Agnieszka Polska
Cuckoo
For her solo show at the Kasia Michalski Gallery, Agnieszka Polska proposes a selection of her recent works consisting of a video, a set of collages on photographic paper as well as prints on textile.
The video piece, My Little Planet (2016), is the central piece in the exhibition, presented in Poland for the first time. It recounts an allegorical story of a society in which time is being measured by the movements of daily-use objects rotating around the planet: a Marlboro butt, a bottle cap and a sticking plaster. In a humorous fashion, the narrator describes the conventionality and arbitrariness of norms implemented on society.
To see the video, the viewers need to walk through another of Polska’s works, Słonko (The Little Sun). The curtains, with Polska’s prints on textile, refer to a children’s poem by the realist writer, Maria Konopnicka.
The exhibition also showcases a selection of new graphic works by the artist, printed on photographic paper and framed. Among them, the Bitter Tears of Ayn Rand 1 and 2 (2017) directly point to the figure of Ayn Rand, and include an excerpt of her text. When working on the new series, Polska had a surreal vision of Ayn Rand regretting her writings and the situation they led to, and then shedding colorful tears over her texts.
Presenting the hidden traumas of the late-capitalist society, Agnieszka Polska balances the severe subject-matters with her poetic esthetics and a considerable dose of humor. The individual pieces are bound together by the sound of the cuckoo from the film, and by the title “Cuckoo”, whose second, more metaphorical meaning describes a crazy, mad person.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Zak | Branicka, Berlin.
Download press release (PDF)Download exhibition catalog (PDF)
Blouin Artinfo, January 9, 2017
Eloise Robert, Cuckoo – une exposition hypnotisante, Le Petit Journal, March 9, 2017
Alex Urso, Agnieszka Polska a Varsavia, artribune.com, March 20, 2017