REVERSO - reversal and replacement. Exit from the gallery and entrance to the studio, as well as the open air and city space as an art scene. The launch of various paths of contact between viewers and participants includes a program of multi-month presentations, taking place both in real exhibition spaces in Wrocław.

Result #1

Even a major exhibition, the Warsaw Biennale, opens with a talk by a group of artists, whose work is influenced by the work of contemporary avant-garde artists. In the exhibition space, where one could witness, as in any exhibition, a dialogue between people and their bodies, a dialogue between art and life, the former the primacy of the body and the latter the primacy of art.

Result #2

REVERSO - reversal and replacement. Exit from the gallery and entrance to the studio, as well as the open air and city space as an art scene. The launch of various paths of contact between viewers and participants includes a program of multi-month presentations, taking place both in real exhibition spaces in Wrocław. The original intentions of the site-specificizing organization Gigs, or, as the artist puts it, the opportunity to open up the museum to the public, but also in the gallery. The site-specificizing impulse is most evident in the installation of the exhibition, which, in the space of the gallery, is transformed into a sort of desk job for the curator. On the walls, she has hung a collection of photos, documents, and videos; one can see them, but they are not for the viewing public. They are not for the curator but for the museum, and they are not for her either. Even if it is not clear whether the curator is still in a position to be a legitimate art critic or a corporate agent. Rather, she appears to be working with a new form of art and making a decision about her role. And she has certainly reached the limit of her power to create art which may not be suitable for consumption in a gallery, and which is itself no more than a kind of ambience for an exhibition. The work of the curator in this case is a kind of interstitial work, which implies that one could say nothing about it, because nothing could be more direct than the actions of the work. That the work is visible, that it can be seen, only reinforces the possibility that nothing could be left to say about it. If it were to disappear, the space it occupied would disappear as well. Thus, one wonders whether the curator is still concerned with a position that may still exist, but is only now made suspect.The other two works on display here reflect similar concerns, but they are more closely related to the site-specificizing impulse, and they were installed in a similar way. They are pictures of things, which the curator has taken to be objects, and these things have been set up as a group of pictures.

Result #3

REVERSO - reversal and replacement. Exit from the gallery and entrance to the studio, as well as the open air and city space as an art scene. The launch of various paths of contact between viewers and participants includes a program of multi-month presentations, taking place both in real exhibition spaces in Wrocław. . . . and on the internet, where a serene and ambient space for discussion and planning of participatory art is created.The question now is how to move forward in this context, and the answer is complicated by the fact that the exhibition is situated in a city with one of the highest rates of crime in Poland. After all, the opening of the exhibition coincides with the opening of a new metro station, which serves as a reminder of our integrated role in the country. The title of the show, Entering the city, means not only a city, but also a psychological space, as the viewer is made aware that the urban space is inhabited by other people. It is the space of communication. One must face the fact that communication and surveillance are problems that are becoming more widespread, and that their causes are often concealed in plain sight. At the same time, what are the effects of this fact on the public space? The proliferation of surveillance cameras and personal cameras, the allusion to individual privacy, the question of the self and its appearance, the contribution of a group of authors, all contribute to a sense of what is being watched.We should not be tempted to dismiss this exhibition entirely, but should try to enter it with an open mind, one that will make use of the fact that the exhibition is a fragment and is undergoing a change. The impetus is a desire for an artistic project that can operate with a new perspective, which is what the shows title, by its very nature, implies. The works included in the exhibition are not always characterized by such a perspective, and they certainly have a presence that is not based on surveillance. But the gap between the old and new approaches to art is not so great that the gap between the old and new approaches to the public sphere is closed. The new role of art is to be informed, to engage in conversations with people, to become involved with them, to make a positive contribution, to change their perceptions.

Result #4

REVERSO - reversal and replacement. Exit from the gallery and entrance to the studio, as well as the open air and city space as an art scene. The launch of various paths of contact between viewers and participants includes a program of multi-month presentations, taking place both in real exhibition spaces in Wrocław. . . ., 2017, and in the studio. In the first instance, the project presented in the latter case, the project is presented as a series of events. This is as far as it goes as far as the exhibition itself is concerned. The projects film is a film, and thus also a conceptual product, in fact. One of its parts is a virtual book. The other part is a book, but one with a narrator. The narrator, a filmmaker who once worked as a teacher in a school for the deaf, tells the story of a deaf boy who finds himself at the center of a problem. The problem is to get rid of his family. The boy talks, but he is deaf. He is also a mute boy. He is about to be thrown out of his home. He is told that the family is still on the move, and that they will be taking him to a city where he will be able to communicate. The family is planning to move to Paris. The boy, who can no longer speak, is placed in a town in Poland, where he will be able to learn French. The narrator offers various possible solutions to the problem. He also gives the boy a map, which he uses to find a suburb in which he can go to meet his new family. From there he learns the language he is trying to learn. As he goes on to say, This is the only language I can speak. He goes on to say that he hopes to learn it by the end of the trip. In the final segment, the narrator calls the boy a good boy. The boy nods. He is all right with his new family. The narrator congratulates him. He says, I did it! He says, I will do anything. And then he goes on to describe the problems that followed the trip. The boy says, I dont really know what it is, but I know that I have to go.

Result #5

—Catherine GoncharovaTranslated from Polish by Oliver Ewing.