In the video Them (2007) the Polish film maker Artur Żmijewski stages meetings between conflicting social groups in Poland. The meetings are structured by simple rules set by the artist, where the discussions are held within the arena of what is drawn or written: words and symbols. In the film different groups are brought together with diverging views on societal issues: Socialists, Polish Nationalists and devout Catholics, i.e. ordinary people forming representatives of a silent majority. In the course of the film, the democratic play rules are put to the test within this temporarily constructed “mini society”. The film was made for Documenta 12 in 2007.
Still from the video Them (2007) by Artur Żmijewski
Still from the video Them (2007) by Artur Żmijewski
Still from the video Them (2007) by Artur Żmijewski
Still from the video Them (2007) by Artur Żmijewski
Artur Żmijewski, born in 1966 in Warsaw (Poland), works almost exclusively with the media of photography and film. He is particularly interested in the power of art and its relation to politics. From an almost anthropological viewpoint he investigates social norms, morality and representations of power in today’s society and the effects that art have on it. Żmijewski studied in the sculpture class of Professor Grzegorz Kowalski at the Warsaw Art Academy from 1990 to 1995 as well as at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 1999. His work has been internationally shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. In 2005 he represented Poland at the 51st Art Biennale in Venice. He is member of the Polish political movement “Krytyka Polityczna” and the art director of the magazine of the same name. Artur Żmijewski lives and works in Warsaw.
REWRITE / REDRAW / RETOOL was presented in four parts during the Autumn 2011-Spring 2012, and showed works by Artur Żmijewski, Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson, Ivor Shearer, Johan Tirén and Chto Delat?. The exhibition series was curated by Rakett.
Through visual and narrative endeavors REWRITE / REDRAW / RETOOL engages in questions concerning how conflicting interest groups negotiate their positions, within existing or fictional societies. Who are the creators of history, how are political strategies played out, and how are art and its institutions embedded in political structures? In the presented works meetings are played out between people and ideologies where conflicts of interests are set in motion to be discussed on arenas within or outside constitutional frameworks. A discursive program is part of the exhibition and consists of discussions, presentations, a seminar, film screenings and book launch.
REWRITE / REDRAW / RETOOL was supported by Norrlandsoperaen in Umeå and iaspis.
