I once had a conversation with an art critic friend of mine, who told me that when he runs out of money and wants to check an exhibition in another city, he first writes an article about it and then, with the money he earns this way, goes to see if it really is as he wrote.
Fortunately, I don't have to go anywhere. And although I have reliable and first-hand information about the exhibition, I felt anxious. Group exhibitions in our gallery are rare. Preparing them is difficult. Relations between the artworks we would least expect come to light. Not to mention the artists themselves, whose relations can lead to crimes - against each other or (worse) against the curator.
That is why I was very happy when it turned out that Łukasz proposed an exhibition for which the above problems do not exist. The artists have known each other for several years and work together as one. The works were created during an open-air workshop in Sokołowsko. It is interesting because it is rare to see works by ten artists whose starting point is the same theme, place and time.
What is an invitation for a walk in the health resort? The fact that we are there indicates a certain health deficit, harmless enough to be improved by taking a walk. A walk to improve circulation and digestion, for appetite, for better sleep.... Not this time! The artists take us under their arm and lead us to places from which one often does not emerge alive. Besides, the steady crunch of gravel underfoot, the resin-scented forest - all this is what we need most right now, when the day is short and the weather poor.
Oh, and one more thing: "szpacyr" (a stroll) is a word taken from Silesian dialect. Perhaps that is why it sounds a little strange. It should be pronounced: go for a stroll! Please treat this as an order. I can assure you that if you don't leave the gallery feeling uplifted, you will certainly feel changed.
Artists: Julia Czech, Adrian Klimas, Piotr Kusiak, Mateusz Pecyna, Natalia Polkowska, Błażej Pyrka, Madzia Skotnicka, Dominik Szyga, Martyna Tamborska, Mateusz Zubel
Curators: Łukasz Ogórek, Maciej Łuczak
Special thanks to Fotofestiwal for lending their equipment, without which the memory of Szpacyr would be much less clear.
Thanks to the In Situ Foundation for Contemporary Art and Ola Chciuk, to whom we owe our place in Sokołowsko.
This is an exhibition by third-year students of Photography and Multimedia at the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź.
Translated by: Google Translate, www.deepl.com and Maciej Łuczak