"Bodyscape"

The body, an entity so intimately connected to us and profoundly familiar, often paradoxically escapes our attention. Nietzsche once said, “Everything starts with the body, for the body is a more astonishing thought than the ancient notion of the ‘soul.’” The body is not merely a vessel for the mind; it is through the body that we experience and interact with our environment, constructing our understanding of the world. Thought itself arises from embodied experience and interaction. Yet, as we shape our subjectivity through bodily perception, customs, culture, and information overwhelm us, dulling the body's sensory capacities, or even silencing them, replacing them with accumulated knowledge and experience. At the same time, the natural attributes of the body are increasingly layered with other properties. The body is far from being the transparent and natural entity we imagine; it no longer even remains fully under our control. 

 

The body we speak of encompasses not only the biological flesh but also a sociological entity shaped by cultural politics and complex layers of information. What is superimposed on our physical bodies includes abstract conceptual information, as well as visible elements like clothing, scars, indentations, and skin color, along with invisible psychological and spiritual factors. Visible and invisible information, articulable and inarticulable elements, wrap around and shape our bodies, molding and even controlling both the physical form and the thoughts it harbors. 

 

In the process of the body being shaped, human thought and perception are also transformed. With the advent of modern society, awareness of one’s own body has steadily awakened. We have begun to reexamine our bodies, exploring their uniqueness and mysteries, confronting imperfections, and redefining the complex relationship between beauty and ugliness in bodily forms. This reevaluation embraces individual differences while emphasizing uniqueness and a natural state. 

 

Bodyscape, focusing on the unique and intricate nature of the body, delves into its complexities through a detailed thematic structure. Organized in a sequence moving from surface to depth, from external form to internal essence, the exhibition unfolds in five parts: Portret (Portrait), Samoprzytulenie (Self-Embrace), Sensualność (Sensuality), Dekonstrukcja (Deconstruction), and Wnętrze ciała (Interior of the Body). 

 

Through the paintings of Ignacy Tybor and the portrait sculptures of Aleksandra Mazurkiewicz, we glimpse various representations and discover reflections of ourselves within them. In Matylda Dworakowska's video art, we are drawn into a silent realm where pain and healing intertwine and merge into a tranquil space. Patrycja Tadej and Klaudia Sobczak's creations delve deeply into the intense, hidden, and suppressed emotions that, despite an exterior of silence and calm, pull, struggle, and boil beneath the surface, never truly fading away. Additionally, Kaja Juszczenko’s spool and neon installations, alongside Paulina Zawada’s masks, guide us to analyze and understand the diverse potentials of the body. These works challenge our subconscious perceptions of form, liberating and reshaping new roles and identities. 

 

Finally, we reach the innermost core of the body. Małgorzata Kalinowska narrates the dream of Małej Śmierci—how it is drawn out from the deepest recesses of the body, piercing through its entirety. 

 

The awakening of the body signifies a shift from inner, silent monologues to outward expression, from an isolated sense of self to integration with a broader social collective, and from personal understanding to critical reflection on society as a whole. Within the body still lie unknown forms and boundless spaces, waiting to be discovered and awakened.

 

Deng Jinqi

 

Curators team:

Deng Jingqi, Igor Deptulski, Małgorzata Francuz, Michał Herynowski, Zuzanna Amelia Jagła, Michalina Mróz, Agnieszka Wojciechowska-Sej, Marcin Wojda, Paulina Zawada.

 

Graphics:

Marcin Wojda, Paulina Zawada.

 

Artists:

Bartosz Borowski

Czerwińska Kiero Alicja

Matylda Dworakowska

Daria Irena Górniewska

Stefania Magdalena Jankowiak

Kaja Juszczenko

Małgorzata Kalinowska

Katarzyna Kostanek

Aleksandra Mazurkiewicz

Oliwia Matlak

Irmina Murawska

Anna Myrcha

Jacek Obraniak

Magdalena Skotnicka

Klaudia Sobczak

Zuzanna Szor

Paulina Śmigiel

Agnieszka Świstek

Alicja Tkaczyk

Patrycja Tadej

Bruno Turczynowicz

Ignacy Tybor

Paweł Wojda

Barbara Szwedowska

Paulina Zawada

 

Vernisage: 31st of January, 6:00 p.m. 

Organizators: Akademickie Centrum Designu, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Wł. Strzemińskiego w Łodzi, Uniwersytet Łódzki.