Democratising the Institutional Common/Private Space. Lessons of “[S]election.pl”
This article examines [S]election.pl, an exhibition conceived by Paweł Althamer and Artur Żmijewski at the Centre of Contemporary Art, Warsaw in 2005, as a site for enacting radical democracy. The project, organised within a series of retrospective exhibitions entitled At the Very Centre of Attentio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Gothenburg
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Parse Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://parsejournal.com/article/democratising-the-institutional-common-private-space-lessons-of-selection-pl/ |
| _version_ | 1797995426513682432 |
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| author | Mateusz Sapija |
| author_facet | Mateusz Sapija |
| author_sort | Mateusz Sapija |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article examines [S]election.pl, an exhibition conceived by Paweł Althamer and Artur Żmijewski at the Centre of Contemporary Art, Warsaw in 2005, as a site for enacting radical democracy. The project, organised within a series of retrospective exhibitions entitled At the Very Centre of Attention – and consequently with Polish elections opening the country’s path towards right-wing populism – subverted the framework celebrating the growth of Polish contemporary art world by staging a group show gathering former schoolmates, and in later stage, an on-going process open to anyone. Although the importance and controversial outcome of the exhibition (defined by provocative interventions, withdrawals and destruction of artworks) has been examined in the context of continuing Oskar Hansen’s Open Form model and Grzegorz Kowalski’s pedagogical understanding of sculpture as a participatory medium, its political agency has rarely been discussed. To assess [S]election.pl as a model for democratisation and a political intervention, the paper analyses a range of its ambitions, aspects and outcomes: expanding and complicating the notion of participation, engaging with institutional critique aimed at the role of art institutions in sustaining cognitive capitalism, finally, testing the potential of contemporary art exhibitions as models for radical horizontalization of democratic involvement. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:01:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1db9df35400a46a7831084e3cb3f9b7c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2002-0511 2002-0953 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:01:27Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | University of Gothenburg |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Parse Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-1db9df35400a46a7831084e3cb3f9b7c2022-12-22T04:30:25ZengUniversity of GothenburgParse Journal2002-05112002-09532021-08-01On the Question of Exhibition Part 213.2Democratising the Institutional Common/Private Space. Lessons of “[S]election.pl”Mateusz Sapija0University of EdinburghThis article examines [S]election.pl, an exhibition conceived by Paweł Althamer and Artur Żmijewski at the Centre of Contemporary Art, Warsaw in 2005, as a site for enacting radical democracy. The project, organised within a series of retrospective exhibitions entitled At the Very Centre of Attention – and consequently with Polish elections opening the country’s path towards right-wing populism – subverted the framework celebrating the growth of Polish contemporary art world by staging a group show gathering former schoolmates, and in later stage, an on-going process open to anyone. Although the importance and controversial outcome of the exhibition (defined by provocative interventions, withdrawals and destruction of artworks) has been examined in the context of continuing Oskar Hansen’s Open Form model and Grzegorz Kowalski’s pedagogical understanding of sculpture as a participatory medium, its political agency has rarely been discussed. To assess [S]election.pl as a model for democratisation and a political intervention, the paper analyses a range of its ambitions, aspects and outcomes: expanding and complicating the notion of participation, engaging with institutional critique aimed at the role of art institutions in sustaining cognitive capitalism, finally, testing the potential of contemporary art exhibitions as models for radical horizontalization of democratic involvement.https://parsejournal.com/article/democratising-the-institutional-common-private-space-lessons-of-selection-pl/artur żmijewskidemocracydisobedienceexhibition-makinggrzegorz kowalskiinstitutional critiqueparticipationpaweł althamerpolandsocial project |
| spellingShingle | Mateusz Sapija Democratising the Institutional Common/Private Space. Lessons of “[S]election.pl” Parse Journal artur żmijewski democracy disobedience exhibition-making grzegorz kowalski institutional critique participation paweł althamer poland social project |
| title | Democratising the Institutional Common/Private Space. Lessons of “[S]election.pl” |
| title_full | Democratising the Institutional Common/Private Space. Lessons of “[S]election.pl” |
| title_fullStr | Democratising the Institutional Common/Private Space. Lessons of “[S]election.pl” |
| title_full_unstemmed | Democratising the Institutional Common/Private Space. Lessons of “[S]election.pl” |
| title_short | Democratising the Institutional Common/Private Space. Lessons of “[S]election.pl” |
| title_sort | democratising the institutional common private space lessons of s election pl |
| topic | artur żmijewski democracy disobedience exhibition-making grzegorz kowalski institutional critique participation paweł althamer poland social project |
| url | https://parsejournal.com/article/democratising-the-institutional-common-private-space-lessons-of-selection-pl/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mateuszsapija democratisingtheinstitutionalcommonprivatespacelessonsofselectionpl |