18.06-29.08.2021
Gdańska Galeria Fotografii MNG i Zielona Brama Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku
ul.Długi Targ 24, Gdańsk, PL
open from tuesday to sunday 10:00-17:00
curator: Witold Kanicki
artists: Paweł Althamer, Agata Bogacka, Ryszard Bobek, Leszek Brogowski, Teresa Gierzyńska, Marcin Giżycki, Rafał Kucharczuk, Jerzy Lewczyński, Rafał Milach, Minilabiści (Joanna Miklaszewska, Marek Mielnicki, Radek Spassówka), Wacław Nowak, Karol Radziszewski, Maciek Stępiński, Teresa Tyszkiewicz, Andrzej Wajda, Bartek Wieczorek and others
The Instant Archives exhibition is not only the largest display of instant photographs (Polaroid, Fuji) in Poland, but also one of the largest surveys of Polish photography of the last 50 years, featuring nearly 2000 colour images. The works gathered at the exhibition allow us to trace various ways of using instant materials, which perfectly fit into the conventions of family (Teresa Gierzyńska’s archive), documentary (Wacław Nowak), artistic (e. g. Ryszard Bobek, Marcin Giżycki) or intimate photography(Agata Bogacka, Karol Radziszewski, Teresa Tyszkiewicz)
The party character of instant photos has been underlined by a huge collection of snapshots by the Poznań group Minilabists, while the works by Leszek Brogowski and Rafał Kucharczuk show their experimental, if not abstract potential. Polaroids and instaxes also often served as notes, whether on film sets (Andrzej Wajda’s scripts) or during journeys (Paweł Althamer, Rafał Milach).
The Instant Archives exhibition confronts various possibilities of using instant processes in (not only artistic) practice of Polish photographers. The works presented here, not included in the main narrative on the history of Polish photography, are the result of searches in private and institutional archives. Albums, atlases, drawer cabinets, showcases, constellations, typologies present and organize photographic material mostly unknown to the public.
The exhibition presents notebooks with photographic (fujifilm instax mini) notes made by Rafał Milach from the series THE WINNERS, 2010-2013, Belarus and GREEN SHAPE IN WHITE SHADOW, 2010-2013, Minsk, Belarus
source: Gdańska Galeria Fotografii MNG