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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?

 

Owing to the great contributions of participants, the “Archive Fever” seminar became a space of exchange for views and experience gained during archive research. Suggestions brought up by guests have proved to be important guidelines for further work on material amassed at the Foundation. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all those involved in the project.

 

Research into the archive of Zofia Chometowska allows us not only to rediscover the artist’s oeuvre, but also yields priceless shots of everyday life in the Polesie region. A found set depicts the one-armed general Carton de Viart who, having abandoned an extremely promising career in diplomacy, settled in Polesie. He was photographed along with princess Izabella Radziwill, who lived in the Mankiewicze estate, during an attempt at capturing a foal.

Numerous friends of Zofia Chometowska visited her at the Drucki-Lubecki family estate in Prochonsk in the Polesie region. Among them was Tadeusz Przypkowski (1905-1977), photographer, bibliophile, and sundial expert. It is said that the blue hat with suns and stars, visible in the photographs, exists to this day…

Apart from Przypkowski the photograph taken during a duck hunt depicts Chometowska herself and an unknown man from the Polesie region steering the boat. It is likely that the photograph was taken by Jakub Chometowski, the artist’s husband and an amateur-photographer.

Edward Krasiński and Henryk Stazewski posing for a photograph taken by Zbigniew Dlubak, against the backdrop of their work presented in Gallery EL during the First Biennale of Spatial Forms in Elblag. The now legendary event took place in 1965 at the initiative of Gerard Kwiatkowski, the founder of Gallery EL, and Marian Bogusz.

We are currently in the course of digitizing the video recordings made by Janusz Bakowski during his prolonged stay in New York in the years 1880-1990. Among the variety of materials is the account of Krzysztof Wodiczko carrying in the making of his “Homeless Vehicle” project, photography classes conducted by Jagoda Przybylak with the students of the New York Institute of Technology, exhibition openings, as well as discussions and meetings held at studios of such artists as Krzysztof Wodiczko and Tadeusz Myslowski.

This exhibition offers the first glimpse into material from the archive of the outstanding landscape photographer Tadeusz Suminski, currently being researched by the Foundation. It features a selection of works made during the period when Suminski worked as the photographer for the African and Asian edition of “Polska” monthly (“La Revue Polonaise”, “The Polish Review”, published by Polonia press).

In October 2008 an archive of Zbigniew Dlubak was integrated: boxes with negatives, prints, manuscripts, exhibition documentation, etc. kept in Meudon, near Paris, were brought by the Foundation to the artist’s former apartment in Poland, where they joined other materials and works left behind by Dlubak. Research in the archive scheduled for November promises a great number of interesting discoveries.

Research in the archive of Zbigniew Dlubak has shed light on a fragment of the least known period in the artist’s practice. In the 1950s, having withdrawn himself from artistic and public life, the artist abandoned avant-garde experiments in order to turn towards documentary photography. From 1950 to 1962, Dlubak photographed desolate cityscapes and scenes from small town life, turning their ugliness and gloomy atmosphere into an artistic value.

In February 2009 Foundation employees traveled to the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam. The visit was aimed at gathering knowledge of local standards for storing and digitizing photographs. Owing to the hospitality of the curators and conservators of the Museum, we were able to acquaint ourselves with the workings of the institution’s archive.

In the course of research on Zbigniew Dlubak’s archive the Foundation extended an invitation to Krzysztof Pijarski, photographer, art historian and critic. Setting out to document the collection in photographs, Pijarski followed his own interpretative threads. In researching an archive, documenting a state prior to ordering, segregating, classifying, and distributing, etc. is of utmost importance.

The archive of Zbigniew Dlubak revealed photographic material documenting the last stages of the construction of the 10th Anniversary Stadium in Warsaw. The photographs were apparently taken in the Spring of 1955. The documentation consists of thirty 6 x 6 cm negatives. Dlubak was the creator of one of the bas-relief sculptures which decorated the Stadium.

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From April 17 to May 8 the exhibition Peripheral Landscape [Krajobraz peryferyjny] was on view at the Association for the Encouragement of Fine Arts [Zacheta] in Lublin. The presentation was accompanied by a lecture on the oeuvre of Zbigniew Dlubak delivered by Karolina Lewandowska.

The project for the decor of the textile store in Warsaw’s “Koszyki” market hall was hitherto known thanks only to a handful of photographs. The archive has revealed more extensive documentation as well as negatives from subsequent stages of work. The store décor was prepared in 1962 and mentioned subsequently by Urszula Czartoryska, e.g. in her text Photography in the Service of Mercury. On the use of Photography in Commercial Décor [Fotografia w sluzbie Merkurego. O zastosowaniu fotografii w wystawiennictwie handlowym], featured in the magazine "Fotografia (issue 1962 nr 9). Dlubak also prepared plates which were meant to decorate a textile store for women, it is unknown however if the project was carried out.

Love Story. Fotografie z archiwum Anny i Krystiana Jarnuszkiewiczów Kuratorzy: Patrick Komorowski, Gunia Nowik Organizatorzy: Pola Magnetyczne, Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii Wernisaż: 22.02.2018, godzina 18.00 wystawa czynna: 23.02.2018-6.04.2018 Galeria Fundacji Archeologia Fotografii, Chłodna 20, Warszawa wystawa czynna codziennie: 11-19.00 Anna i Krystian Jarnuszkiewicz poznali się w 1952 roku, we wrocławskiej Państwowej Wyższej Szkole Sztuk Pięknych. Ona była na wydziale malarstwa, on rzeźby. Po zakończeniu studiów żyli razem i tworzyli, nawet jeśli czasem oddzielnie, to w ciągłej bliskości, przez ponad pięćdziesiąt lat – aż do śmierci Krystiana w 2016 roku. Okoliczności te stanowią krajobraz ich wspólnej podróży i to w jej kontekście należy patrzeć na obszerny wybór zdjęć ukazujący ich dorobek na wystawie Love Story.