Causes of Softness
a performative reading at the closing of the exhibition „Abakanowicz. Total".
28.08.2022 „Causes of Softness" a performative reading at the closing of the exhibition „Abakanowicz. Total." Museum of Contemporary Art at the Four Domes Pavilion in Wroclaw
Curators of the exhibition: Barbara Banaś and Iwona Dorota Bigos
“Still this lust to have around, to touch, to collect sticks, stones, shells, bark” (Magdalena Abakanowicz).
We gathered for the last time at “Abakanowicz. Total” to performatively close the exhibition.
A literary, theatrical tour performed by us is already a finissage tradition of the Four Domes Pavilion.
The participants heading through the exhibition in a theatrical procession, heard the words of the sculptor herself – the artist’s memories of her childhood immersion in nature, records of creative anxieties and discoveries, stories about her artistic path, finding more materials and forms of expression. Abakanowicz’s sculptural message was also commented on using sound and movement.
Contemplative and intellectual – this is how we said goodbye to this unique exhibition.
The combination of visual arts with theatre and literature – in close, even organic contact with Abakanowicz’s works – creates the possibility of a multi-level experience of her work.
The reading was attended by Monika Ćma, Ewelina Dac, Elżbieta Dudź, Agata Iżykowska-Uszczyk, Anna Lorenc, Maciej Makosch, Gustaw Małecki, Katarzyna Mazurkiewicz, Justyna Oleksy, Barbara Przerwa, Lesław Zamaro
During the finissage, excerpts from the following texts resounded:
Magdalena Abakanowicz, Multiple Portrait, selected excerpts;
Magdalena Abakanowicz, Embryology, Back, Drawing, Katharsis, Mosquitoes, In the Crowd, War Games, Japan – from the cat. of the exhibition “Magdalena Abakanowicz” published by CCA-Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw 1995, quoted in “CONTEXTS. Polish Folk Art,” Warsaw, 2007;
Magdalena Abakanowicz, Project for Hiroshima, from the catalog published by the Kordegarda Gallery in 1994, quoted in “CONTEXTS. Polish Folk Art,” Warsaw 2007;
Magdalena Abakanowicz, Meditations, lecture delivered in Warsaw on May 5 and 6, 2006, quoted in “CONTEXTS. Polish Folk Art,” Warsaw 2007).
