Opening: 10.05.2025 (Saturday) at 6:00 PM.
Place: Labirynt Gallery, Księdza Jerzego Popiełuszki Street 5, Lublin
Language: event in Polish, translation into Polish Sign Language by Ewelina Lachowska, translation into Ukrainian by Volodymir Dyshlevuk, translation into English by Hubert Bania
On view until: 15.06.2025 (Tuesday-Sunday, 12.00-19.00)
Admission: PLN 8 full-price ticket, PLN 4 concession ticket (opening: free)

Curator: Katarzyna Sagatowska

Idle motion is a state of suspension – a space where action does not lead to a change, energy dissipates in the void. It is a stall in the system in which the effort does not result in progress. It’s a pulse with no effect, a spinning wheel that does not set anything into motion.

The exhibition connects photography and spatial installations in which the body confronts limitations, repetition and tension. In the context of increasing social and ecological instability, it becomes a reflection fatigue, loss of agency and an attempt to find a state which wouldn’t be solely a waste of energy.

At the forefront of the exhibition is the motif of desertification – sand grinds in the teeth and settles on the lips, the weight builds up from within. It’s a story about personal failure, cultural wilting and loss of direction. Idling does not only focus on the landscape, it also correlates with female body – exhausted by expectations, subjected to the rhythm which does not lead to regeneration. The exhibition strips the womanly experience of fertility – biological and creative.

It is also a reflection on the process: on struggling with matter, thoughts and one’s own stagnation set at the backdrop of success-driven culture, constant rush and often superficial productivity. There are no spectacular gestures here. It is a monotonous fight against entropy, repeated attempts to act despite the realization that effort does not guarantee results.

Meanwhile the desert is simply indifferent, stretched in time and space like canvas from which someone has erased all the symbols. Every step sinks into volatile ground, sand gets into the eyes, and chapped lips recall the craving, thirst that cannot be quenched. Desert is a space of bewilderment, fading memory, illusions and increasing delirium. The only thing around and in the core is the emptiness. There are no pathways – only the marks, which the hot wind covers faster than they can be left behind.

Exhibition as part of the project “Simple questions – difficult answers”

Subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund.

When: March 31, 2025 (Monday), 19:00
Where: Labirynt Gallery, Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Language: Polish. Translation into English: Konrad Szulga. Translation into PSL: Ewelina Lachowska. No translation into Ukrainian.
Exhibition open until: April 19, 2025 (Tuesday – Sunday, 12.00 – 19.00)
Admission: PLN 8 – full price ticket, PLN 4 – concession ticket (free admission for the opening)

Professor Mieke Bal, one of the most prominent cultural scholars with an extensive academic record, presents her work in Lublin—this time as an artist.

The video installation and photographs which are part of the exhibition do not create a linear narrative, but rather offer dispersed episodes which—similar to those in Cervantes’ novel—are fragmented, incoherent and multi-layered. Time no longer matters, and a linear story is replaced by the characters’ repetitive, and often pointless actions. The visitors are encouraged to construct their own, new stories from the elements of the installation, discovering the deep connections between the past and the present, because—as the artist quotes after Françoise Davoine—“the past is today”.

One of the exhibition’s key themes is the impossibility of talking about trauma. In many episodes, such as Narrative Stuttering and Aimless Altruism, the characters try to tell their stories, but are locked in traumatic experiences. Don Quijote becomes a figure of not only insanity, but also powerlessness in the face of the modern world. He tries to fix the evil around him, but his actions often fail—not because he lacks will, but because the world he lives in is too complicated to understand his noble intentions.

For Mieke Bal, art becomes a research tool, and “thinking with paintings” lets us diagnose today’s problems (mass migration, violence, the destruction of our planet) and forces us to think about them and look for solutions.

The exhibition uses the idea of empathy as a way to influence viewers confronted with trauma and violence. Don Quijote, the classic “mad knight,” is transformed into a “sad knight,” whose actions become an expression of frustration and powerlessness against the suffering of others. Ball emphasises the fact that although it might seem pointless, the act of helping others, empathy remain a key tool in the fight against dehumanisation.

(Mateusz Wszelaki)

curators: Małgorzata Gamrat, Elżbieta Błotnicka-Mazur
collaboration: Mateusz Wszelaki
exhibition design: Waldemar Tatarczuk
coordination: Diana Kołczewska
execution: Rafał Garula, Jarosław Mitura, Adam Oroń
promotion: Alicja Gieleta
graphic design: Florentyna Nastaj
partners: The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, WRO Art Center

Exhibition opening: March 7, 2025 (Friday), 19.00
Where: Galeria Labirynt, Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Language: opening in Polish. Translation into Polish Sign Language; interpreter: Marta Stępniak. Translation into Ukrainian; interpreter: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk. No translation into English.
On view until: April 19, 2025 (Tuesday-Sunday, 12.00-19.00)
Admission: PLN 8 full-price ticket, PLN 4 concession ticket (opening: free)

Curator: Monika Rejman

The artist, who comes from a small village on the Polish-Ukrainian border, explores the history and cultural experiences of the borderland as part of her own identity. The process creates a patchwork—a colourful fabric stitching together personal memories and the history of places—composed of roadside chapels, abandoned churches, scraps of fabric from her grandmother, childhood recollections, and traces of the region’s multicultural past. The “dowry” in the title refers to the old tradition of bringing money and wealth into a new marriage. Ciemierkiewicz shows how this symbol of past customs transforms in the context of contemporary social pressures, migration, and patriarchal patterns. The works are contextualised by the artist’s collection of women’s herstories—those of grandmothers, neighbours, and sisters—interwoven with the region’s multiethnic history. For the artist, “dowry” is not a passively inherited legacy but a reality she continuously reinterprets.

Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz – a visual artist born in 1992 in Rzeszów. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (2016), where she is currently pursuing her PhD “Herstory in Many Voices” in the studios of Andrzej Rysiński and Krzysztof Wodiczko. The cultural experience of the Polish-Ukrainian borderland and her personal perspective are central to her work. She explores themes such as multidimensional identity, women’s histories, and the intersections of cultures and forms of spirituality. She also engages with the context of difficult historical heritage and forms of memory. Ciemierkiewicz works with various media, including textiles, printmaking, video, and voice. In 2024, she received the Claus Michaletz Preis (Germany). Her works have been exhibited at KVOST (Berlin, 2024), Tiger Strikes Asteroid (Los Angeles, 2024), ISCP (New York, 2024), BWA Bydgoszcz (2024), Galeria Biała in Lublin (2022), and BWA Krosno (2022).

Exhibition as part of the project “Simple questions – difficult answers”

Subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund.

When: 17.01.2025 (Friday), 19.00
Where: Galeria Labirynt, Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Language: Polish. Translation into Polish Sign Language; Interpreter: Ewelina Lachowska. Translation in Ukrainian; interpreter: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk. Translation into English; Interpreter: Hubert Bania.
On view until: 9.03.2025 (Tuesday-Sunday, 12.00-19.00)
Admission: full price 8 PLN, concession 4 PLN (opening: free)

Artists:

• Sebastian Bal, Marta Bogdańska, Karolina Burzak, Marcin Derda, Samuel Kłoda, Dawid Konopka, Bartosz Korszun, Kacper Kucharczyk, Suzette Lautreamont, Nicole Lipiński, Marianna Marszałkowska, Michał Myszkowski, Florentyna Nastaj, Ola Nenko
• Oskar Dawicki, Dariusz Fodczuk, Arti Grabowski, Kali Katharsis, Katarzyna Kozyra, Aleksandra Kubiak, Milkbaby, Przemysław Piniak, Filipka Rutkowska, Bożna Wydrowska
• Katarzyna Bogusz, Kacper Greń i Kuba Szreder, Konrad Gubała, Michał Iwański, Alicja Kochanowicz i Maciej Kwietnicki, Maciej Nowacki, Weronika Nowojska, Tomek Paszkowicz, Hanna Shumska, Paula Szymańska

Curators: Waldemar Tatarczuk, Mateusz Wszelaki

The new chapter of the 100 Years in Labirynt – Open space exhibition once again becomes a meeting place for different languages and artistic mediums and explores the art of the young generation of artists. The works displayed in this part of the exhibition were selected through an open call and represent a wide range of art forms—from visual arts, to installations, new technologies and performance. This diversity becomes a key point of reflection on modern art.

The exhibition is an attempt at understanding how young artists merge seemingly opposing themes while searching for new creative paths. Their works open a dialogue between tradition and modernity, locality and globalism, emotion and technology. The pursuit of exploring these relationships is not just a theoretical exercise, but a concrete, practical step toward creating a new young artistic generation, which is not afraid to cross lines and boundaries and redefine artistic canons. Here, the curators duty is not to seek a unifying narrative, but rather to read the moods and emotions.

Labirynt, as an institution, remains faithful to its commitment to openness and constant change. The exhibition, just like the gallery, is a live structure allowing subsequent generations of creators to draw from the past, as well as to create new contexts and meanings which are suitable for contemporary challenges.

You can read more on the already-closed, historical part of the exhibition and the accompanying events here.

The exhibition is a part of the project “Galeria Labirynt – from a gallery of paintings to a gallery for people”.
It is co-financed by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the National Centre for Culture: Culture – Interventions programme, 2024 edition.

Financed by the European Union as part of the National Reconstruction Plan.

The ‘blood’ mentioned in the title refers to our primary source of power, namely oil, and its role in international circulation. It is ‘dirty’ because its use has turned against humanity and nature. Oil drives civilization forward while simultaneously causing degradation of the environment. The history of oil is a tale of geopolitical conflicts, civilizational and technological development, fierce competition, dominance and global warming, as well as the degradation of the natural environment. Oil can be a blessing but has also become a cause for anxiety. Due to its great significance, economists have recognized that national economies may be suffering from oil addiction.

Exhibition opening: December 14, 2024 (Sat.), 6 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt, Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Language: opening in Polish. Translation into English; interpreter: Hubert Bania.
Exhibition on view until: February 23, 2025 (Tue.-Sun., 12-7 p.m.)
Admission: PLN 8 for full-price ticket, PLN 4 for concession ticket (opening: free)
Curator: Waldemar Tatarczuk

The protagonist of Barbara Gryka’s exhibition is petroleum – the ‘dirty blood’ that flows in the veins of the post-natural organism that is the world of the Anthropocene era.

Oil is energy and life. It is also death, manifested in the form of environmental pollution, resource wars and the spectre of climate disaster. Oil is the gold of modernity – though black and extracted from the hellish depths of the earth.

It is impossible to talk about it without talking about the modern world – and vice versa. The story created by Barbara Gryka takes the form of a post-Internet opera presented as a multimedia installation.

At the centre of the narrative is the figure of Ignacy Łukasiewicz, a Pole with Armenian roots who, in the 19th century, becomes the starting point of the epic tale of oil-fuelled civilisation that continues to this day. It was Łukasiewicz, a romantic and a patriot living in partitioned Poland, who was the first to recognise the unlimited potential of this raw material, develop the pioneering method of its refining and invent the paraffin lamp, which shed new light on progress. The first crude oil Eldorado was created on Polish soil, near Krosno, where Łukasiewicz began to exploit its reservoirs.

In Barbara Gryka’s narrative, the historical figure is transformed into a mythological one: Łukasiewicz is Prometheus. The artist follows the temper of the inventor and entrepreneur who made his fortune on oil but was also idealistic and philanthropic. Łukasiewicz saw his role in society precisely in Promethean terms. He believed that his discoveries would change the world for the better and push it towards progress. He was not wrong, although there is no doubt that the world built on the foundation of his inventions is radically different from the utopian vision he imagined.

Zeus also makes an appearance in “Dirty Blood”. In ancient beliefs, the god cruelly punished Prometheus for trying to give divine powers to humans. In Barbara Gryka’s work, Zeus takes the form of Rockefeller – a figure symbolising the power of money and the principle of greed. In this version of the mythological story, Prometheus is an employee of a petrol station where the billionaire comes to refuel his car.

Barbara Gryka uses computer animation, artificial intelligence-generated imagery and edited material from the Internet to create the multi-dimensional narrative that reflects the contradictory image of the contemporary world through oil. Oil is the raw material with a huge impact on political, economic and ecological realities. At the same time – extracted from the depths of the earth, from the abyss of time – it is the materialisation of an ancient, chthonic energy unleashed by modern man. The sources of oil are also the sources of wealth and inequality, the fuel for progress and the forces behind wars. The narrative of Gryka’s exhibition thus takes place in the here and now, but also in the universal dimension of a myth. The discourse of the characters, on the other hand, is articulated not in prose, but – as in opera – in the form of poetry and songs, which is perhaps the only form capable of accommodating the complexity and ambivalence of oil.

Stach Szabłowski

3D animations: Barbara Gryka, Agata Konarska, Daniil Revkovskyi
opera text: Aleksandra Konarska
composer: Piotr Michalczuk
archival video and ai: Daniil Revkovskyi
educational programme: Patryk Dariusz Gacki, Maciej Kryński
singers: Łukasz Konieczny, Anna Werecka
rap: Jan Albert Cieślak, Paweł Bednarczyk-Bahus
cameraman: Marcin Polar

Funded by: Fundacja Artystyczna Podróż Hestii
Partner: Fundacja Artystyczna Podróż Hestii and STU ERGO Hestia S.A.

Exhibition opening: 23.10.2024 (Wednesday), 18.00
Where: Galeria Labirynt, Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Language: exhibition opening in Polish. Translation into Polish Sign Language; interpreter: Marta Stępniak. No translation into Ukrainian or English.
Open until: 24.11.2024 (Tues.-Sun, 12.00-19.00)
Admission: 8 PLN full price, 4 PLN concession (opening: free)
Curator: Waldemar Tatarczuk

Sławomir Toman began painting pictures featuring works by other artists as early as during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he portrayed works by his colleagues from Professor Kunc’s studio. Where did this idea come from? The studio was quite small and it sometimes happened that in a crowded class many people blocked his view of a model or still life. Toman, unbothered by the fact, painted what he saw, including fragments of paintings that obscured the assignment prepared by his professor. That way, he created peculiar painting collages made up of fragments and quotations from the works of other artists. Over time, these works turned into his ‘Art in Art’ series, which is continued in this exhibition. It is a kind of homage to the artists whose works resonated with Toman’s sensibility.

Most of the paintings at the Known stories. Unknown stories exhibition refer to works from the Labirynt collection. These includes works by well-known artists, as well as forgotten pieces by less known authors. Browsing through the photographic documentation of the collection, Toman intuitively chose works in which he found motifs that had already appeared in his work before. What mattered to him was their visuality, although it is clear that behind each work is the author, their history and the history of their relationship with the creator of the exhibition and with Galeria Labirynt.

The exhibition in a part of the project “Galeria Labirynt – from a gallery of paintings to a gallery for people”.
Subsidized by funds from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage within the framework of the program National Cultural Center: Culture-Interventions, 2024 edition.

Funded by the European Union as part of the National Reconstruction Plan.

Accessibility: The exhibition is on the ground floor. The bookstore offers free rental of noise-canceling headphones and a wheelchair. Quiet hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.

Labirynt is not a white cube, neither physically nor mentally. Past projects leave their traces, both symbolic and physical, within its space. Art exists in continuous, critical dialogue with reality, which actively shapes the institution’s program, open to the unexpected.

While Labirynt’s history features prominent figures in Polish and international art, 100 Years in Labirynt avoids any sense of ancestor worship. Instead, if there’s a lesson to be learned from the artistic ‘ancestors’ whose works are gathered in the historical section, it is to eschew all forms of unquestioning reverence. The exhibition reminds us that art object’s value lies in its ability to convey attitudes, ideas, and interpersonal connections. Furthermore, it suggests that when faced with a choice between the cold calculations of the art market and the constraints of artistic bureaucracy, a third way is possible.

Is this a universal model for an artistic institution? Perhaps not. Not every gallery can, or should, aspire to be like Labirynt. However, amidst current debates about the future of cultural institutions in Poland, Labirynt stands as an example of an institution actively shaping its future, recognising that the next half-century is already unfolding.

[Stach Szabłowski, excerpt from a text on the exhibition 100 Years in Labirynt]

100 Years in Labirynt

Where: Galeria Labirynt, Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
On view until: 5.01.2025 (Tuesday-Sunday, 13.00-19.00)
Admission: full price 8 PLN, concession 4 PLN
Curator: Waldemar Tatarczuk

The exhibition consists of several parts which are in dialogue with each other, but at the same time create separate worlds. Initially, the parts were: the first 50; the in-between; and the next 50 years. It thus focuses on Galeria Labirynt in the years 1974-2074. Following a historical part presenting the works of artists associated with the gallery in the past half-century, the focus of the exhibition shifts to the present and the future. Due to this fact, through its subsequent chapters, the exhibition becomes a story, an open space—rather than an unchanging object, or a frame frozen in time. After all, we do not aim to celebrate the past—it would contradict the very idea of Galeria Labirynt. Another equally important goal of the the exhibition is an attempt at answering the question on what comes next and what the next 50 years should be like.

Here’s what you can currently see at the 100 Years in Labirynt exhibition:

In-between

The In-between part mainly consists of video works by artists featured in the Gallery’s programme in the past.
Artists: Anna Baumgart, Wojciech Bąkowski, Przemek Branas, Oskar Dawicki, Katarzyna Górna; Barbara Gryka, Julia Golachowska, Jonasz Chlebowski; Sarah Hill, Paweł Korbus, Katarzyna Kozyra, Robert Kuśmirowski, Joanna Rajkowska, R.E.P., Wiktor Stribog, Ala Urwał, Franek Warzywa and Młody Budda, Anna Zaradny

Open Space

During the exhibition’s opening weeks, the visitors could see one room filled with artworks from the Gallery’s first 50 years, as well as from the “in-between” period. The second room was empty, except for remnants of the “Wieniawa Resort” exhibition and some boxes. After four weeks the room was gradually filled with new objects by young artists who answered our open call.
Artists: Katarzyna Bogusz, Stanisława Fidor-Tatarczuk, Konrad Gubała, Kacper Greń and Kuba Szreder, Michał Iwański, Wiktoria Janowska, Alicja Kochanowicz and Maciej Kwietnicki, Kolektyw Łaski, Włodzimierz Maciejczyk, Irena Mykoliv, Weronika Nowojska, Tomek Paszkowicz, Maciej Nowacki, Hanna Shumska, Paula Szymańska, Dominika A. Wasilewska, Gabriela Żylińska
[read more]

Near Dark 2

An exhibition inspired by the 1987 movie Near Dark directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Just like the movie, the exhibition rejects simple genre solutions and focuses on experiencing artistic approaches invested in breaking convention. On searching for alternative forms of expressing one’s personality, negotiating the questions of identity and visibility. The exhibition was awarded the ING Polish Art Foundation’s Special Prize during the 2024 Warsaw Gallery Weekend.
Artists: Eliza Chojnacka, Klaudia Figura, Konrad Gubała, Czaro Malinkiewicz, Paweł Marcinek, Przemysław Piniak, Zuza Piekoszewska, Maria Pietras, Maryna Sakowska, Mikołaj Sobotka, Bartosz Zaskórski
Curator: Przemek Sowiński / galeria Łęctwo
[read more]

You can read more on the already-closed historical part of the exhibition and the accompanying events here.

The exhibition is a part of the project “Galeria Labirynt – from a gallery of paintings to a gallery for people”.
It is co-financed by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the National Centre for Culture: Culture – Interventions programme, 2024 edition.
Financed by the European Union as part of the National Reconstruction Plan.
Honorary patronage of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

We would like to invite you to the opening of the exhibition and the premiere of the film “Freedom” by Ksenia Medvedetska. The opening will include a presentation and discussion with the people involved in the production of the film.

Exhibition opening: 8 November 2024 (Friday), 18.00–20.30
Where: Galeria Labirynt’s Azyl Library, Lipowa 13 (entrance from Ofiar Katynia Street)
Language: Polish. The event will be translated into Polish Sign Language; translator: Jolanta Gromada. No translation into English or Ukrainian.
Accessibility: The event will take place on the ground floor, in a space free of architectural barriers.
On view until: 6 December 2024 (Tuesday-Thursday, 13.00-18.00)
Free admission

The collection of art clothing entitled “Freedom” was created to present a person who experiences traumatic events, together with the emotions and internal states that accompany the process, a person who frees themselves from the burdens on their way to happiness. Simultaneously, it presents the emotional evolution—from depression and hopelessness to regaining harmony and reestablishing contact with oneself. Each of the five costumes shows a specific stage of the journey and portrays its mood through the use of elements such as patterns, structures, colours and shapes. It also carries its own story and message, based on its own experience.

— In the collection I explore the theme of traumatic experiences in general, rather than focus on specific traumas. I believe that the states I present in the project are well known and quite common in difficult situations, so everyone will be able to recognise themselves and their own situations in what they see. Perhaps some of the viewers will need support or a sense of not being alone. It is also important to understand that trauma or traumatic experiences shape certain behavioural patterns which can be rather unhelpful, or even (and quite often) downright destructive. The acknowledgment and acceptance of the problem already constitutes a good start that may lead to a solution. However, the type of the solution makes all the difference—writes the artist.

Ksenia Medvedetska: – Hi, my name is Ksenia, I’m an artist, and yarn and wool are the tools of my artistic expression. I come from Ukraine and moved to Poland to study. I first studied at KUL, and then transferred to study remotely at a different university. I combine my passions and give them shape in my art. I study psychology at the WSB-NLU University in Nowy Sącz, and I have knitted for 12 years. Knitting has been my passion since childhood, and now I cannot imagine a day without creating. I firmly believe that art is not only the mirror of the soul, but that it can also heal a person after difficult experiences. That is why I entitled my collection of clothes “Freedom”.

When: 12.10.2024 (Saturday), 18.00
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Language: event in Polish. Translation into Polish Sign Language; interpreter: Ewelina Lachowska. No translation into Ukrainian and English.
Exhibition on view until: 5.01.2025 (Tues.-Sun, 12:00-19:00)
Admission: 8 PLN normal ticket, 4 PLN discount ticket (free entry to the vernissage)

Every person who visited the “100 Years in Labirynt” exhibition saw one exhibition room filled with works from the first 50, those that are situated in between, and an empty space in the second room. There was nothing there but the remnants of the “Vieniava resort” on the walls and floor, and a mass of boxes that filled the gallery space, for no apparent reason. After four weeks of the exhibition, new objects by young artists will appear here. First there will be the works that make up the “Near Darkness 2” exhibition, Łęctwo Gallery presented a few days ago at Warsaw Gallery Weekend 2024, followed by the works of young people who responded to our open call. In this way, we are gradually filling the open space in which we will show the work of young artistic people, which we hope will give shape to the next 50 years of Galeria Labirynt.

Artists: Katarzyna Bogusz, Stanisława Fidor-Tatarczuk, Konrad Gubała, Kacper Greń i Kuba Szreder, Michał Iwański, Wiktoria Janowska, Alicja Kochanowicz i Maciej Kwietnicki, Kolektyw Łaski, Włodzimierz Maciejczyk, Irena Mykoliv, Weronika Nowojska, Tomek Paszkowicz, Maciej Nowacki, Hanna Shumska, Paula Szymańska, Dominika A. Wasilewska, Gabriela Żylińska

Event within the framework of the project „Galeria Labirynt – from a gallery of paintings to a gallery for people”.
Subsidized by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the framework of the program National Cultural Center: Culture-Interventions. Edition 2024

Funded by the European Union as part of the National Reconstruction Plan.

Honorary patronage of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

Accessibility: exhibit on the first floor. The bookstore offers free rental of noise-canceling earmuffs and a wheelchair. Quiet hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.

Opening of the exhibition: 11.10.2024, 18.00; afterparty: Ciężki Brokat “HAY AGE” (for people who attend the vernissage, free admission to the event)
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Language: opening in Polish. Translation into Polish Sign Language; interpreter: Ewelina Lachowska. No translation into Ukrainian and English.
Exhibition on view until: 1.12.2024 (Tues.–Sun 12.00-19.00)
Admission: PLN 8 normal ticket, PLN 4 discount ticket (free admission to the vernissage)

artists: Eliza Chojnacka, Klaudia Figura, Konrad Gubała, Czaro Malinkiewicz, Paweł Marcinek, Przemysław Piniak, Zuza Piekoszewska, Maria Pietras, Maryna Sakowska, Mikołaj Sobotka, Bartosz Zaskórski
curator: Przemek Sowiński /Łęctwo Gallery

Special Award of the ING Polish Art Foundation for Warsaw Gallery Weekend 2024

The exhibition inspired by the 1987 film Near Dark, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is the second part, essentially an intuitive attempt to transfer the film’s narrative into the realm of art. Bigelow’s film, though underappreciated at the time, perfectly captured the atmosphere of the 1980s, where horror films dominated as metaphors for youth’s transformations and puberty. Marketed by producers as a vampire horror, it deviates significantly from what we usually expect. The director entirely abandons the gothic iconography typically associated with the genre in favor of a more modern outlook. The word “vampire” is never uttered in the film, and there are no scenes that would typically intend to scare the audience. The “vampires” in Bigelow’s film resemble a group of outsiders — punks, misfits — forced by their “condition” to live and function on the fringes of normative society. At night, they sustain themselves by killing random people, only to wither away by day in cheap motels with sun-blocked windows. Together, they form a peculiar family unit, perhaps one plunged into chaos, nihilistic, and disillusioned, but willing to do anything to survive. […]

You won’t see vampires at the exhibition either. As in the film, instead of relying on straightforward genre tropes, the exhibition focuses on the experience of artistic approaches interested in breaking conventions. Exploring alternative ways of expressing one’s personality, negotiating issues of identity, and the visibility that comes with it. The works are linked together by the concept of transgression and the willingness to experience radically new emotions, whether in terms of techniques used, experimentation with materials, or personal experiences. As a result, what we see takes on a separate, ambiguous visual representation that far exceeds the original assumptions. Underneath the distorted form, themes from the film remain palpable: growing up, belonging, attitudes toward the traditional family model, relationships with others, and defining one’s own identity.
(excerpt from the curatorial text)

An event as part of the project “Galeria Labirynt – from a gallery of paintings to a gallery for people”.
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage under the program of the National Centre for Culture: Culture-Interventions. Edition 2024

Funded by the European Union as part of the National Recovery Plan.

Honorary patronage of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

Availability: Exhibition on the ground floor. The bookstore offers free rental of noise-canceling earmuffs and a wheelchair. Quiet hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.

Where: Galeria Labirynt, ks.J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Exhibition opening: 14/09/2024 at 18:00
Exhibition on display: until 13/10/2024 (Tue-Sun 12:00-19:00)Language: opening in Polish; translation into Ukrainian, translator: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk. No translation into Polish sign language or English.
Admission: PLN 8, PLN 4 concession (free for the opening)

Curator: Gabriela Gawęda

The War and Peace? exhibition features the work of Ukrainian artist and photographer Alena Grom at Galeria Labirynt. Grom is the current resident of the Lublin Station programme, organized by Galeria Labirynt in collaboration with Artsvit Gallery (Dnipro, Ukraine).

Grom works at the intersection of conceptual photography and social reportage. In her work, she employs a variety of artistic approaches: from reportage to association play, video, collages, using photographs and other people’s archives. These methods help her convey ideas and emotions more profoundly.

The title of the exhibition comes from the book War and Peace which Grom found in 2014, near the ruins of one of the schools in the Kharkiv region that fell victim to Russian bombs. War and Peace? presents works from two projects: Generation and The Banality of Evil – along with two video projections.

In her Generation project, Alena Grom documents the daily lives of young people who survived the occupation in the Kharkiv region in 2014. During hostilities, infrastructure and residential buildings were destroyed and thousands of people, including children, were injured or killed. These children are not only victims, but also witnesses to the crimes and tragedies that continue to unfold around them.

Meanwhile, in the project The Banality of Evil, Alena Grom shows Bucha in March 2022, which has become a site of mass murder of civilians. Grom documented the crimes committed by the Russian military stationed in the area. The photos do not show residents or soldiers, only what is left in Bucha. The project’s name is drawn from the essay of the same title by Hannah Arendt. The concept of evil, as Arendt defined it, helps to better understand the complexity of human nature and that evil can manifest itself in the daily routine activities of people who perform their duties without reflecting on the moral consequences of their actions.

Alena Grom’s photographs and video works encourage the beholder to reflect on how anyone can unwittingly become a part of a machine of evil when we look unreflectively at the reality around us. War and Peace? exhibition encourages us to ponder our contemporary world, the responsibility for our actions and hope for recovery in times of crisis.

Alena Grom is a Ukrainian artist and documentary photographer originally from Donetsk. She works at the intersection of conceptual photography and social reportage. In April 2014, she left her hometown due to the Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine, which greatly influenced her artistic direction. One of the main themes of her work is life in spite of everything. Since 2016, she has focused on people and places affected by Russian aggression. Since 2017, she has been living in Bucha. Alena Grom’s projects have been exhibited in Ukraine, the USA, various locations in Australia, Europe and Asia. Her work has been honoured with many international photography awards and prizes.

Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. The bookstore offers free rental of noise-canceling earmuffs and a wheelchair. Silent hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.

Exhibition within the framework of the project “Galeria Labirynt – from a gallery of paintings to a gallery for people”.

Subsidized by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the framework of the National Cultural Center program: Culture-Interventions. Edition 2024

Exhibition opening: 14/09/2024 (Saturday), 6:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Language: opening in Polish; translation into Ukrainian, translator: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk. No translation into Polish sign language or English.
Exhibition on view: 3.11.2024 (Tues-Sun, 12:00-19:00 p.m.)
Admission: PLN 8, PLN 4 concession (free for the opening)

• Katarzyna Wyszyńska ‘Going apesh!t with nail polish’ during the exhibition opening, anyone interested will have the chance to put themselves in Katarzyna Wyszyńska’s hands and get a commemorative nail decoration.

It has been 50 years since Andrzej Mroczek became the head of Galeria Labirynt. These have been exceptional years for art – performance, conceptual art, video, concrete poetry, feminist art, installations. All this and much more could be seen at the Lublin gallery. Artists who now form the canon of contemporary art visited Lublin and presented their works here. The name of the gallery became known in artistic circles all over Europe. And all this thanks to Andrzej Mroczek’s uncompromising attitude, the trust that artists placed in him and his openness to artistic experimentation. At the exhibition, we will see works by some of them.

However, we don’t want to solely celebrate the past – that would contradict the idea of Galeria Labirynt. An equally important goal of this exhibition is to try to answer the question – what next, what should the next 50 years be like? That is why we are again inviting young people from Lublin and beyond. We want Labyrinth to be their place. For them we want to expand the field of our activities. We don’t want to close ourselves within the confines of visual arts, which have long ceased to work anyway.

Labirynt is a place for young people’s activities: music, film, poetry, dance, activism, theater, DJing, drag, cooking, programming, parties, concerts, gardening, beekeeping, ecology, AI, visual arts – and what else? It’s up to them, their imagination and their needs.

The exhibition will feature:

• first 50: Janusz Bałdyga, Mirosław Bałka, Lucjan Demidowski, Maria Fidor, Koji Kamoji, Zofia Kulik, Zdzisław Kwiatkowski, Przemysław Kwiek, Teresa Murak, Andrzej Polakowski, Małgorzata Potocka, Józef Robakowski, Zbigniew Warpechowski, Krzysztof Zarębski, Ewa Zarzycka
• works from the Collection of Galeria Labirynt: Jan Berdyszak, Wojciech Bruszewski, Andrzej Dłużniewski, Krzysztof Klępka, Marek Konieczny, Andrzej Lachowicz, Natalia LL, Andrzej Partum, Maria Pinińska-Bereś, Zygmunt Rytka, Mikołaj Smoczyński, Kajetan Sosnowski, Jan Świdziński, Ryszard Winiarski, Anastazy Wiśniewski, Jan Ziemski
• between: Anna Baumgart, Wojciech Bąkowski, Przemek Branas, Oskar Dawicki, Katarzyna Górna; Barbara Gryka, Julia Golachowska, Jonasz Chlebowski; Sarah Hill, Paweł Korbus, Katarzyna Kozyra, Robert Kuśmirowski, Joanna Rajkowska, R.E.P., Wiktor Stribog, Ala Urwał, Franek Warzywa and Młody Budda, Anna Zaradny
• second 50: we are awaiting proposals from young people who want to contribute to the second 50 of Labirynt*

Curator: Waldemar Tatarczuk

*Send your artwork proposal for the exhibition along with your bio to email: 100lat@labirynt.com.

Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. The bookstore offers free rental of noise-canceling earmuffs and a wheelchair. Silent hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.

Exhibition within the framework of the project “Galeria Labirynt – from a gallery of paintings to a gallery for people”.
Subsidized by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the framework of the National Cultural Center program: Culture-Interventions. Edition 2024

Funded by the European Union as part of the National Reconstruction Plan.

Honorary patronage of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage

“The Sky Is Open” is the result of unprecedented cooperation between outstanding Polish artists and their colleagues from Ukraine, initiated by Waldemar Tatarczuk.

When: July 9–14, 2024
Where: MUSEUM ON THE VISTULA
WYBRZEŻE KOŚCIUSZKOWSKIE 22 (SKWER KPT. S. SKIBNIEWSKIEGO “CUBRYNY”), WARSAW

The title, an appeal to close the sky over Ukraine, appeared at the start of the Russian invasion. The full-scale war has continued for over two years, but in this respect nothing has changed. The sky is still a source of danger for Ukrainians. No one can feel safe in any part of the country. An attack from the air may happen at any time. Deadly rockets and drones reach everywhere. It might seem that we all live under the same sky, wherever we are. But the sky over Ukraine resembles the one above us only in appearance.

This became the impetus for launching the project The Sky Is Open. Tatarczuk asked Ukrainian artists to submit photos of the Ukrainian sky. He passed them on to artists from Poland to make their own interventions, creating works of art using the Ukrainian photos. This led to the creation of a series of nearly 20 intriguing works, which we are presenting at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

Artists involved in the project:

1. Mirosław Bałka / Zhanna Kadyrova, One Day the Sun Will Come, pigment print on archival paper, collage, 2023
2. Jakub Ciężki / David Chichkan, Untitled, pigment print on archival paper, acrylic paint, 2023
3. Elżbieta Jabłońska / Jaroslav Futymsky, and all that exists is love, pigment print on archival paper, acrylic paint, 2023
4. Katarzyna Krakowiak / Zhanna Kadyrova, Bile, pigment print on archival paper, yellow foil, 2023
5. Robert Kuśmirowski / Yaroslav Futymsky, Zhanna Kadyrova, Stairway to Heaven, object, Sony phonograph, pigment print on archival paper, pencil, 2023
6. Karol Radziszewski / David Chichkan, Untitled I, pigment print on archival paper, oil paint, 2023
7. Karol Radziszewski / David Chichkan, Untitled II, pigment print on archival paper, oil paint, 2023
8. Karol Radziszewski / Nikita Kadan, Untitled, pigment print on archival paper, oil paint, 2023
9. Karol Radziszewski / Zhanna Kadyrova, Untitled, pigment print on archival paper, oil paint, 2023
10. Karol Radziszewski / Taras Kamennoy, Untitled, pigment print on archival paper, oil paint, 2023
11. Karol Radziszewski / Kinderalbum, Untitled, pigment print on archival paper, oil paint, 2023
12. Joanna Rajkowska / Jaroslav Futymsky, The Sky Is Open I, pigment print on archival paper, collage, 2023
13. Joanna Rajkowska / Taras Kamennoy, The Sky Is Open II, pigment print on archival paper, collage, 2023
14. Joanna Rajkowska / Kinderalbum, The Sky Is Open, pigment print on archival paper, collage, 2023
15. Wilhelm Sasnal / Nikita Kadan, Make Clouds Not Smoke, pigment print on archival paper, oil paint, 2023
16. Jadwiga Sawicka / David Chichkan, No One Died Today, pigment print on archival paper, acrylic paint, 2023
17. Monika Sosnowska / Nikita Kadan, Untitled, pigment print on archival paper, intervention using fire, 2023
18. Mariusz Tarkawian / Nikita Kadan, Untitled, pigment print on archival paper, ink, 2023
19. Mariusz Tarkawian / Taras Kamennoy, Untitled, pigment print on archival paper, ink, 2023

The works on display are for sale. Proceeds will support the artistic community in Ukraine.
Contact for purchase/details: info@theskyisopen.eu.

Organisers: Galeria Labirynt in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw

Within the realm of human anatomy, myriad facets of identity often remain veiled; disability, ethnic heritage, socioeconomic status, refugee narratives – they elude casual observation. The corporeal vessel, however, harbors a wealth of narratives. Through scars, creases, and folds, we glimpse fragments of these stories. Yet, beneath the surface lies a realm obscured, prompting reflection on the concealed essence of personhood. Frequently, individuals are perceived through the narrow lens of a singular identity facet – transgender, black, plus-sized – neglecting the intricate interplay and mutual influence of these intersecting identities.

Exhibition opening: 17/05/2024 (Friday), at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Azyl Library of Galerii Labirynt, ul. Lipowa 13 (entrance from ul. Ofiar Katynia)
Exhibition on display: until 20/06/2024 (Tue.-Thu. 1:00–6:00 p.m.)
Admission: free

The painted compositions herein pay homage to those diverging from the constricting confines of conventional beauty, elucidating the multidimensionality of their existence through an intersectional lens. This exhibition stands as a testament against the prevailing portrayal of queer bodies in media – a portrayal often limited to able-bodied, Caucasian, slim, or muscular archetypes. It is born of the imperative to illuminate the ubiquitous presence of queer individuals across all spectra, often embodying multiplicities of minority experiences.

In this showcase I wanted to present queer individuals as embodiments of diverse narratives, transcending the narrow confines of LGBTQI+ categorisation to embody multifaceted beings. The original poetry interwoven throughout the exhibition serves as a testament to tmy intimate negotiation with corporeal form and societal constructs – finding solace in the raw and tender embrace of nature, wherein lies the daily revelation of self.

Karo Zorya Jazgarska (she/he/it) – born in 1998, is a queer artistic individual primarily active in painting and drawing. Its oeuvre traverses themes including transgender identity, corporeality, body positivity, and relationships with the corporeal form. A graduate of the State High School of Fine Arts in Nałęczów (Lublin region), with a diploma specialising in utilitarian forms: design, and the Lublin School of Art and Design with a focus on fashion design featuring a no-waste collection. Additionally trained as an occupational therapist, but her aspirations are rooted in the realm of art. Intersectional feminism, reproductive rights, and the rights of persons with disabilities hold particular significance for them. Finding his chosen family within the queer community has endowed him with newfound strength and hope. In its leisure time, it engages in clothing upcycling. Privately, she cherishes mountain streams and lounging in a hammock with a book.

Accessibility: The event takes place on the ground floor, in a space free of architectural barriers. The opening of the exhibition is not interpreted into English.

• UA artists: Katya Buchatska, Katya Libkind, Lucy Ivanova, Olha Marusyn, Anna Ivchenko, Inga Levi, Daria Molokoiedova, Marharyta Polovinko, Dasha Chechushkova, Olia Yeriemieieva, Sana Shahmuradova Tanska, Yuliia Danylevska, Kateryna Aliinyk, Viktoriia Rozentsveih, Karina Synytsia
  PL Artists: Magdalena Franczak, Katarzyna Kozyra, Małgorzata Pawlak, Ewa Zarzycka, Marta Zgierska
• Curatorial team: Alya Segal, Waldemar Tatarczuk
• Partners: Artsvit Gallery, Katarzyna Kozyra Foundation

Exhibition opening: 18/05/2024 (Saturday), 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Exhibition on display: until 18/08/2024 (Tue.–Sun., 12:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: PLN 8, PLN 4 concession (free admission for the opening)

“Secondary Archive” is a project originating in Poland, dedicated to researching and archiving art that has long been relegated to secondary status in cultural discourse. Specifically, we focus on women’s art. This year, the “Secondary Archive” welcomes 15 new Ukrainian female artists whose works explore the theme of war.

The female artists participating in the exhibition do not directly portray the war in their works – images from battlefields or the aftermath of Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure unfortunately no longer evoke profound reactions. However, the loss of their homes and forced displacement inevitably influences the artists’ creative endeavours. They delve into memories of home and childhood while exploring novel avenues for commemorative practices.

Moreover, the war accentuates not only the significance of home but also compels a re-evaluation of the concept of land. Landscape, soil, and geographical areas have emerged as prominent subjects for Ukrainian artists today.

Additionally, the body, a perennial subject for artists, appears in a distorted and altered form due to the war. Artists reassess their relationship with their bodies, gender, care, and the human body as an object of war.

Within the exhibition, Polish female artists, grappling with similar themes of home, body, and land, engage in a dialogue with their Ukrainian counterparts. This exchange unveils deeper connections between Ukrainian and Polish cultures and underscores the tendency in Eastern European art to confront sensitive topics and foster a discourse on collective female solidarity.

The project “Secondary Archive. Women Artists in War” is supported by the European Union as part of the House of Europe programme.

Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. In the bookshop, you can borrow a wheelchair and earmuffs for free during your stay in the gallery. The silent hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.
The opening will be interpreted into Ukrainian, interpretation: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk.

The sense of instability of tomorrow reflects the essence of our contemporary existence, where war and loss have become an integral part of the Ukrainian experience. The unforeseen circumstances of the war insidiously instigated by Russia in 2014 have thwarted our plans and hopes. Memories of the past disappear and nostalgia for a period of peace becomes a heavy burden. Occupied cities become symbols of a lost world, and emotional transformations lead us into a labyrinth where reality and dreams of a free life compete. Each object in the exhibition conveys an impression of the instability and unpredictability of contemporary life, and makes us reflect on our coexistence with the tragic consequences of war and loss.

Exhibition opening: 26/04/2024 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt 2, ul. Grodzka 3 , Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held in a space not accessible for people with motor impairments. No English interpretation of the exhibition opening.
Curators: Waldemar Tatarczuk, Gabriela Gawęda
Exhibition on display: till 26/05/2024 (Tue–Sun 3:00–7:00 p.m.).
Admission: free.

Vartan Markarian was born, lives and works in Poltava, Ukraine. He is an interdisciplinary artist whose creative practice encompasses a wide range of artistic media such as painting, drawing, installation, video and virtual reality (VR).

Markarian explores the presence of people in urban, industrial spaces. Since the outbreak of war in 2014, he has built his creative work around the theme of posthumanism, focusing on war, emigration, ecology and the synergy of these concepts. He regularly experiments with different media, combining technical and conceptual aspects in his projects. Since the outbreak of the full-scale invasion, his work has documented reality and focused on reflections on the consequences of the war caused by the Russian invasion. The artist explores the state in which each individual finds himself in these difficult times – between existence and death, volunteering and defending the homeland – times in which life is divided into pre-war and war.

Anatoly Belov is a legend of Kyiv’s queer art scene. His artistic practice has at various times been linked to graphics, street art, performance and film. He is one of the founders of the R.E.P. group, which became an important artistic milieu in Ukraine after the Orange Revolution. He gained popularity through electronic music. Belov started with performance music, forming the band Penoplast, and since 2012, together with Gosha Babansky, he has been creating the first queer-pop project in Ukraine – Lyudska Podoba. During his residency at Galeria Labirynt, he began creating a new series of painting works.

The basis of his creative method is personal experience, which is most often shared by many people from the LGBTQ+ community. Belov’s art thus becomes universal and, at the same time, thanks to the diversity of techniques and media, multifaceted and moving. The exhibition at Azyl Library features his graphic works, films and recent paintings created in Lublin.

After the opening of the exhibition, we invite you to Galeria Labirynt headquarters, ul. Popiełuszki 5, for a concert by Belov and a afterparty.

Exhibition opening: 12/04/2024 (Friday), 7:00 p.m.
Concert: 9:00 p.m. (Galeria Labirynt, ul. Popiełuszki 5)
Where: Azyl Library of Galeria Labirynt, ul. Lipowa 13 (entrance from ul. Ofiar Katynia)
Exhibition on display: until 11/05/2024 (Tue.–Sat. 1:00–6:00 p.m.)
Admission: free

Accessibility: The event takes place on the ground floor, in the space free from architectural barriers. No English interpretation of the opening.

Having moved to the capital, Kamil is looking for a job, wanting to afford a bit of luxury in the form of not falling behind with rent and eating regular meals. Driven by his old boyhood fascination, as well as his eco-ambitions as a vegan, he decides to take a job as a waste collector.

Taking a job as a dustbin man had no artistic motive. Kamil simply went to work. His day was characterised by: getting up at three in the morning, driving for hours in the car, lugging heavy containers and being exposed to unexpected sparring with rats. But, of course, there is more to life than work. With the remnants of his physical and mental strength, Kamil was dating on Tinder and learning the basics of jazz on the clarinet.

In the recycling-multimedia exhibition, Kamil Janczewski retrospectively ruminates on the collected experiences of several months of being a waste collector. The world he would like to clean up is, above all, his life.

Opening: 22/03/2024, at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Exhibition on display: until 5/05/2024 (Tue.–Sun., 12:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: PLN 8 (free admission to the opening)
Curator: Emilia Lipa

Kamil Janczewski was born in Gorzów Wielkopolski and wishes to be buried there. He currently lives in Warsaw. Kamil likes ugly art. He is learning to play the piano and clarinet.

Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. In the bookshop, you can borrow a wheelchair and earmuffs for free during your stay in the gallery. The silent hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops. No English interpretation of the exhibition opening.

While hunting through library collections, this time the Splendor Group ask themselves questions about their base ingredients. Looking for tender points, favourite things, weaknesses and foibles, the members of the collective reach out to literature for help. Books, poems and comics bring them answers and support.

The starting point for the exhibition was the idea of creating their own word-picture compositions, which were to appear in the form of wall-hanging shelves. Personal stories about body and spirit, love for nature and people around us, as well as frustration and fulfillment will be seen in the individual installations. Thanks to the diversity of outlooks and characters of the artists themselves, the exhibition will feature seven distinct stories.

Exhibition opening: 8/03/2024 (Friday), at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Azyl Library of Galeria Labirynt, ul. Lipowa 13, Lublin (entrance from ul. Ofiar Katynia)
Exhibition on display: until 6/04/2024 (Tue–Sat 1:00–6:00 p.m.)
Admission: free.

The Splendor Group is an artistic septet co-created by Marianna Stręk, Andrzej Wieczorkiewicz, Angelika Rudak, Ewa Dąbkowska, Aleksandra Jastrzębska, Julia Perpetua Piestrzyńska and Maria Gil. The creatoras come from the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where, during the pandemic, they found a sense of security and unfettered joy of creation in their own company. They are characterised by a diversity of artistic attitudes and distinct beliefs. They seek points of commonality through dialogue and collaboration, which results in the creation of new artistic situations. In addition to exhibitions, they hold open calls and musical events.

Selected exhibitions:
“Let Your Soul Sway – There Is No Vistula” at the Stone Educational Pavilion, Warsaw, 29/08–06/09/2022
“Handy picture” at Widna Gallery, Kraków, 15–01/07/2022
“7 Deadly Sins” at Sklep Galeria Karowa, Warsaw, 25–30/05/2022
“Warm – Cold” at Contemporary Art Gallery MD_S, Wrocław, 11/12/2021–02/01/2022
Post-plein-air exhibition in the Przyszła Niedoszła Gallery, Warsaw, 02–09.10.2021

Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor in a space free from architectural barriers. No English interpretation of the opening.

Artists taking part in the exhibition: Mirosław Bałka, Tomasz Bielak, Bohdan Bunchak, Katarzyna Krakowiak, Pavlo Kovach jr, Dmytro Kupriyan, Robert Kuśmirowski, Alexander Len, Goshka Macuga, Denys Pankratov, Joanna Piotrowska, Agnieszka Polska, Sofiya Pomogaibo, Max Robotov i Lesia Khomenko, _mediaklub (Max Robotov, Ivan Svitlychnyi, Dmytro Tentiuk, Daria Maiier), Wilhelm Sasnal, Janek Simon, Bohdan Sokur, Monika Sosnowska, Lubomyr Tymkiv, Yurii Vovkohon, Artur Żmijewski

Curator: Waldemar Tatarczuk

Exhibition opening: 2/03/2024 (Saturday), 6:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Exhibition on display: until 5/05/2024 (Tue-Sun, 12:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: PLN 8 for regular tickets and PLN 4 for discounted tickets (free admission to the opening)

“This is just an exhibition” and yet another art exhibition will do nothing to change the situation on the frontline. Nor will it change the way the free world perceives the war in Ukraine. It may, however, strike anxiety in the audience, convey at least a trace of the uncertainty that millions of Ukrainians are faced with on a daily basis, living under the spectre of deadly missiles fired by putin’s military.

The exhibition opened on 27 October 2023, yet there were no works on show, only the architecture prepared for their display. The place evoked the atmosphere of an abandoned, gloomy city. It was surrounded by a projection of a sunny, bright blue sky, which faded out from time to time, plunging the exhibition into unnerving darkness. The sky is where missiles and drones come from, bringing death and destruction. But here in Lublin we can feel safe, this war is far away, and further still from Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, New York or Budapest.

As time goes by, it seems even more and more distant. We forget, or try to forget about it. It ceases to be a hot topic for the media and the inhabitants of the free world who are preoccupied with their own problems. But Ukrainians are not indifferent to it – for them it’s a matter of life and death. The same is true for Ukrainian artists, some of whom are fighting in the Ukrainian army and who showed their works in the second installment of this exhibition which opened on 12 January 2024. The show includes, but is not limited to pieces created after 25 February 2022. Some of the soldier-artists have put their artistic endeavours on hold. What matters now is to fight for the country and its bare survival. But what also matters is the preservation of values, including the freedom to create, freedom of speech, and the rights of minorities, which putin claims are a threat to russia.

This is also understood by non-Ukrainian artists who are to join the exhibition in its third installment. Their works will be exhibited against walls with a projection of that clear blue ‘European’ sky. But that sky will also keep fading out, and the works will vanish into the darkness, so as to warn us that the reality that Ukraine has steeped in may become our fate if we don’t help this country fight the evil empire. This is not about inciting fear. Fear is often pushed it into the subconscious or encourages concessions instead of prompting a rational response. This is about rallying support for action and solidarity in the struggle against the evil, against which Ukraine defends not only itself, but us as well.

The exhibition is organized as part of the Kyiv Biennial 23

Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. The exhibition is not friendly for visually impaired individuals – the space is dimly lighted. Texts describing the works in large print are available at the entrance. The exhibition is unsuitable to people with sensory hypersensitivity – the lights at the exhibition turn on and off, a loud rumbling and crackling noise can be heard. The exhibition is not suitable for people with motor disability – there are openwork metal elements marked with fluorescent tape throughout the exhibition space. Caution is advised. In the bookshop, you can borrow a wheelchair and earmuffs for free during your stay in the gallery. The silent hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.

The opening will be interpreted into Ukrainian, interpretation: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk.

\

“It is impossible to repair cracks in a dry layer” is the concluding exhibition of Karina Synytsia’s two-month Lublin Station residency held at the Galeria Labirynt. 

Exhibition opening:
When: 23/02/2024  at 18:00
Where: Galeria Labirynt, Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. Mute earmuffs and a trolley can be borrowed free of charge from the bookshop. Quiet hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The gallery has portable induction loops. The opening is translated into Ukrainian by Volodymyr Dyshlevuk.
Exhibition on display: until 17/03/2024 (Tue–Sun: 12:00–7:00 p.m)
Admission: 8 PLN (free entry for the vernissage)

Curators: Waldemar Tatarczuk, Gabriela Gawęda

The starting point of the exhibition is the artistic practice of the Ukrainian artist Mykhailo Boychuk (1882-1937) and his students known as Boychukists. Boychuk was inspired by Byzantine art and combined its system of imagery with Ukrainian folk art. Together with his students, they wanted to create a single synthetic style of Ukrainian national art. Although their work did not contradict the ideas of the October Revolution of 1917, according to the Communist Party authorities, Boychukists’ style of painting was too independent, too pro-Western, too formalistic. Consequently, Boychuk’s school was deemed as harmful to the Soviet people. He along with his wife Sofia Nalepynska-Boychuk and students Ivan Padalka and Vasyl Sedlar were executed in 1937. 

The exhibition will feature paintings, an animation and photographs that juxtapose the stories of Ukrainian art in the 1920s and 1930s with contemporary times. Synytsia’s large-scale paintings refer to the monumental art of those years. Instead of heroic figures, the artist depicts deserted vast fields. The landscapes she creates are partially realistic and partially imagined representations of the battlefields happening on Ukrainian territory. She replaces the propaganda slogans known from Soviet times with emptiness or messages heard from friends in the army. 

The uncertain future is portrayed by Karina in an insightful way. “It is impossible to repair cracks in a dry layer” alludes to the feelings and doubts raised by news from the war front. The deliberate attacks on civilians during the ongoing Russian invasion in the Ukrainian territories bring us to the thoughts of social repressions in the Soviet Union. How long will the Russian military invasion continue? How to ensure that the memory of a distinct Ukrainian national and cultural identity survives?

Karina Synytsia – artist living and working in Kiev. In 2019 she graduated from the Kharkiv City School of Art with an engineering degree with the specialisation of painter-performer/painter-artist, art teacher. In 2023, she earned a bachelor’s degree in painting from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (NAFAA). The main medium of her work is painting. She also employs animation and uses objects in her work.  Karina frequently depicts the theme of landscape. For her, the typical landscape of her region is a tool which aids her in collecting metaphorical objects or images. She is a resident of Galeria Labirynt as part of the Lublin Station programme.

Step into the provocative world of “Dicktopia”, an exhibition that revisits the avant-garde spirit of “Dickgina” – a series of paintings born in Bakhmut in 2020, which had to be left behind as the artist had to flee his work space. The supposedly destroyed embodying piece had vibrant hues of the rainbow flag, aimed to spotlight the queer community in this small town. 

Exhibition opening:
When: 12/12/2023, (Tuesday), 6:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt 2, ul. Grodzka 3, Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held in a space not accessible for people with motor impairments..
Exhibition on display: till 31/12/2023 (Tue–Sun 3:00–7:00 p.m.).
Admission: free.

Despite “Dickgina’s” tragic fate, “Dicktopia” emerges as a homage, infusing fresh perspectives into the latent concept of 2020. Executed in an acid-soaked, street-style narrative, the canvases unfold like feverish psilocybin dreams after nights of raving and drug-induced exploration. In this private space, you will meet the imaginative world of the artist – and three holy icons of this new realm: Toxicity, Fascism, and Binary. These “surreal saints” navigate a patriarchal apocalyptic reality, poised to obliterate all in their path. Initially alluring, especially in a heightened state, they reveal their perilous nature only in the final revelation, leaving viewers to grapple with the consequences of their allure. 

 “Dicktopia” invites you to find comfort in facing the dangerous allure of its three enigmatic saints. During the opening we invite you to embody resistance against oppressive energies.  We invite you to view the works while collectively dancing to a prerecorded ambient-rave set. 

Yevhen Trachuk is a queer artist and activist from Bakhmut currently based in Kyiv. Their art practice started in 2019 in a framework of “DonbasQueer” initiative.

In 2020, Yevhen did dozens of collage works, deconstructing their sexuality and perception of gender, started to film a movie about their hometown discovering “places of power” (remains unfinished), curated an art project called “Captives” (“Полонені”) telling the stories of LGBTQ+ youth for different reasons forced to live while hiding their identity in the occupied areas of Ukraine; participated in Maria Vyshedska’s art laboratory “Ne.Freska”, two works being placed on the wall of “Peremoha” cinema (the current state is unknown). 

In 2021, they developed a series of digital collages for “Galereya Neotodryosh” zine, discovering boundaries of their own sexuality. The zine itself is a printed revision of a project in Severodonetsk that used abandoned places as galleries. The very first issue aimed to give a platform for young artists from Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and share their voices among the public. The series grew into a audiovisual project, presented during the events of PrideMonth 2021 in Kyiv. 

For the last two years, Yevhen mainly shares their old work to be presented within group exhibitions around Europe.

In the first project of the second edition of “We Queer Lublin”, we would like to show you a perspective you have never seen before, namely Lublin’s queer through the lesbian’s eyes.

Exhibition opening:
When: 24/11/2023 (Friday), 6:00 p.m.
Where: Azyl Library in Galeria Labirynt, ul. Lipowa 13, Lublin (entrance from ul. Ofiar Katynia)
Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor in a space free from architectural barriers. No English interpretation of the opening.
Exhibition on display: until 31/12/2023 (Tue–Sat 1:00–6:00 p.m.)
Admission: free.

When journaling and note writing advised by a female psychologist had not been enough, miharin reached for something on hand in order to vent her thoughts and emotions. She started creating collage images, the chaotic and sometimes messy ones, that resembled what was going on in her head.

miharin (and paper) will accept everything: from gossip magazines from the newsagent’s at the grandma’s block of flats through old tattoo magazines, recovered “BRAVO” magazines, queer quarterlies (most often “Replika”), monthlies of medical chambers to drug packages and leaflets, forgotten sketches, battered books and many other different elements that can be glued with a glue stick to colourful cardboard. The more rubbish, the better! iharin appreciates the most the one that someone gave her. Alright, sometimes there will be colourful tapes here and there bought in a stationery shop because they are simply adorable. In miharin’s art Zero Waste is important – giving rubbish the second, artistic life and using the smallest amount of newly produced material possible.

„(I)mages” is a collection of thoughts and emotions that accompanied miharin over the past three years, she deals with experiencing her identity as a queer person and lesbian, romantic relationships between women as well as the ups and downs of mental health.

miharin (she/her) – born in 2000 in Lublin, a fan of women and femininity, especially the excessive one. She derives inspiration to create most often from the Moon, her own body and mind as well as artists she meets on her way. She likes wearing irregularly shaped pearls and thinks that sunrises are far more romantic than sunsets.

The “Queerujemy Lublin” project is funded by the European Cultural Foundation within “The Europe Challenge 2022–2023” programme.

Who are a*tists? Are they artists? Beings of great sensitivity that they hide deep inside? Or ordinary autistic girls? Do their (super)powers come from the stars? What kind of powers are they? On the one hand – creative, imaginative, and on the other – needed in everyday life. Some of their qualities seem quite remarkable, such as skyrocketing perseverance (useful for pursuing passions, often tedious and time-consuming), the ability to memorise a vast database of information, to create their own sign systems, and a limber mind.

Opening:
When: 01/12/2023 (Friday), 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Accessibility: Sensory-friendly exhibition. Mute earmuffs and a wheelchair can be borrowed free of charge from the bookshop. Quiet hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Exhibition on the ground floor. The exhibition hall is accessed by a 13-degree sloping ramp and a 138 cm wide double door. The doors open outwards. Usually only the left wing of the door is open. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops. vernissage interpreted into Polish sign language, interpretation: Ewelina Lachowska. Opening interpreted into Ukrainian, interpretation: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk. Opening translated into English, interpretation: Krystian Kaminski.
Exhibition on display: until 18/02/2024. (Tue.–Sun, 12:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: free

In contrast, some of their behaviours – such as engaging with people, looking others in the eye, navigating emotions and unwritten rules – are seemingly nothing. But as for girls and women on the spectrum, they are often tricks developed over years, a camouflage by which they blend into the surrounding neurotypical world. And while it may seem to cost them nothing, fitting into the world requires unimaginable effort. So perhaps sometimes it is not worth it to make the world more diverse, and therefore more interesting.

The exhibition presents mostly new works, created for the present project. Some of them have been pulled out of drawers and home archives. All the works are accompanied by texts in which each of the participants of the exhibition reveals a little of the secret about what it is like to be an a*tist.

A*tists: Anna Bigos, Nina Bułtowicz, Paulina Garbiec, Kamilla Jabłońska, Dorota Mościbrodzka, Magdalena Szubielska
Curators: Agata Sztorc-Gromaszek, Magdalena Szubielska

Exhibition organised as part of the scholarship of the Mayor of the City of Lublin.

The project (exhibition) is part of the Kyiv Biennale 2023. Kyiv Biennial is an international art, knowledge, and politics forum that integrates exhibitions and discussion platforms. It adopts an interdisciplinary perspective at the intersection of the humanities, socially engaged art, and political activism to reflect on the crucial issues of the contemporary world. The Biennial is organised by the Visual Culture Research Center.

Exhibition opening: 27/10/2023 (Friday), 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. In the bookshop you can borrow a wheelchair and earmuffs for free during your stay in the gallery. The silent hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.
Exhibition on display: until 22/01/2024 (Tue–Sun: 12:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: PLN 5 (free admission to the exhibition opening)

Artists*: Bohdan Bunchak, Pavlo Kovach jr, Alexander Len, Denys Pankratov, Max Robotov & Lesia Khomenko, Bohdan Sokur, Lubomyr Tymkiv, Yurko Vovkohon, _mediaklub group

*The list will be successively supplemented with more participants in the exhibition.

Curator: Waldemar Tatarczuk

Event accompanying the opening of the exhibition: concert of the _mediaklub group

The _mediaklub group is based on the idea of an opennes. At different times musicians, artists, programmers, and, by way of exception, the robot GAIA joined the group. During the performances they use different media, from the sound itself to video mapping. The online concert formula allows them, in spite of the war, to continue to create together and be close, even though one of the permanent members of the _mediaclub – Max Robotov – is in the Ukrainian army and the others are in different countries and time zones. They play – each in a different city, not always seeing and hearing each other – but listening amid the distractions and glitches to Max’s voice and his instructions from the front line.

The concert will feature: Max Robotov, Ivan Svitlychnyi, Dmytro Tentiuk, Daria Maiier.

Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_mediaklub/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/mediaklub

This is just an exhibition, for Ukrainian artists serving in the army this is not the most important event right now, their priorities are completely elsewhere. Russia’s war has changed the hierarchy of importance – it has limited (an obvious euphemism) the possibilities to practice their profession, to participate in artistic life, it has changed their lives. Of course, it has changed the lives of not only artists, but of every person living or being killed by the Russian military in Ukraine. Yet, this change, brought about by the war, is focused in the lives of Ukrainian artists-soldiers like in a lens. Therefore, they are the main protagonists of this exhibition, and they are the ones who set up its content. Until the opening, or maybe longer, we will not know the full list of the exhibition participants. Firstly, because we want it to be open until the end. Secondly, communication with the artists involved in war effort is not as easy as with the artists-civilians living in the countries enjoying peace. Besides Ukrainian artists, the exhibition will include artists from outside Ukraine, who find it important to support the occupied country. This list will be open too, as we are keen for more artists to join the exhibition until the final days. It is an exhibition about people at war and solidarity, and in its course, it will become clear whether this is just an exhibition, or more than that.

Kyiv Biennale 2023 is held in partnership and with the support of Ars Electronica, Asortymentna Kimnata, Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, Department for Cultural Affairs of the City of Vienna, Dovzhenko Centre, ERSTE Foundation, L’Internationale, Foundation for Arts Initiatives, Goethe-Institut, Galeria Labirynt, Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, M HKA (Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp), Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, MuseumsQuartier Wien ( MQ), mumok, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Museum Crisis Center, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Other Edges project (hablarenarte, KAIR, MeetFactory, Visual Culture Research Center), Sigrid Rausing Trust, Sorry, No Rooms Available, springerin, Sturzenegger-Stiftung, TBA21, tranzit.at, tranzit.org (Bratislava, Budapest, Bucharest, Cluj, Iași, Prague, Vienna), and the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

Separation from loved ones, fear and loneliness – this is the reality experienced by Ukrainians since the outbreak of full-scale war. Although time passes and the information overload seems to die down once in a while, the suffering does not diminish and families (unfortunately often forever) are broken up.

War can be talked about in different ways. Violetta Oliinyk expresses her experiences performatively: she weaves shirts with her own hands from previously picked nettles. She based her action on ancient legends, which say that a sister must silently and unsmilingly sew shirts from field plants, and that when her brothers put them on, the curse will be broken. This action symbolically makes us realise how many people – relatives, friends, sisters and brothers – are waiting for the curse of war to be broken, so that everyone can happily return home.

In addition to the hand-woven shirt and the video-documentation created during the three-day performance, the exhibition also features a photographic installation in which the artist has placed photographs of siblings who were separated as a result of the war. Most of them show childhood times, full of good emotions and attachment – now, when fear for the future freezes the heart, it is time to realise how important it is to cherish every second spent together.

The entire message is complemented by Zhanna Kadyrova’s work entitled “Palianytsia”. This is a type of bread made in Ukraine. Russian saboteurs and agents cannot pronounce its name well, so by such a simple thing Ukrainians are able to distinguish friend from foe. In a time of war, when electricity is cut off and communication with the world disappears, such a basic thing as bread becomes something that many people have to search for in hardship.

We encourage people who are experiencing separation from their loved ones to suplement the installation and add their photographs as a gesture of solidarity.

Exhibition opening: 27/09/2023 (Wednesday), 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt 2, ul. Grodzka 3, Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held in a space not accessible for people with motor impairments. No English interpretation of the opening.
Exhibition on display: until 22/10/2023 (Tuesday–Sunday, 3:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: free
Curator: Mateusz Wszelaki

Zhanna Kadyrova’s work “Palianytsia” is on display courtesy of the Bureau of Artistic Exhibitions Warsaw.

Violetta Oliinyk (b. 1995) is a Ukrainian artist, jeweller and performer. She graduated from the Lviv School of Art, majoring in art glass and stained glass, and from the College of Art and Design in Vyzhnytsia, majoring in jewellery.
In her work she explores the possibilities of the artist’s influence on society. The main areas of her work are performance, video, and jewellery.

In Chernivtsi, she conducted a series of performances aimed at awakening the memory of the city, a dialogue with its forgotten history by recreating places that no longer exist. In 2021, she received a Canada Council grant for a joint project with Taras Polataiko.

Since the beginning of the full-scale russian* invasion of Ukraine, Violetta has been making jewellery and organising auctions to raise funds for Ukrainian volunteers.

Her brothers and father are at war.

* The word “russian” is deliberately written in lower case, expressing the political decision of the authors of the text.

Project author, Marina Górska (Kyiv, Ukraine), after the full-scale russian* invasion (which took place on February 24, 2022), she began creating patriotic posters aimed at attracting and maintaining public attention on the events currently unfolding in Ukraine.

Exhibition opening: 24/08/2023 (Thursday), 6:00 p.m.
Where: Open Antifascist Studio, square in front of Galeria Labirynt
Accessibility: the exhibition is located in the windows of the OSA in front of the building.
The exhibition is visible from the pavement level. Description of the exhibition available in Polish Sign Language – after scanning the QR code.
Opening interpreted into Polish Sign Language, interpreter: Marta Stępniak and into Ukrainian.
Exhibition on display: until 10/09/2023
Admission: free

“Through art, I try to convey this message to as many people as possible: BE BRAVE LIKE UKRAINE! #STAND WITH UKRAINE! And also: LET’S STAND TOGETHER! LET’S STAND TOGETHER! BECAUSE TOGETHER WE CAN DO MORE! UNITY is OUR MAIN WEAPON,” says the artist.

The exhibition opens on August 24 on Independence Day of Ukraine. The exhibition consists of posters, which the author used during rallies and individual pickets in support of the Ukrainian people and which were placed in the premises of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Lublin. The aim of the exhibition is to draw public attention to the crimes committed by the russian federation in Ukraine and to highlight the strength, perseverance, unity and steadfastness of the Ukrainian people in the struggle for its Independence.

The main image of the exhibition is “I – UKRAINE. 32 YEARS OF THE INDEPENDENCE. 32 WORDS”. On the canvas in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, 32 words are written, each with the letter “Я” (from Ukrainian “I”). Looking at these words, so simple and so close, the viewer understands that these words are actions that take place every day. They are a kind of story about the daily rhythm of every Ukrainian’s life, and all Ukrainians together are our INDEPENDENT, PERSISTENCE, STRONG, FREE, UNITED and INDEPENDENT UKRAINE!
(excerpts from the author’s text)

*the word “russia” is deliberately written in lower case, expressing the political decision of the author of the text, who believes that a country carrying out armed aggression does not deserve to be written with a capital letter.

Presence, understood both as a physical existence in a place and as a mental involvement, becomes the central theme of many artworks. Art is able to penetrate the boundaries of time and space, enabling us to experience and understand situations that have happened in the past or are taking place somewhere else. Through art, we can feel the presence of people, places and events that are not directly accessible to us. Artworks are documents of sorts that convey to us information, stories and emotions related to specific moments in history or to given situations. It is important to note that art is not just a static record of reality. In the case of the Ukrainian artist, who talks about presence and being abroad, art becomes a tool to express identities, experiences, and perspectives.

Exhibition opening: 28/07/2023 (Friday) at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt 2, ul. Grodzka 3, Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held in a space not accessible for people with motor impairments.
No English interpretation.
Exhibition on display: until 17/09/2023 (Tuesday–Sunday, 3:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: free
Curator: Mateusz Wszelaki

Through the exhibition “PRESENT”, we can get to know the artistic people who were at residency in Lublin. The video work consists of conversations exploring their lives and artistic practice, both in Ukraine and Poland. The individuals also share their political, cultural and philosophical beliefs. They talk about how they spent February 24, the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, and the impact of this tragedy. In a graphic series entitled “War Diary”, the artist goes even deeper into the subject of the war in Ukraine. These works are his personal reflections, a documentation of the crimes he refers to through the use of mediated photographic and video reports from social networks. All of this takes us into the grim atmosphere of horrors not captured by cameras, fantasies and activist accounts.

In Eastern Europe, the recent history of social change, civil liberties discourse, art and queer culture are narratives that remain closely intertwined. The “Queerstories” project was created as a platform to explore these relationships. The research is based on the experiences of people from the two neighbouring countries, expressed in the form of art projects. The fates of Polish and Ukrainian society are intertwined and at the same time different in many dimensions; in this sense, they complement each other, providing insight into the complexity of the Eastern European condition.

In both Poland and Ukraine, the experience of non-heteronormative people has long been pushed outside the boundaries of public discourse, while the history of queer culture has not only remained largely unknown, but above all awaited critical elaboration.

The “Queerstories” project was created in response to this need, and in the belief that the inclusion of the experiences of non-heteronormative people and queer cultural history in discussions about the changes taking place in Poland and Ukraine is important not only for the LGBTQ+ community, but also for the community as a whole.

The “Queerstories” project is the result of a collaboration between two organisations. One is Galeria Labirynt in Lublin, which programmatically advocates for equality, civil liberties and democracy. The other organisation is the IZOLYATSIA Foundation, an independent art institution founded in Donetsk, which it had to leave in 2014 as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“Queerstories” is a hybrid endeavour; it combines elements of a research process, an archive, a forum for discussion, a growing body of critical texts, and, last but not least, a digital platform for sharing and exchanging artistic projects. Now it also takes the form of the exhibition presented at Galeria Labirynt. It is based on video works and recordings of performative acts that creative individuals from Poland and Ukraine contributed to the project in response to the open call announced in 2021. The realisations presented in the exhibition make up a collection of individual statements based on the personal experiences of the authors. At the same time, each of these statements is part of a broader narrative – the lived reality of queer culture, which in Ukraine and Poland is a history that demands to be written, as well as a future that is being created right in front of us.

(Stach Szabłowski)

Exhibition opening: 07/07/2023 (Friday), 7:00 p.m. / opening will be connected to a promotion of the next issue of DIK Fagazine
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Accessibility: The event will be interpreted into Ukrainian and English.
Exhibition on display: 1/10/2023 (Tue–Sun, 12:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: PLN 5 (free admission to the exhibition opening)

Events accompanying the exhibition opening:
– performance / Krzysztof Lubka;
– promotion of the new issue of DIK Fagazine and discussion with, among others, Karol Radziszewski;
– concert / Anatoly Belov.

Performances: Ala Urwał, Anastas Krusińska, Edmund Krempiński & Natalia Różycka, Filip Kijowski, Krzysztof Lubka, Szast Vladislav Serhijowycz, Vladislav Plisetskiy, Katya Kopieikina

Video: Anti Gonna; Anton Karyuk; Anton Shebetko; Daniil Galkin,; Daniela Weiss; Fyodor Khorkov; Liliana Zeic; Eternal Engine (Marta Nawrot & Jagoda Wójtowicz); Ryszard Czubak Sarmen Beglarian, Tomasz Fudala; Szymon Adamczak

The Queerstories_UA_PL project is organised by the Izolyatsia Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Galeria Labirynt and the Queer Archives Institute. The project was initiated by Alina Kleytman, inspired by Oleksandr Halishchuk. Curatorial team: Kateryna Filyuk, Alina Kleytman, Karol Radziszewski, Waldemar Tatarczuk.

The project is funded by the Goethe-Institut Ukraine and the European Union under the programme “HOUSE OF EUROPE”.
Responsibility for the content lies with the authors and the opinions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of the EU institutions and funders.

This exhibition is about the experience of a refugee life. When the full-scale russian* invasion of Ukraine began, the artist left her home. Since then she has changed her bed twenty-one times. Based on her own experience, she noticed that her life began to divide into eras, which are separated by the changes of places she sleeps in. Each new journey is a turbulent path to a short-term place of peace. A comfortable, warm, and safe spot may seem like a mirage for a while. The bed becomes a material representation of an utopian place.

Exhibition opening:
When: 27/06/2023 (Tuesday) at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt 2, ul. Grodzka 3, Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held in a space not accessible for people with motor impairments.
No English interpretation.
Exhibition on display: until 23/07/2023 (Tuesday–Sunday, 3:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: free

During one of our first conversations with Glam, we spoke about the role social media played after February 24, 2022, in the efforts to support Ukrainian people seeking asylum. Everyday civilians were behind the profiles offering “a roof over your head” or a “bed to sleep on”. We paid close attention to the language used by those offering this kind of support. Being Ukrainian became a “token” that could be exchanged for a place to sleep. We described this as a type of transaction and asked ourselves if referring to a person as a “bed”, or offering support by only stating the number of beds you have available dehumanise a person.

* The word “russian” is deliberately written in lower case, expressing the political decision of the authors of the text.

Glam Gargoyle / Maria Strelchuk – a multidisciplinary artist and fem-queer person from the city of Berdyansk in Ukraine. She works with themes of utopia to subjugate the everyday. She draws inspiration mainly from young radicals, social activists and those involved in rave culture.

The exhibition offers a glimpse into the everyday life of transgender people and their individual yet unifying experience of gender identity. It takes up the idea of unfettered freedom and aims to deconstruct the heteronormative system. It also questions traditional cultural roles, which include behaviour, gestures and emotional expression. It is also a manifesto of our existence. In realising it, we wanted to and have emphasised the participation of social minorities in the co-creation of history. We also want to change the way transgender individuals see themselves and make them feel proud of who they are. – Ariel

Exhibition opening:
When: 30/06/2023 (Friday), 6:00 p.m.
Where: Azyl Library (former Galeria Labirynt | Plaza), ul. Lipowa 13, Lublin (entrance from ul. Ofiar Katynia)
Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor in a space free from architectural barriers. One of the films in the exhibition may be unfriendly to people with sensory hypersensitivity. There is a heavily flashing light in the work. Exhibition opening interpreted into Ukrainian, interpreter: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk. No English interpretation.
On display: until 23/09/2023 (Tue–Sat: 1:00–6.00 p.m.)
Admission: free

Artists: Adi / Adrian Wasilewski, Anastas Krusińska, Ariel Michalak, Daniel Kajda, Fokus, Iskra, Karolina Zorya Jazgarska, Val Ziółkowski, Luka Vivi Starr Alice, Niko Leon Szymura, Sasha, Simona Kasprowicz, Wincent

Curator:
Ariel Michalak

Creating the exhibition was a process. During the regular meetings, each person in the group was able to express themselves. This was facilitated by the rules adopted in the group based on dialogue and lack of censorship. The reflections of the individuals are a manifesto and a commentary on the works presented at the exhibition. The people you meet are at different stages – both of gender correction and of their own knowledge of legal and social procedures. Through this fluidity between experiences, we get to know different perspectives based on age, family and social acceptance, material or health situation. The exhibition features the work of young people, between the ages of 14 and 28, living in Lublin. Despite the fact that each of them has heard from society the words “Don’t make it up, you’ll get over it anyway”, they all know perfectly well who they are and what they feel. – Filip

“I’m 28 years old. As an adult, I struggle with the things I acquired as a child – a fearful, meticulous religiousness. I can’t find myself within the Polish Catholic Church, which seems to have lost the essence of the Bible. Nevertheless, I still believe. I’m searching for God, trying to discover Him differently than through drilled formulas and find support in Him in my own way. The project is a process of self-therapy, of re-experiencing a Catholic upbringing.”

Exhibition opening: 27/05/2023 (Saturday), 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt, ul. ks. J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. In the bookshop you can borrow a wheelchair and earmuffs for free during your stay in the gallery. The silent hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3 to 7 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.
Exhibition on display: until 1/10/2023 (Tue–Sun: 12:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: PLN 5 (free admission to the exhibition opening)

Curatorial Team: Krystian Kamiński, Agata Sztorc-Gromaszek

The exhibition presents the author’s personal journey through a retrospective of her upbringing within the Catholic faith. The artist uses Christian iconographic motifs and mixes them with her private archival materials to give them a new character. The materials used to create the works and arrange the exhibition are full of symbolism, referring not only to the churches’ interiors but also to the production and selling of devotional articles. For example, amber, a lamb, or a blue mantle of Mary appear in a camp-like aesthetic. The juxtaposition of these elements gives them a new meaning, and the chosen imagery enables the subject to be viewed from a distance, capturing a wider context of the phenomena.

The starting point of the assemblages presented here is religious education notebooks, excerpts of which have been combined with the works as captions. The glittery catechetical titles, written by a child, proclaim some serious truths that children learn at school in the process of religious education. The artist refers to the content taught, the way it was conveyed, and the role of the Church institution as such, which is being separated from the understanding of faith. Religious education classes and participation in the Church’s life are experiences familiar to a large part of Polish society, raised in the Catholic faith. Therefore, the exhibition is not only personal, but also universal.

“I’m revising the words I was told as a child and what was ingrained in me. At the same time, I wonder what I can keep from the religion for myself. What is mine and what is learnt and imposed,” says the artist.

The works show an in-depth reflection on the core Christian values of love, peace, unity, and forgiveness; and their presence (or absence) in today’s Church. They also highlight how the mentioned values are passed on to children and how this education influences their development. Other important themes are those concerning the upbringing of girls as well as the identity of women in a Catholic community. It’s worth noting that the exhibition was created from the perspective of a woman, an adult, a Catholic, who is carefully and consciously reviewing her faith upbringing, reassessing it, and asking questions about her current position in the church community.

Paulina Mazurek, born in 1995 in Lublin. PhD student at the Doctoral School of the Pedagogical University in Kraków in the field of fine arts and art conservation. Graduate of photography at the University of Warsaw and contemporary art at Pedagogical University. Educator at the Galeria Labirynt. Photographer, photo editor, intermedia artist, and novice curator. She uses the broadly defined media of photography, video, analogue collage, and digital editing. She also works in the field of subjective documentaries and “new media”. Mazurek deals with social and relational issues and is interested in intergenerational topics as well as the sociology of everyday life. She often takes inspiration from kitsch aesthetics. The artist is a finalist of Grand Press Photo 2020, nominated for her reportage and portrait in the Young Poland category, and a participant of individual and group exhibitions both in Poland and abroad. Together with Michał Tokarz, she forms the [ZOBACZ JAK] Collective.

Translations: Arleta Bojaczuk, Volodymyr Dyshlevuk, Krystian Kamiński, Wioletta Stępniak
Coordinator: Monika Rejman
Visual identification: Emilia Lipa
Exhibition arrangement: Waldemar Tatarczuk
Realisation: Karol Jakóbczyk, Anna Śmierzchalska, Jarosław Mitura

In Poland, fetish is still a taboo topic, especially pup play, which is in the spotlight in the world of politics and the media. This type of activity is wrongly portrayed as deviant and compared to zoophilia. Puppy play has also been developing in our country for several years. For the most part, it is an activity practised by people who identify as men, but the pups eschewing the stereotypes welcome all adults into their company, regardless of orientation or gender.

Exhibition opening: 14/04/2023 (Friday), at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Azyl Library (former Galeria Labirynt | Plaza), ul. Lipowa 13, Lublin (entrance from ul. Ofiar Katynia)
Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor in a space free from architectural barriers.
On display: until 14/5/2023 (Tue–Sat 1:00–6:00 p.m.; Sun 12:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: free

What is Puppy Play? This question is hard to answer. It means something different to every pup. It is an interaction between adults, at least one of whom plays the role of the pooch. The main principle of pup play, is that this fetish is for you, not you for it.

“For the exhibition, I have invited 6 protagonists to present their puppy side in creative photographs full of colour and light. In my works I want to show fetish as art. Art that can be beautifully ugly and attract attention,” says Sylwester Iżowski.

Malamute Kori, a dancer and former stripper, will be performing during the opening. He is passionate about dance, erotica and everything related to sexuality. He shares his passion, dancing and acting on social media and is watched by a large group of devoted fans. He will present a dance choreography in the style of Erotic Modern Commercial to the song “Unholy” by Sam Smith.

Sylwester Iżowski (born 1997) – conceptual photographer, painter, artist. His entire life revolves around artistic creation. He runs a colourful, original photography studio – not cliched studio. Creative make-up, styling or unusual set designs – this is how his photographic workshop can be described in a nutshell. He shows his work on Instagram: @sizowski.

The “Queerujemy Lublin” project is funded by the European Cultural Foundation within “The Europe Challenge 2022–2023” programme.