Katarzyna Kozyra Casting

04.12.2010 – 13.02.2011 Katarzyna Kozyra Casting

Zachęta National Gallery of Art

curator: Hanna Wróblewska

Katarzyna Kozyra is the best known Polish woman artist of the last twenty years. Her name has become a symbol of critical art, as well as a synonym of scandal and misunderstanding. Her Animal Pyramid put contemporary art in the spotlight of public debate when the media through their manipulations started a heated nationwide discussion (involving not just art critics, but also representatives of a wide range of interest groups) around the young graduate from Grzegorz Kowalski’s studio at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. The public, whether directly (as viewers) or indirectly (through the interventions of the media), were thus from the outset drawn into the sphere of both the works and the life of the artist. For in the case of  Kozyra, these two spheres are intimately intertwined.

Nearly twenty years have passed since those events and Zachęta is holding her solo exhibition. This is not a retrospective, although all of Kozyra’s best known works – e.g. Animal Pyramid, Bathhouse, Men’s Bathhouse, The Rite of Spring and the films from the In Art Dreams Come True series – are on show. The exhibition marks a new phase in the artist’s latest project, an autobiographical feature film, for which she is seeking an actress/actor to play the main role – herself. In the Zachęta, Kozyra is showing works (as well as archival materials and biographical documentaries) in which she appears as Olympia, voyeur, man, diva, madonna or pop star, so that we can follow through her successive incarnations and transformations. These works are meant as auxiliary materials for those interested in attending the casting for the role of Katarzyna Kozyra in her latest filmic project.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication containing a chronology of the artist’s life and work, compiled by Maryla Sitkowska, and fragments of Kozyra’s autobiographical writings, on which the new film will be based.

Katarzyna Kozyra (born 1963 in Warsaw, lives in Berlin and Warsaw)
Sculptor, author of video installations, films, performances and other artistic projects, often hard to classify. One of the best known Polish artists internationally. She studied sculpture under Grzegorz Kowalski at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Her works discuss the most fundamental issues of human existence: identity, transience, death. She explores the area of cultural taboos related to man’s physicality and the stereotypes and forms of behaviour embedded in social life. In each of her works, Kozyra violates these taboos, risking public outcry. Her video installation Men’s Bathhouse received a honorary mention at the 48th Venice Art Biennale (1999).

Artist's works in the Zachęta collection

  • Zdjęcie pracy Madonna from Regensburg
    Madonna from RegensburgKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Olimpia
    OlimpiaKatarzyna Kozyra1996
  • Zdjęcie pracy Cheerleader
    CheerleaderKatarzyna Kozyra2006
  • Zdjęcie pracy A Quarter of an Hour
    A Quarter of an HourKatarzyna Kozyra2004
  • Zdjęcie pracy Summer Tale
    Summer TaleKatarzyna Kozyra2008
  • Zdjęcie pracy Lords of the dance
    Lords of the danceKatarzyna Kozyra2002
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Bathhouse
    The BathhouseKatarzyna Kozyra1997
  • Zdjęcie pracy Punishment and Crime
    Punishment and CrimeKatarzyna Kozyra2002
  • Zdjęcie pracy Dance Lesson
    Dance LessonKatarzyna Kozyra2001
  • Zdjęcie pracy It's better to know nothing, from series Eight
    It's better to know nothing, from series EightKatarzyna Kozyra2000
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Rite of Spring
    The Rite of SpringKatarzyna Kozyra1999
  • Zdjęcie pracy Blood Ties
    Blood TiesKatarzyna Kozyra1995
  • Zdjęcie pracy Non so piu
    Non so piuKatarzyna Kozyra2004
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Castrate / Il Castrato
    The Castrate / Il CastratoKatarzyna Kozyra2006
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Castrate / Il Castrato
    The Castrate / Il CastratoKatarzyna Kozyra2006
  • Zdjęcie pracy Pyramid of Animals
    Pyramid of AnimalsKatarzyna Kozyra1993
  • Zdjęcie pracy Men's Bathhouse
    Men's BathhouseKatarzyna Kozyra1999
  • Zdjęcie pracy In Art Dreams Come True
    In Art Dreams Come TrueKatarzyna Kozyra2006
  • Zdjęcie pracy Faces
    FacesKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy
    Katarzyna Kozyra1991
  • Zdjęcie pracy
    Katarzyna Kozyra2011
  • Zdjęcie pracy Casting. Tel Aviv
    Casting. Tel AvivKatarzyna Kozyra2011
  • Zdjęcie pracy Beauty-Preview with Gloria Viagra
    Beauty-Preview with Gloria ViagraKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Stairs from the series Boys
    Stairs from the series BoysKatarzyna Kozyra2001
  • Zdjęcie pracy Spears from the series Boys
    Spears from the series BoysKatarzyna Kozyra2001
  • Zdjęcie pracy Ragazzi from the series Boys
    Ragazzi from the series Boys Katarzyna Kozyra2001
  • Zdjęcie pracy Madonna from Pelago
    Madonna from PelagoKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Teatro di cani. Lou Salome a Roma
    Teatro di cani. Lou Salome a RomaKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Appearance as Lou Salome
    Appearance as Lou SalomeKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Nightmare
    The NightmareKatarzyna Kozyra2004
  • Zdjęcie pracy Facade Concert
    Facade ConcertKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Diva: Reincarnation
    Diva: ReincarnationKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy Tribute to Gloria Viagra: Birthday party
    Tribute to Gloria Viagra: Birthday partyKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Winter's Tale
    The Winter's TaleKatarzyna Kozyra2005
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Midget Gallery
    The Midget GalleryKatarzyna Kozyra2006
Related media
  • mediateka / audio
  • mediateka / audio
  • mediateka / audio
  • Grafika obiektu:
    mediateka / films
  • Grafika obiektu:
    mediateka / folders / Texts
  • Grafika obiektu:
    mediateka / folders / Texts
  • Grafika obiektu: Katarzyna Kozyra. Casting
    mediateka / posters
    Katarzyna Kozyra. Casting
  • Grafika obiektu: Katarzyna Kozyra
    mediateka / video-documentation
    Katarzyna Kozyra
    Casting
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  • Grafika wydarzenia:
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    Zachęta | cinema room (entrance from Burschego street)cinema room
  • Grafika wydarzenia:
    26.01.2011 (Wed) 00:00
    Zachęta | cinema room (entrance from Burschego street)cinema room
  • Grafika wydarzenia: Washington Square
    01.02.2011 (Tue) 18:00
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    Zachęta | cinema room (entrance from Burschego street)cinema room
  • Grafika wydarzenia:
    02.02.2011 (Wed) 18:00
    Zachęta | cinema room (entrance from Burschego street)cinema room
  • Grafika wydarzenia:
    08.02.2011 (Tue) 18:00
    Zachęta | cinema room (entrance from Burschego street)cinema room
  • Grafika wydarzenia:
    10.02.2011 (Thu) 18:00
    Zachęta | cinema room (entrance from Burschego street)cinema room
  • Grafika wydarzenia:
    12.02.2011 (Sat) 17:00
    Zachęta – National Gallery of ArtZachęta
E-BOOKSHOP
  • Publikacje Zachęty
    80,00 złKatarzyna Kozyra. Casting (Polish version)
  • Publikacje Zachęty
    28,00 złWho is the other? Contemporary photography from Austria

Information

Katarzyna Kozyra
Casting
04.12.2010 – 13.02.2011

Zachęta National Gallery of Art
pl. Małachowskiego 3, 00-916 Warsaw
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The exhibition supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland.
The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the National Museum in Cracow.
The accompanying publication has been published with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
technological partner of the exibition: Samsung
sponsors of the gallery: Caparol, PERI, Netia, Lidex
sponsors of the opening ceremony: A.Blikle, Freixenet, De Longhi, Kenwood
media patronage: Gazeta Wyborcza, AMS, TOK FM, Polityka, The Warsaw Voice, Stolica, Art&Business, Artinfo.pl