MG+MSUM

EXHIBITIONS | Karol Radziszewski: QAI/CEE
12 March 2020 — 20 September 2020
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Karol Radziszewski
QAI/CEE

 

12 March – 20 September 2020, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova

Curators: Goran Injac, Igor Španjol

 

IMPORTANT: Due to the measures for the prevention of the spread of coronavirus, the official opening of the exhibition is cancelled, as are all the three scheduled guided tours by the artist Karol Radziszewski



Karol Radziszewski presents a rich selection of Central and Eastern European queer archival materials from the collection of the Queer Archives Institute (QAI). The QAI, established by Radziszewski in November 2015, is a non-profit artist-run organization dedicated to research, collection, digitalization, presentation, exhibition, analysis and artistic interpretation of queer archives, with special focus on the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. The QAI is a long-term project open to transnational collaboration with artists, activists and academic researchers. The Institute carries out a variety of activities and projects – from exhibitions, publications, lectures and installations to performances. The QAI/CEE exhibition also features Radziszewski’s paintings, photographs and video works.

 

According to Radziszewski, “post-socialist states, where many historical threads have been ruptured or, indeed, never actually emerged, are witnessing attempts to construct national identities anew and develop new narratives. History, including art history, is largely (re)constructed and sometimes manipulated depending on the current political conditions.” In his artistic practice, he takes special interest in strategies that provide possibilities to actively respond to these processes. Radziszewski is interested in reviewing history, rewriting it from his own perspective and complementing main narratives with neglected threads, with a particular focus on minority voices. His efforts towards queering and decolonizing history are founded on the archives that he acquires and studies.

 

 

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Karol Radziszewski (b. 1980) lives and works in Warsaw (Poland), where he received his MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2004. He works with film, photography, installations and creates interdisciplinary projects. His archive-based methodology crosses multiple cultural, historical, religious, social and gender references. Since 2005 he has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of DIK Fagazine. He is the founder of the Queer Archives Institute (2015). His work has been presented in institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; New Museum, New York; VideoBrasil, São Paulo; TOP Museum, Tokyo; Kunsthaus Graz, Austria; Cobra Museum, Amsterdam; Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow and Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz. He has participated in several international biennales including PERFORMA 13, New York; 7th Göteborg Biennial; 4th Prague Biennial and 15th WRO Media Art Biennale.
 

 

Produced by Moderna galerija and the Mladinsko Theater in collaboration with ŠKUC-LL Lesbian Library & Archive as part of the program entitled Forms of Performing. The project results from the interest the two institutions share in the field of the individual and collective body.