Exhibition: 13th May – 3rd July 2016
Place: Gdańsk City Gallery 2, Powroźnicza 13/15 Street
Curator: Patrycja Ryłko
Without Views is the first solo exhibition by Julita Wójcik at the Gdańsk City Gallery, featuring selected works from the period between 2003 and 2016. The show concentrates on social and political issues that concern lost hopes and the current lack of life stability, as well as formal questions regarding the artist’s struggle with art and its classic forms.
Referencing the title of the exhibition, No-View Postcards – Economy Mail is a series of warnings issued by Wójcik and presented previously at the BWA Municipal Gallery in Tarnów (2012). The artist placed various kinds of warnings on postcards – statements that also provide a commentary on the current social and political situation. Wójcik sent them directly to the address of the gallery, even though the messages were in fact addressed to each and every one of us.
This iteration of the project, created specifically for the exhibition in Gdańsk, betrays a critical dimension as it highlights the overwhelming lack of prospects – views – that dominates society and exists as an important characteristics of the current times.
The majority of the remaining of works in the exhibition are presented in the form of documentation that records ephemeral actions, which often adopt the form of one-off artistic interventions. Using video footage and objects, the artist portrays her actions in the public space, such as sweeping up after textile workers in former factory halls in Łódź (To Sweep up after Textile Workers; Łódź, 2003), a democratic poll concerning the weather, which she held among the residents of Budapest (Weather Forecast, Budapest, 2006), or setting sail from the port of Gdynia on a raft made of suitcases, which was supposed to highlight the problem of emigration (Transatlantic, Gdynia, 2013).
In her activities, such as Employment Contract (2012) and Freelancer (2013), Julita Wójcik addresses the precarious living situation of artists resulting from specific forms of professional activity – most often freelance and therefore pursued outside job contracts and social services, such as healthcare, pension, etc.
In turn, the actions that the artist carried out at art institutions – a race at the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, a tennis match at the National Museum in Warsaw, and a fencing match at the CCA Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw (Race on 3600 m2, Museum Tournament, Painting Trial) reference her individual struggles with the institutional format that imposes constraints on art, and with the sheer form of art: the white canvas.
Julita Wójcik co-creates her artistic activities with guests invited to join the projects and with random passers-by, whose presence is integral to the works. In a “white cube” gallery space, her socially-oriented participatory projects acquire the status of documentation to be viewed by a new audience that did not participate in their making.
Julita Wójcik’s artistic practice creatively develops the paradigm of critical art, which refers to the tradition of institutional critique. Making her own position in relation to the infrastructures of the art world and economic structures into the subject of her works, the artist not only denounces the conflicts stemming from the Neoliberal condition, but also actively positions art as a practice originating from the social conditions of production.
Julita Wójcik (b. 1971) lives and works in Gdańsk. A graduate of the Faculty of Sculpture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, where she received a diploma from the studio of Prof. Franciszek Duszeńko. Honoured with the “Passport” Award of the Polityka weekly (2012) and the Royal Scottish Academy Award (2013). Holder of multiple scholarships of the Minister of Culture (1995/6, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007), as well as the Culture Foundation (2001), City of Gdańsk (2002), and Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship (2003). Resident of Art in General in New York (2006) and the Visegrad Fund (2010), among other programmes. Wójcik’s works have been presented at numerous exhibitions in Poland and abroad, such as (solo shows) Waver, Platan Gallery, Budapest, (2012); The Horsecross Commission, Perth, HorseCross (2009), Making Things More Beautiful, uqbar, Berlin (2007); At the Very Centre of Attention 8, Ready, Set, Action!, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (2006); Peeling Potatoes, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Little Salon, Warsaw (2001) / (group shows) State of Life, National Art Museum, Beijing, China (2015); Critical Juncture, Kochi Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India (2014); Summer in the City, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2010); Gone to Croatan – Strategies of Disappearance, Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund, Germany (2011); Gender Check, MUMoK, Vienna (2009); Don’t Worry Be Curious! 4th Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art, Casino Luxemburg and Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin as well as CCA Riga (2008); News: Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Art, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2006); Under the Red and white Flag. New Art from Poland, National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow and Museum of Art, Tallinn as well as CCA, Vilnius (2004); WRO05 Media Art Festival (2005); Architecture Of Gender: Contemporary Women’s Art in Poland, Sculpture Center, New York (2003). Wójcik’s temporary actions have been held, among other locations, in Warsaw/ Saviour Square – Rainbow (2012–2015); during the festival Narracje – Way to the Forest, Gdańsk/ Wrzeszcz (2014); under the Krakus Mound – A Mound of the Unknown Male Artist, Female Artist, Cracow (2012); and at the Creative Work Centre by Lake Wigry, Wigry (2009). Her works belong to the public collections of the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, National Museum in Warsaw, Arsenał Gallery in Białystok, HorseCross in Perth/Scotland and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem/Israel.
