Zachęta – National Gallery of Art

curator: Audrius Pocius
artists: Zuzanna Bartoszek, Alicja Bielawska, Cezary Bodzianowski, Agata Bogacka, Michał Budny, Rafał Bujnowski, Marta Deskur, Wojciech Gilewicz, Nicolas Grospierre, Grzeszykowska / Smaga, Veronika Hapchenko, Agata Ingarden, Elżbieta Jabłońska, Karolina Jabłońska, Karolina Jarzębak, Zuzana Janin, Tomasz Kręcicki, Hanna Krzysztofiak, Zbigniew Libera, Maria Loboda, Ant Łakomsk, Marcin Maciejowski, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Gizela Mickiewicz, Rafał Milach, Marta Niedbał i Paweł Olszczyński, Cezary Poniatowski, Joanna Piotrowska, Slavs & Tatars, Iza Tarasewicz, Andrzej Tobis, Krzysztof Zieliński
organizers: ING Polish Art Foundation, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
in cooperation with: The School of Creativity

Moving Image, an exhibition that marks the 25th anniversary of the ING Polish Art Foundation, explores the very act of collecting art. Instead of just looking at it as the simple activity of gathering works of art, however, it approaches this pursuit as a gesture towards future generations. Any collection – be it of visual art, poems, or shells picked up on the shore – carries an inherent promise of bestowal. For the collection built by the ING Polish Art Foundation, that commitment is enshrined in its Charter: if the Foundation ceases to exist, its entire collection will be passed on to the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, thus becoming part of the shared legacy, secured in law.

The exhibition poses a seemingly simple question: How does one inherit heritage? The answers lie in the ever-growing body of works collected by the Foundation, shown here as a vehicle of culture, a portrait of the last twenty-five years. Composed of individual fragments, it encompasses the hopes, values, and beliefs of that period. After all, it is the works of art that will shape how future generations perceive the culture of today. At the exposition, selected works from the collection of the ING Polish Art Foundation are presented alongside items loaned from artists that cooperate with the Foundation, as well as from various other institutions and collections. This is an opportunity to look at them in a broader context – also in the light of the question about the limits of ownership and the impact that institutions have on the significance of art in public life.

Moving Image shows that heritage undergoes constant change, whereby it assumes new meanings and reacts to what happens around it. Perceived in this way, it is not a static image, but an intentional gesture of bestowal, an ongoing conversation. It is not the works themselves, but their passage from person to person, from generation to generation, that creates a true network of relations. Inheriting a collection highlights the interplay of freedom and responsibility, the private and the public, continuity and imagination.

With this idea in mind, the ING Polish Art Foundation has joined forces with its sister ING for Children Foundation, to present inheritance in the educational context. After all, children are the ones who will inherit the cultural legacy – and yet today they are the least empowered to create and interpret it, acts that remain the prerogative of art institutions. That is why the exhibition reaches for educational activities to go beyond the theoretical frameworks. During a series of workshops for young people, organised by Zachęta’s team of educators in cooperation with the Vilnius-based School of Creativity, the exhibition will become a space where heritage can be publicly challenged, passed on to others, and set in motion. The effects of that process will be showcased at the exhibition during its symbolic second opening in January 2026.

The ING Polish Art Foundation was established in 2000 as a way of supporting Polish art. One of its primary missions has been to build a collection of works of modern art created after 1990. Consistently expanded over those twenty-five years, the collection currently includes nearly 300 items. From very early on, the Foundation has been cooperating with the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, with which it entered a contract of partnership in 2004. The Foundation supports Zachęta with donations to expand its collections, invites Zachęta representatives to sit on the jury for the annual Foundation Prize awarded during the Warsaw Gallery Weekend, and organises exhibitions together with that institution. If the Foundation ceases to operate, its Charter provides that its collection be transferred to Zachęta. https://ingart.pl/

ING for Children Foundation is one of the first corporate foundations in Poland. It pursues its mission “to equal the chances of children and teenagers” by supporting education and development, healthy lifestyles, and equal opportunities. The Foundation helps children affected by social and economic hardship, supports physical activities for children with disabilities, and helps refugee children as well as those in crisis.

The School of Creativity is a Lithuanian organisation that combines education with art and creativity, applying Scandinavian teaching methods and its own research. It cooperates with numerous international partners and participates in many global projects. In 2024, it was selected to design and implement an educational programme for French pupils as part of the Season of Lithuania in France in 2024.