Rafael Jablonka is an art dealer, collector, curator, and a gallery owner. For 30 years he was the owner of ‘Jablonka Galerie’ – one of the most renowned institution in Germany, operating on an international level. He is one of the most important contemporary art collectors in Europe, focusing mostly on works created after 1980. During the talk with his friend, Adam Zagajewski, he will tell about the beginnings of his collection, his experience in owning a gallery and share his opinion on the opportunities and risks connected to the art market and about the role and the meaning of a patron.

A museum is not a storage space. It gathers people together, clashes the past with the future and gives an opportunity for discussion, polemic and an author’s commentary. During this year’s edition of KRAKERS, The Ethnographic Museum of Kraków would like to invite students and graduates of the Department of Artistic Education of the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow to an artistic experiment. Young creators will have a chance to personally explore the museum’s collection, searching for the topics and aspects that resonate with them. The works created during the TRWA_NIE project will become a part of the permanent exhibition of the Ethnographic Museum and the authors will guide the audience through the space conceived in the experiment. Monika Nęcka from the Academy of Fine Arts will be the curator, while the coordination of the project is a task given to Katarzyna Piszczkiewicz from the Ethnographical Museum.

Henry Moore (1898 – 1986) has been called the classic of modernity while still alive. Many specialists call him the greatest sculptor of the XXth century. This exhibition is a project created by the Center of Polish Sculpture in Orońsk, the Henry Moore Foundation and National Museums in Cracow and Wrocław. The concept of an open-air exhibition being a route of a stroll allows us to reflect on the role of sculpture in the city. It is also a symbolic connection between different departments of the National Museum, spread widely around Cracow.
During the Cracow ArtWeek, we offer the chance to experience this exhibition in the fullest way possible – through a walk between the Museum’s departments with the curator, Agata Małodobry and through dance improvisation workshops conducted by Zofia Noworól.

The author sees acting and climbing as schools of life, requiring courage to cross his own limits, developing the need to express himself and creating a sense of mission. His lonely expedition reassured his conviction that harsh conditions lessen the needs and tighten the bonds between people. It also teaches humility, respect for the forces of nature, opens us for other people and other worlds. The exhibition is accompanied by an interactive installation made of Buddhist flags meant to introduce the energetic harmony to the surrounding space.

A virtual meditation over Kazimierz Malewicz’s Black square on a white background and poetry by Bolesław Leśmian. This installation is set up as a contextual act for the Krzysztof Garbaczewski’s play in the Stary Theater entitled NOTHING.

The exhibition Tadeusz Kantor. Part four. The sculpture shows a selection of objects from the Cricoteca collection, called sculptures by Kantor himself. What do the works of Tadeusz Kantor have in common with other sculptures from the history of contemporary art? What is their form? How do they influence the spectators and what is the relation between them? The starting point for Part four is to take a look at the sculptures as autonomic works of art, lacking their theatrical biography, and exposing their independence. Those objects subjugate their surroundings, affect other items and enforce a spontaneous reaction on the spectator.

The exhibition on display in the Zwierzyniecki House is devoted to suburbs and the people who live there. It is a search for the answer to the question – does Cracow have suburbs, and if yes – where are they and how does the life look like there? It is a part of the ‘przeMieszczanie’ project, started as part of the celebrations of the 120 anniversary of the Cracow History Museum.

This exhibition is a tale of a contemporary citizen of the Nowa Huta district, a person living in a postindustrial area of Cracow. It focuses heavily on showing the difficult nineties, a time of the transformation of the political order in the country. For many years the role of this period in shaping the identity of a citizen was marginalized. The exhibition is a part of the ‘przeMieszczanie’ project, a celebration of 120 anniversary of the Cracow History Museum.

This studio was opened by two artists sharing an almost identical lineage – Kukla and Gromniak. They were both born in 1989, both are qualified graphic designers, graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and both turned to painting and experimental music in their art. They have recently opened a studio and gladly invite guests into it to show their latest works.

The exhibition is a part of the celebrations of the Year of Women in the Academy of Fine Arts and will display large-format paintings showing scaled up fragments of a woman’s body. This means the portrait will not be as obvious as usual – instead of the face, we will see other parts of the body. This doesn’t mean those portraits will be monotonous. This work is related to a series of photographs under the same title I took in 2002 and which showed shoes of women I knew.

Kinga Burek draws inspiration from the idea of a scapegoat and its multiple meanings. As part of the ‘To be thrown off a cliff’ project, she is preparing a series of paintings and collages related to an old-testament ritual of cleansing, during which an animal sacrifice was being thrown from a cliff. But the goat, on which the lot fell for Azazel, shall be set alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away for Azazel into the wilderness.

The flight to the Moon is one of the most prominent themes in science fiction cinema and literature. Since 1902, when the first public screenings of Georges Méliès’s Le Voyage Dans la Lune took place, this topic returns to the big screen almost every year. What is interesting – the space odyssey trope didn’t disappear after the successful landing of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. On the contrary – this leads to an increase in the number of books and films with action taking place in space. The silver globe stimulated the imagination even more and the star travel has established itself as a metaphor for many various stances defining the condition of humanity and the civilization it created.
During our showings, we will present 3 outstanding works related to man’s journey to the moon. All of them, besides having a lot of cinematic charm and being examples of great craft can also be analyzed from the technological, philosophical, psychological and religious point of view.

On this exhibition, the Polish audience will have the first chance to see ‘Job’ a movie created by Polish-Dutch artist Verena Blok. This work shows an intimistic approach to the lives of two brothers, who the artist met some time ago during her holidays in Poland. While observing those men she focuses on their attitude towards the body and the language they use to describe the world around them. She sees that it multiplies the same prejudices they face when working abroad.
Besides the movie, pictures taken by the artist will also be shown.

Your Content Goes Here

Your Content Goes Here

Your Content Goes Here

Contemporary Japanese artists acquired western styles and techniques in a way that created a phenomenon of universal art, consciously relating to various aesthetic traditions and culture codes. It is art with slowly diminishing national characteristic. Koji Kamoji is a very interesting example of this trend. He works in Warsaw, in the Foksal gallery, and is continuously joining the Japanese aesthetic sensitivity with western avant-garde.

The exhibition will show 50 posters by Agnieszka Ziemiszewska, created at various times and places and for different reasons. Posters for festivals, exhibitions, contemporary topics, and personal matters – each is a kind of an experiment. You will have to decide whether they were a success or not.
Agnieszka Ziemiszewska – designer, curator, lecturer. She’s won many awards and commendations, she was a part of the jury in many national and international graphic design contests and had workshops and lectures in Poland and abroad. She is also the author of the Poster/Blog. www.ziemi.art.pl

Every day, each of us makes thought leaps into the future. Scientists, journalists, analysts and fortune tellers – who will you trust? Wiki Królikowska and Zbigniew Olszyna decided to trust themselves and create an idea that two artists might curate their own work. He is a painter and a photographer and she is a performer and a compositor. Together they form an exceptional duo, connected by the admiration of the camp and pastiche aesthetics joined with a sensitivity for social matters, and lifestyle. The difference between them is the preferred form of expression – Olszyna paints and draws while Królikowska appears in VTL (video, tune, lyrics) and stands in front of the audience. In One, two, three, four they decided to take a bite of the food of the future. Nowadays we hear ‘eat this’, ‘eat that’, ‘don’t eat this’ coming from everywhere around us. Trends for modified soybeans are mixed with the hate towards GMOs. Who will you trust? Wiki Królikowska and Zbigniew Olszyna decided to turn themselves into a psychic, a journalist, a scientist and a CEO of a pharmaceutical company so that every spectator can decide for themselves if a leap to the future makes any sense at all.

Those not jumping are (cut)!

During a dance, jumping is one of the most important activities of a human being. Processes taking place In the brains of the participants are often described as space flights. It needs to be added that all the attendees are on the ground for the first and the last time – which is why it is important to jump, see them, listen to them, clap and high five or fist bump them.

Would you believe me if I told you that I have almost touched the Moon? Would you laugh at me if I told you that the Moon is hidden in Cracow? I will tell you a secret – many years ago a small piece of the Silver Globe arrived in our city. They say that it was hidden in the most unexpected place, probably for safety reasons. The only problem is – I don’t know where. Only the most cunning detectives will be able to face this challenge. Will they find out where is the rock hidden and who brought it to Cracow?

We invite you for a detective’s walk through Nowa Huta, during which we will see such beautifully designed, exceptional places like the People’s Theater and Lord’s Ark.

In the age of the crisis of direct contact between people…come and visit art yourself! Art that is already established and appreciated, but also temporary, parked or moored here just for a while. Let’s discover, touch and talk!

We’ve chosen routes that will allow the participants to find out about the circle of galleries, ateliers and other places being a part of the contemporary art environment – and there are lots of those! Some are deeply hidden in the city’s tissue, others are placed by the most representative streets and known for a long time. You might be surprised, how close and how strong the pulse of art beats in Cracow, conquering the most unexpected areas. Our meetings will allow us to take part in the unique, direct dialogue with people creating and maintaining those places and with the artist who fill them with their works. Let’s give our smartphones a rest, and let us meet. Take a chance to touch the city.
We hope to give you a set of hints on how to find art in the future.

Your Content Goes Here

Your Content Goes Here

Your Content Goes Here

A meeting with Janek Simon – the creator of interactive installations, videos, objects, and artistic actions, drawing his inspiration from video games and the Internet. In his works, Janek uses elements of predicting the future, catastrophic themes, and the oncoming doom. His debut took the form of Carpet Invaders – a simple computer game, whose level is the picture of a carpet projected on the floor. His other work, a well-known movie ‘Departure’, shows as one by one antique towers of Cracow’s buildings take off into the air, creating a new, flat cityscape. The main point of the meeting will be a presentation of the artists’ projects – those which already exist and those that are planned for the future.

KRAKERS TATTOO TOUR is an idea of a mobile exhibition – tattoo parlor. A camping truck, rented for the Krakers Weekend will become a roadshow of drawings made by Małgorzata Wielek-Mandrela. Inside you will not only be able to see the drawings, but also take one with you forever, keeping it on your skin. Our idea for a leap is to exceed the phenomenon of an exhibition and what the spectator can take out of it. In the case of our action, if the guest will decide to make the leap, he or she will be able to take a piece of presented art with them, forever, on them.

What is contemporary art? How will art look in the future and what techniques will the artists be using? During the workshops, we will take a trip to find new ways of expression. Space lies before us and the possibilities are limitless. We will create new techniques and use them to make art. We will also take a look at the works of modern artists and have them inspire us.

Your Content Goes Here

Your Content Goes Here

The back of the Salt Depot is a space where we observe the metamorphosis of the Zabłocie district. The last old barracks in the front and dense, new residential buildings in the background do not reflect the postindustrial character of the area. We invite you for a picnic, a DJ set, and pizza.

Polish – Japanese contacts, just like between any other nations, are created through official, diplomatic and political, social, cultural and military relations. Nowadays we can also add scientific and business dealings to this list. What is exceptional are relations between individual people. Through these 100 years there were many fascinating, even cinema-like stories.

Outsider Art Research Station was organized by the Psychiatry and Art Society in 2018. Since October to this day, we’ve made six exhibitions and artistic events with national and multinational range. In our gallery, we promote cultural, artistic and educational initiatives. We represent both mainstream and outsider artists, we promote the knowledge about the psychopathology of expression, art brud, and art therapy. We conduct research, promotion, and information.

In the fifties, Nowa Huta saw the beginning of an extraordinary artistic and social phenomenon. Tens of artists came to the city to live and work there. They were given access to city-owned ateliers some of which remain active to this day. How did they look like in the times, when the only thing the system required from the artists is to form a better tomorrow? How do those places work today? We will find out during the meeting in the Ironworks of Art gallery and other places where a collection of works by Nowa Huta’s artists is stored.

Ignoring Armstrong’s mission we prefer our own method to reach the sky. By climbing the ladder, we jump straight into the baroque trying to reach the top through the holy intercessors. Will the martyrs, bishops, and presbyters, who were protecting us for hundreds of years, be able to carry the weight of XXIst century pick-ups? Facing this question, a painter from Slovakia states ‘All is old as hell. There is nothing modern here’. The title of the exhibition was taken from an old Polish Lent song.

In 1936 Marcel Duchamp created the first minimuseum in a box. Inside there were reproductions of his most important works plus one original as a bonus. It was the beginning of a series of over 300 objects, which will become works of art themselves. We will enter one of those boxes and from it we will guide you through Duchamp’s art. You will also find out how many copies there are of the famous Fountain, and why so many. The lecture will be given by an art historian Aśka Warchał-Beneschi, the curator of the All my white cubes exhibition.