Sonland
Zbigniew LiberaMonumental photographs staged as panoramas will be presented on the main stage of Nowy Teatr in Warsaw in an attempt to blur the customary line between the audience and the show. Along with some well-known, yet rarely presented, works such as “The Exodus of the People from the Cities” (borrowed from the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw collection) or “Polish Hospitality”, the artist will also present his new pieces.
Monumental photographs staged as panoramas will be presented on the main stage of Nowy Teatr in Warsaw in an attempt to blur the customary line between the audience and the show. Along with some well-known, yet rarely presented, works such as “The Exodus of the People from the Cities” (borrowed from the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw collection) or “Polish Hospitality”, the artist will also present his new pieces.
Theatre seems like a perfect place, also metaphorically, to present Zbigniew Libera’s works. Looking at the artist’s photographs, one might get the impression that history is a theatre show for him, a play that can be directed using certain means: set design, tools of multimedia and a specific visual storytelling developed by the artist to spin his narrations in such a way that they can never be fully grasped.
Monumental photographs staged as panoramas will be presented on the main stage of Nowy Teatr in Warsaw in an attempt to blur the customary line between the audience and the show. Along with some well-known, yet rarely presented, works such as “The Exodus of the People from the Cities” (borrowed from the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw collection) or “Polish Hospitality”, the artist will also present his new pieces.
For Libera, knowledge about the world, also the one that is yet to come, is a result of creation - witness accounts, press and tv manipulations, pop culture inspirations, institutional fables, even collective hallucinations. History is a work of art, hence also a potential, a possibility - shapeable material that can be used to build proliferating stories. In the exhibition, Libera calls the ghost of Gombrowicz (there is no theatre without a ghost) to answer the writer’s literary question - fatherland or sonland? And the answer may actually be the key to deciphering Libera’s works.
Sonland refers to the future (it equals rebellion and imagination) and the past, provided that both terms can be used freely and interchangeably. It is a gesture of defiance towards the father who is the history-teller - and as such, demands you study the dates by heart, know the heroes and cherish the battles. It is what will come when people leave their cities, but it will happen long before trees start to grow in the ruins. Sonland is not the last stop, it is a state of transition. It comes from a place in your head and in your guts.
However, what is most important in Libera’s works has to escape the viewer’s attention - it has to be placed outside of the frame or happen when we are not looking. It has to be the land that belongs to neither the father nor the son.
Curator: Michał Grzegorzek
Information
„Miary rytmiczne": in the courtesy of Renata i Rafał Jarodzcy oraz 66P - Subiektywna Instytucja Kultury
„Poetka Maria de Cyrano"- in the courtesy of Pola Dwurnik
„Wyjście ludzi z miasta"- Collection of Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie
„Polska gościnność”, „Synczyzna”, „Szczam na Twoje zabawki tato” – in the courtesy of the Artist
See also
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Elizabeth Costello | J.M. Coetzee
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11–13.06Returning to Reims
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05–07.09Generation After 8. Showcase