18 December 2024 – 30 March 2025
Opening: 18 December, 8:15pm
Exhibition open from Tuesday–Sunday, 12–7 pm.
Zbigniew Dłubak (1921–2005) has gone down in history as one of the architects of post-war Poland’s modern visual sensibility. A painter and a theoretician, co-founder of legendary artist’s group Permafo, he was distinguished by his bold, experimental approach to photography, treating it as an analytical medium: a tool for studying the mechanisms of sign creation and perception. His conceptual work redefined both the boundaries of art and earlier ways of thinking about the role of photographs in artistic statements. The exhibition at Galeria Studio in Warsaw—held in cooperation with the Archeology of Photography Foundation—recalls Dłubak’s iconic work, as well as presenting it in the context of sound art. It features his original prints of the period and paintings on canvas. These are accompanied by an audio composition, recorded in Dłubak’s former apartment in Warsaw, and prepared especially for the exhibition by Anna Zaradny—an artist and composer whose work organically weaves together the fields of visual art and experimental sound. The composition was prepared especially for the exhibition. In Dłubak’s apartment, Anna Zaradny undertook an analysis of the sonic aspects of the space. Using a variety of strategies, including field recordings and melodic recitation based on the artist’s theoretical texts, Zaradny shows that the idea of the studio can be re-read as a place for producing successive layers of interpretation.
The term non finito in the exhibition title refers to the Renaissance tradition of works left intentionally unfinished. This treatment was intended to emphasize the processual nature of creation and open up space for the viewer’s imagination. We use this term here to signal the openness of Dłubak’s oeuvre to ongoing interpretation which constantly complements the meaning of his work. Processuality and performativity are the elements that unite the attitude of both artists. Dłubak’s photographs, enveloped by Zaradny’s immaterial sonic realization, become part of an immersive experience: the sound installation is organically woven into the fabric of the gallery, allowing the works to resonate with diverse audiences. The exhibition also includes other works by Anna Zaradny—video compositions, objects and installation—co-creating a narrative of permeation and dialogue.
Dłubak x Zaradny: non finito
18.12.2024 – 30.03.2025
Galeria Studio im. J. Grzegorzewskiego
Teatr Studio im. S. I. Witkiewicza
Plac Defilad 1, Warszawa
Curators: Weronika Kobylińska, Dorota Jarecka, Paulina Olszewska
Assistant curator: Kamila Kobus
Production: Monika Balińska
Collaboration: Maria Prokesz
Conservation: Natalia Andrzejewska, Martyna Wilkowska
Coordination of the Dłubak archive: Mikołaj Chmieliński
Exhibition partner: Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii
Exhibition open from Tuesday–Sunday, 12–7 pm.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a curators’ talk and meetings devoted to the work of Zbigniew Dłubak and Anna Zaradny.
At 6 pm on Friday, January 10, 2025, there will be a meeting with Anna Zaradny in the foyer of Teatr Studio. The meeting will be hosted by Weronika Kobylińska.
We would like to thank Armelle Dłubak for her long-standing cooperation with the Archeology of Photography Foundation, and for the openness and trust that made the exhibition possible.
Subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Culture Office of the City of Warsaw.
Galeria Studio was founded in 1972 by painter and set designer Józef Szajna at the Teatr Studio in Warsaw. Over the years it has hosted some of the most prominent figures of the neo-avant-garde movement, such as Mario Merz and Sol LeWitt. Its collection, comprising nearly a thousand objects, includes art of Polish modernism and the 20th and 21st century avant-garde, as well as works by international artists.
The Archeology of Photography Foundation, which looks after the photographic legacy of Zbigniew Dłubak, develops, preserves and digitizes the archives of Polish photographers, as well as making them available online. More than 87,000 records are now available free of charge at the Wirtualne Muzeum Fotografii. The Foundation conducts research projects, organizes exhibitions, workshops and lectures, and publishes albums and books on photography.
Anna Zaradny (b. 1977) – sound and visual artist, composer, instrumentalist, co-founder of the festival and publishing house Musica Genera. Classically trained in saxophone and conducting. She uses her background in improvised and experimental music to treat instruments and other equipment as open organic forms. As a composer and instrumentalist, she covers a wide spectrum, from acoustic improvised music in a minimalist contemporary idiom to experimental electronic music. She creates works of a visual nature mainly in the form of installation, sculpture, photography and video. In these, the artist makes use of abstraction, light and space, elements of architecture, and micro sound objects.
Zbigniew Dłubak (1921–2005) – photographer, painter, art theoretician, longtime editor of the monthly magazine “Fotografia,” and a key figure of the Polish photographic scene after 1945. He made his debut as a photographer in 1947, creating experimental works inspired by the interwar avant-garde. His work ranged from abstract surrealist compositions to minimalist, everyday shots of landscapes and interiors. In the 1960s and 1970s, he carried out projects based on structuralist analysis of the concept of signs and explored the relationship between photography and reality. He was associated with avant-garde galleries in Warsaw and Wrocław, including Krzywe Koło, Foksal, Remont and Galeria Współczesna. His photographic output is under the care of the Archeology of Photography Foundation.
