As part of the FotoRejestr program, the Foundation has begun work on the archive of a well known photographer of nudes, Wladyslaw Pawelec. Among the first scanned negatives are a number of portraits of Anna Dymna. A recent issue of “Exklusiv” magazine also presents extensive material about the photographer by Karolina Sulej. Exklusiv
Asymmetry Gallery and the Archeology of Photography Foundation present the exhibition of cult photographic series Alice in Wonderland by Tomek Sikora i Marcin Mroszczak. Opening: Asymmetry Gallery, September 16 (Thursday), 7 p.m. The exhibition runs until October 29.
Research in Zbigniew Dlubak’s archive revealed glass negatives of fairly unknown portraits, among them Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Stazewski and Jerzy Andrzejewski made in 1953. Many of the photographs were reproduced in a handbook for amateur photographers published the same year. more photographs>>>
On 25th and 26th of October the Foundation hosted a workshop titled “Preservation of Photographic Materials”, devoted to archiving photography and led by Jens Gold, expert in photography conservation at the Preus Museum, Norway. The workshop brought together representatives of key Warsaw institutions which hold photography collections. The event was made possible by the FotoRejestrproject, generously supported by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.
For the first time since seventy years an individual exhibition of works by Zofia Chometowska (1902-1991) – one of most eminent and prolific women photographers of the interwar period and a pioneer of Polish photojournalism – opens in Warsaw featuring mostly her unknown work. Discovered in the artist’s archive (which was transported from Argentina owing to the FotoRejestr project, with the support of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage), the works reveal a broad range of techniques characteristic of 35mm Leica camera. Introduced to the market in the mid-1920s, Leica was the first 35mm camera and, at the same time, a synonym of modern photography. more photographs >>>
View from my Window, a unique photographic series by Mariusz Hermanowicz (1950-2008), will be presented for a week in the artist’s former apartment in Warsaw. For the duration of the exhibition, the apartment will host 40 unique photographs from the series. Looking out the apartment window, the visitors will have an opportunity to witness the current state of the site photographed by Hermanowicz.
The series of black-and-white photographs taken between 1968 and 1979, shows the same location from the time before the construction of the Lazienkowska expressway, the development of the thoroughfare, and the first years following its opening, including the historical events which took place there, such as motorcades of Leonid Brezhnev or the Pope John Paul II.
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Join Photosprint, a unique event that offers an occasion to buy works of both renowned and established photographers, as well as emerging artists, with reporter, fashion, documentary shots, and historical reprints presented side by side. The names of the authors will be disclosed only after purchase! The price for each work is 250 PLN. Find a photo of your liking, place a request, and find out more about your purchase!
We would like to express our sincere thanks to all photographers who offered their work at Photosprint! It was you who made this event a big success. We would also like to thank all guests and participants who eagerly hunted for photographs. Over 70% of all presented works were sold!
The income will serve to support the publication of an album of works of Zbigniew Dlubak or Zofia Chometowska.
See Photosprint in photographs.
On Saturday, 8th of May, from 11.00 a.m. 6.00 p.m. the Archeology of Photography Foundation will open an information point in Warsaw. In the premises on Chmielna 2 (corner of Nowy Swiat), made available by the Srodmiescie district, one will have the opportunity to learn how to archive a collection or a set of private photographs. We will provide advice concerning care in domestic conditions – how to pack them and where to buy the materials necessary for the process. Guests are also invited to bring exemplary photographs from their collections – if they are damaged we will advise if they require being handled by a conservator. This information point will be part of the FotoRejestr program.
On Saturday, 8th of May, on Chmielna 2, the Foundation opened an information point which, for a couple of hours, offered advice on the topic of storing and preserving photographic collections. We shared our experience, presented well proven methods and materials, and recommended interesting books. A number of our guests decided to reveal the treasures of their family collections, among these was an album of formal portraits from the late 19th century in the rare ‘Victoria’ format, as well as photographs from women’s marches in 1916, and Warsaw’s Dana Choir founded in 1928.
The exhibition of works by Krzysztof Vorbrodt (1929-2001) entitled Symmetriads – Repetition, co-organized by the Foundation, will open on Thursday, 27th of May, 7.00 p.m., at the Asymmetry Gallery. Symmetriads – Repetition is the first individual presentation of Krzysztof Vorbrodt’s works in Warsaw. Had it not been for the Anthology of Polish Photography by Jerzy Lewczynski, Vorbrodt would have remained a completely obscure artist. The output of this photographer, associated with the circle of Photographers’ Association in Gliwice, was discovered and preserved because the effort and help of Jerzy Lewczynski.
Negatives from before the Second World War belonging to Zofia Chometowska arrive at the Foundation in installments, packed in small plastic boxes resembling those used to hold children’s paints. This is how the artist stored the material.
We warmly encourage you to purchase the catalogue accompanying Tadeusz Suminski’s exhibition Factory and Form, published by the Foundation in a limited bibliophile edition of 50 copies. The volume features 18 illustrations and a text by curator Marta Przybylo-Ibadullajev, price 20 PLN. The income from the catalogue will support research on the Suminski archive.
The ongoing digitization of video material from Janusz Bakowski’s stay in New York (in the years 1988-1990) has yielded extremely interesting footage from visits to the studio of Tadeusz Myslowski in Long Island City, Queens. While presenting the studio, Myslowski comments on his works and personal philosophy. The footage from meetings with Jadwiga Przybylak and Tadeusz Myslowski also features visits to New York museums, among others the Noguchi Museum and P. S. 1 Contemporary Art Center. The material is available at the Foundation.
Among the materials that make up Zbigniew Dlubak’s archive are catalogues of key exhibitions from the 1970s. Our recent discovery includes publications from Centro de Arte y Comunicación from Buenos Aires. Run by Jorge Glusberg, the CAYC in the 1970s was a significant center of interdisciplinary research on the art of Latin America of the day, which drew upon conceptual practices.
At the beginning of June we participated in the conference ”Archiving the Artist” held in the Tate Britain. The priority of our visit was to learn more about the methods of storing and cataloguing of archive materials employed by London institutions. Thanks to the hospitality of conservators, we had an opportunity to observe the Tate Britain Paper Conservation Department at work, we also visited a part of the Victoria & Albert Museum Photography collection.
Up until the 11th of September, the Asymetria Gallery will host an exhibition that is the second installment of new work by Krzysztof Pijarski who was invited to confront the archive of Zbigniew Dlubak, Polish photographer, painter, art theorist and critic. more photographs>>>
On Friday, 9th October, the exhibition Zofia Chometowska – the Polesie Mythologies will open at the Association for the Encouragement of Fine Arts [Zacheta] in Lublin. The show will be the first presentation of fragments of Zofia Chometowska’s archive researched by the Foundation.
An interdisciplinary seminar/workshop Archive Fever. Archives of Contemporary History and Art in Poland After 1989. This seminar aims to reflect on the question of archive research in the historical, artistic and cultural context, as well as its significance for theory and practice. The invitation has been extended to historians, art historians, philologists, cultural anthropologists, archivists, curators and artists. We will address the following issues: what are the key archives in Central Europe? How to analyze the archive material amassed by institutions of an oppressive power apparatus? What is the relationship between archives and memory? What is the role of archives in research on the Holocaust within the context of non-memory, repressed memory, and exclusion? How can a research practice combine archive research with research based on oral history? Can artistic practices foster a new understanding of the notion of an archive?