. The premises guiding the collection’s establishment, by way of which the collection should ensure the public a most-comprehensive and most-objective possible introduction to post-1989 art,[ii] are reflected in the collection’s general vision and delineate its prospective development by dictating decisions on subsequent purchases.
 

As critics have repeatedly observed, Kolekcja II is grown deliberately, consistently and with a high degree of aptitude in valuating contemporary artistic phenomena.[iii] Its beginnings reach back to the early 1990s, when Monika Szewczyk became the director of Galeria Arsenał (still known as BWA) and the curator of the collection taking shape there.[iv] Initiating a new chapter in the life of the Białystok institution, she declared the previously-established Three Streams. Realism – Metaphor – Geometry collection, which mainly gathered Polish paintings from 1965–1985, to be complete and decided to cease its further expansion. Along with striving to develop a coherent programme for the gallery’s exhibitions, educational activity and publications, Szewczyk began to unfurl a new collection programme. Thanks to this initiative, the Białystok gallery found itself among only a handful of institutions in Poland assembling collections of new art after 1989. The curator’s decisions took the long view and can be considered brave taking into account the conditions in those days. They laid the groundwork for Galeria Arsenał’s future achievements and its current status as one of the country’s leading galleries, one that has successfully managed to promote Polish art beyond its borders.
 

A breakthrough event was the 2005 establishment of the PTZSP, whose mandate was to expand and promote Galeria Arsenał’s collection.[v] The collection, which for the previous fifteen years had grown solely thanks to modest own funds and the generosity of artists, was now able to be considerably expanded and have its gaps filled in through subsidies that were allocated for the use of the PTZSP. These subsidies were disbursed as part of the “Znaki czasu” [Signs of the Times] National Culture Programme established in 2004 by Waldemar Dąbrowski (the then Minister of Culture). Also instrumental in the collection’s rapid growth at that time were financial support of city and voivodeship authorities and donations from artists and private sponsors. Significant progress was noted as early as the first year of the PTZSP’s existence: Kolekcja II, counting 58 pieces before 2005, was now larger by 21 works. Presently, in late 2012, the collection boasts 212 works of art, and so, we can acknowledge that the “Znaki czasu” programme has been a success in Białystok. It is worthwhile to also recall the remarks of Bożena Kowalska, who points out that this project has achieved its aims only in those areas where the collections are overseen by individuals capable of selecting valuable pieces from the expanse of new art[vi] and – it should be added – of thinking of the assortment as a single whole whose individual pieces maintain a constructive dialogue between each other.
 

Today’s purchase policy is still by and large dictated by the vision outlined by Monika Szewczyk at Kolekcja II’s inception. From the very first days, she has been acquiring works by recognised artists representative of key trends in Polish art post 1989 as well as artists who were just beginning their artistic career. Today, the status and body of work of Joanna Rajkowska, Hubert Czerepok and Kuba Bąkowski confirm that Szewczyk’s decisions were the right ones. The curator’s vision also stipulated that the collection arising in Białystok reach out beyond the region and be more than simply a documentation of the output of local artists. The selection of works was and still is dictated by merit, and thus, the Podlasie region is represented by Leon Tarasewicz, Wojciech Łazarczyk, Karol Radziszewski, Iza Tarasewicz and Kuba Dąbrowski, to name only a few local artists to have contributed to the development of the contemporary art scene in Poland as a whole. As far as circumstances allow, works by artists from Western Europe and even the United States are also acquired for the collection. Such additions are selected with great care and are often included to supplement clearly discernible threads arising in the collection (the purchase of David Diao’s painting is a case in point) or as works that are in some way connected with Białystok and undertaking a dialogue with the city (such as Sibylle Ettengruber’s performance recording). In recent years, we can clearly observe a tendency in which the focus of Kolekcja II is shifting away from predominantly Polish art towards a broader representation of art from East Central Europe at large. From the moment of the PTZSP’s establishment and the accompanying availability of new sources of funding, to date, the collection has grown by 28 works by artists from this region, most of them purchased in the last four years.
 

Selecting works to be included in Kolekcja II compels one to consider what image of new art will be put forth by the curator’s assortment. This doesn’t necessarily refer to how faithful the collection is to the whole of artistic phenomena taking place of late – to create a collection with the intention to fully mirror such a range of culture would be a vastly utopian-minded undertaking. The selection of pieces is a necessary process, and the choices, made with the collection’s profile in mind, do not by default have to lead to a diluted or inadequate picture of contemporary tendencies in art.[vii] Above all, the process serves to delineate key issues at the core of artistic reflection and arrive at a constructive synthesis of these issues. Therefore, we can see Kolekcja II by way of the narratives running through it, which intersect at various levels and form a network of inter-related content. Cyclical exhibitions of the collection’s holdings are organised to accentuate the patterns that emerge.[viii]