The exhibition takes place as part of Warsaw Gallery Weekend 2024.
Address: Gallery of the Institute of Photography Fort, Fort Mokotow, 6 Wladyslaw Szpilmana Street (formerly 99 Raclawicka Street), building 4, Warsaw.
Opening: September 26, 2024 | Thursday | 7:00 pm
Opening hours during WGW: Thursday-Sunday | 26-29.09.2024 | 11:00 am - 7:00 pm
Opening hours after WGW: Wednesday-Friday 2:00-6:00 pm; Saturday-Sunday 12:00-6:00 pm
Admission to the exhibition: free
Curator of the exhibition: Dr. Viktoria Michalkiewicz
To say that Le Corbusier is one of the most influential artists in the modern history of art and architecture is trite - and provocative. His life has been described in dozens of publications, and it is difficult to find a perspective from which his multifaceted artistic activity not has been analyzed. Perhaps for this reason, Jack Kolodziejski was fascinated by one of the last buildings the architect worked on in Europe between 1953 and 1960 - the convent of Dominican monks Sainte-Marie de La Tourette. The hermetic nature of the building, its seclusion and the silence that surrounds it, contrasts with the buzz of fame surrounding the legend that Le Corbusier has become.
As an artist, Kolodziejski works primarily with the medium of photography, but also creates sculptures, art installations and objects. The diverse form of expression has led the artist to find himself in dialogue not so much with Le Corbusier - the "icon of design" - but also with his creative method. Photographic objects and installations are used to build his own worlds: ultimately fully accessible only to the artist himself, but created for others to view. Working with holistic concepts, Kolodziejski wonders if it is possible to challenge totality - a complete world that is not only hermetic, but legendary, imbued with meanings, marked by contexts - and consequently - almost sacred?
La Tourette is a sacred convent building, isolated from the world by its surroundings, which become an integral part of it, created by an atheist for whom architecture was probably the only religion. From the outside, the convent building reflects Le Corbusier's architectural alphabet, but its proper symbolism is only revealed inside. Sheaves of light in tightly planned places not only emphasize the spiritual purpose of the building, but above all embody rationalism expressed in functional design - an architectural absolute that embodies the perfect vision. Geometry as a fundamental principle of architecture here not only has a utilitarian meaning, it also happens to be a musical symphony, when rays of light move along the concrete pillars supporting the glass window of the monastery's corridor, casting shadows on the floor and walls in the rhythm of a musical phrase. The cubes, pyramids, cylinders, and even the seemingly empty spaces of the monks' cells are actually Modulor's principles put into practice - and, as a combination of symbolism and function, give the whole structure the mark of perfection.
The starting point for the realization of the exhibition is the thesis: "color dictates shape," and the framework of the creative process is based on Le Corbusier's analysis of contrasting color. The monochromatic mass of the La Tourette convent provides a space to isolate and analyze the individual colors of the famous architect's palette. Color dictates the process of creation and the final shape of the installation-sculptures placed in the rooms of the convent. In the words of Jacek Kolodziejski: "By introducing objects into the space, which were created as a result of my own perception and contemplation of the place, and photographing them in the context of the history and character of the building, I do not intend to pay homage to the legend, but I intend to enter into a dialogue with his method of creation - as with my own."
Associated Events:
- September 29, 2024 | Sunday | 1:00 pm - "Around the Gradient Sculptures exhibition." A conversation between artist Jacek Kolodziejski and curator Dr. Wiktoria Michalkiewicz
- November 16, 2024 | Saturday | 1:00 pm - "Contrasting Color" - a conversation between artist Jacek Kolodziejski and Dr. Jaroslaw Trybus about the "Gradient Sculptures" project.
Jacek Kolodziejski is a photographer, visual artist and filmmaker, a graduate of the Faculty of Multimedia Communication at the University of Arts in Poznan. He also studied Film and Photography at the School of Art and Design in Lodz. The distinctive and recognizable style of Kolodziejski's work stems from his broad interests in visual arts and design. His projects have been exhibited all over the world, including the Arles International Festival of Photography, Los Angeles Month of Photography and Bratislava Month of Photography, and have received numerous awards (including PDN Photo Annual 2016, and a nomination for Photo Book of the Year 2016). In 2020, he was selected as the best Polish photographer at the World Cup of Photography in Rome.