ZOFIA KULIK - Zak | Branicka

ZOFIA KULIK

Zofia KulikSPLENDOUR OF MYSELF V(Mother, Daughter Partner)© ŻAK | BRANICKA 2008 All rights reserved.INDEXLindenstr. 35 | 10969 Berlin | +49 30 /61 10 73 75 | www.zak-branicka.comCover: Zofia Kulik, The Splendour of Myself V (Mother, Daughter, Partner), 2007, detail

archive, created by the artist from the very beginning of her artisticpractice. This archive of photographic images, the visual equivalentof life experiences up to the present, constitutes the material of ZofiaKulik´s art.The cardboard stencil no. 8 of 15existing masks, which I used to exposethe work Splendour of Myself, becomesthe corset of my dress. Photographedagainst the light it shows the lacework between the miscellaneous fieldshapes.In the darkroom I put this maskon photographic paper and exposeindividual fields to the light passingthrough various negatives. Myworks though they have a collagelikecharacter are not made usingscissors, glue or photoshop. It is atechnique which I call multiple exposureblack&white photography.The images of Zofia Kulik are produced as fotomontages, using multipleexposures placed on a photo paper, through precisely cut masks. In thisway one work can consist of hundreds or - in the case of more elaboratepieces -even thousands of single images. The represented elements arereduced to the status of a sign; the structure is ruled by the grammarof ornament; based on rhythms, repetitions and symmetries. Thesephotographic ornaments are woven into robes, which the artist uses toclothe herself in her self-portraits - similar to polish devotional traditions,where one “clothes” the painted representations of Holy Mary in socalled camisoles, made of precious metals and valuable stones. Historyis ornamentalised as well. In the works such as Idioms of the soc-agesZofia Kulik reckons with the visual experience of totalitarianism, byweaving presentations from the political gestures and symbols shecollects. Her practice, the weaving of images, reminds one of orientalcarpets, a reference to which the artist consciously refers in manyof her works. The signs that make up these photographic carpets,evoke oriental calligraphy, where the difference between the text andornament is abolished - just like in the art of Zofia Kulik the bordersbetween discursiveness and decorativeness, tradition and modernity,rhythm and narration, abstraction and allegory are blurred „In a senseit is easy, banal and kitschy”, said Kulik in 1998 “The subtlety of thiswork relies on its complexity. I feel that a great value of my work is thefact that Í m a talented organizer of compound visual structures. In turnall of the details are simple, like in a common song about love, deathetc. My whole work is based on the fact that I permanently collect andarchive the images of this world. The complexity of this work comesfrom the richness of the archive that I possess.”Stach Szabłowski (translation Weronika Bachman and Ron Rocco)1) Zofia Kulik I Przemyslaw Kwiek were students of Oskar Hansen, the architect, artist,art theoretician and professor at the Warsaw Art Academy, the author of the “Openform” theory2) The performing model was Zbigniew Libera, self-tought artist, punk, dissident, in the90ties he had become one of the most important polish artists.

INDEXAll the small images come from the archive of Zofia Kulikand have been used to create the work Splendour of Myself.Each of the pictures is captioned with the artist’s annotations.Zofia Kulik, photo summer 1991.Shutter pressed by Urszula Kwiek,Przemysław’s sister. The photo hasbeen taken on the occasion of a photosession, when Urszula posed for me.Zofia Kulik, photo 1999. The photohas been taken by means of atime release. A photo session withmyself.Helena Kulik, photo 1993. My motheris turning over the whole garden.She collected a few truckloads ofgarbage; since the World War II thehouse and the land were used bzsquatters.Przemysław Kwiek, photo 2002.I took this photo testing a roll offilm Technical Pan 25.Selected frames from the Archivesof Gestures, which was made between1987 and 1991, the model was ZbigniewLibera.

A cog-wheel made froma material similar toa terrazzo, photo 1994.A cog-wheel or gear,wooden, photo 1994.The reproduction from a folder titledOn the Way to the 21th Centuryprinted in 1988 by the publishinghouse of the Press Agency Nowosti(Moscow), in Polish language.Caption below the photo:To build a turbine similar to thisone, which is assembled in one ofthe Soviet nuclear power stations,a highly developed industry isnecessary. Due to their cooperation,the RWPG countries took a leadingplace in the world regarding thebuilding of machines in the domain ofnuclear power.

A piece of glass from a brokenbottle, photo 1994.Golden, flowing fabric, photo 1997.Fabric with metalic gloss, in realityit has a vivid green colour, photo1990.A brass or copper vase, borrowedfrom my brother in 1988, photo 1994.

My hand catching a cucumber, photo1994.A sickle bought in a garden shop. It’snever been used in a garden, photo1994.My hand catching a dandelion (theflower is named in Latin Seneciovulgaris). It is a useful herb, usedas an agent for stopping excessivemenstrual bleeding.A wooden clock’s cover, photo 1994.Five cartridges, photo 1994.A skull borrowed from Jasio Rasiński.I don’t know where he got it from,photo 1994. Jasio died in 2007.An alabaster vessel, photographedfrom the top, photo 1994.A metal twist stick (remains of abraid) with two holes, one on eachend. A part of an unknown object,photo 1994.

ZOFIA KULIKborn in Wroclaw, PL in 1947.She graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, Sculpture Department in1971. From 1971 on, she started an artistic duet with Przemyslaw Kwiek, namedKwieKulik. They ran an independent Studio for Art Activities in their privateappartment in Warsaw.All the exhibited works:The Splendour of Myself V (Mother, Daughter, Partner), 2007,silver gelatine print, 250x180 cm, edition 3+1 APSolo Exhibitions (selection, after 1987):2005 From Siberia to Cyberia, Museum Bochum, Bochum; Kunsthalle Rostock, DE2004 From Siberia to Cyberia, Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw; Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, PL1998 The Human Motif IV, National Gallery, Prague, CZ1997 Symbolic Weapon IV, Polish Pavilion, XLVII Biennale in Venice, IT1996 The Human Motif III, ZONE Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UKGroup Exhibitions (selection, after 1987):2008 Schengen Women, Skuc Gallery, Ljubljana, SLO2007 1,2,3…Avant-garde, Centre for Contemporary Art (CSW), Warsaw; Sala Rekalde,BilbaoDocumenta 12, Kassel, DE2006 Interrupted Histories, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, SLOEgocentric, Immoral, Outmoded, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PLPolice, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, PLDeep Light, Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, Wilhelmshaven, DE2005 1900-2000 Warszawa – Moskwa, Zacheta Gallery of Art, Warsaw; The StateTretyakov Gallery, Moscow, RUS2004 E.U. Positive, Kunst aus dem Neuen Europa, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, DE2003 Architecture of Gender, Sculpture Center, Long Island City, USA2000 2000 + ARTEAST COLLECTION, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, SLO1999 After The Wall, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, S1996 New Histories, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USAThe Human Motif I (photo-carpet ), 1989, 240x480 cm, silvergelatine print, edition 3+1 APLibera - Christmas Tree, 1990, silver gelatine print, 180x150 cm,edition 2+2 APDeseń 10 (chain), 2008, c- print, 120x120 cmThe exhibition has been curated by Monika Branicka and Asia Żak, Berlin 2008Deseń 11 (wings), 2008, c-print, 120x120 cm