Anda Rottenberg, Mirosław Bałka “Warsaw – Otwock – Lublin” / meeting accompanying the exhibition “100 Years in Labirynt”

When: 13/10/2024 (Sunday), 1:00 p.m.
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 or English.
Free admission

Warsaw, Otwock and Lublin are stations on the Vistula Railway, which was opened 147 years ago. Mirosław Bałka has been travelling this route regularly since 1989, when he first exhibited
at the Labirynt 2 Gallery. The train journey connects these cities and people – Warsaw, where Anda Rottenberg lives, Otwock, where Mirosław Bałka comes from, and Lublin, where the
Labirynt Gallery is located.

Mirosław Bałka has been regularly exhibiting his works in the characteristic two-level space of Galeria Labirynt 2 for thirty-five years. As he himself said during one of his exhibitions: – There
are no places where you can organize an exhibition on two levels, and for me this is a very interesting task, very inspiring, because the possibility of changing the level: going down from our real level to the basement level is always a very emotional gesture, which is why the visual responsibility for the placed objects is even greater.

The artist’s first exhibition in Lublin was “The River” (1989), which became an important moment in his work – it announced a departure from the human figure. For the first time, he used ash as a material. The next ones were: “Hygiene” (1998), “du contrat social” (2006), “bes-sennosh-ch” (2012), “30/5780” (2019/2020). Lublin is also important to him for another reason. It was here that his iconic video works “MapL” (1999/2010), “bottom” (1999/2003) and “Carrousel” (1999/2004), which are in the Tate Modern collection, were created, the result of his pilgrimages to the German concentration camp Majdanek.

Isaac Bashevis Singer (Yiddish: ‏יצחק בַאשעוויס זינגער‎ Jicchok Baszewis Zinger‏ ) wrote about traveling on the Vistula Railway in one of his books – “My Father’s Office” – the most famous writer associated with Lublin, who emigrated from Poland in 1935 due to growing anti-Semitism. Forty-three years later he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The meeting will be an opportunity to talk about art, memory and history.

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

Financed by the European Union under the National Reconstruction Plan.

Accessibility: The event takes place on the ground floor. The bookstore offers free rental of noise-canceling earmuffs and a wheelchair. The gallery has portable induction loops.
Information about the need to use the loop should be sent to: ksiegarnia@labirynt.com.