The art scene in Wrocław, Poland, seems especially taken with collectives at the moment. While the Awangarda Gallery recently brought in work by Russian group Chto Delat, this city has its own rich history of collectives tied heavily to tumultuous sociopolitical events of the past. The groups Orange Alternative and LUXUS developed concurrently out of the revolutionary 1980s—spurred on by student protests and the Solidarity resistance movement—with[…..]

On June 4, I was reminded of a critical moment in history when the eyes of the world were turned towards Poland and the Eastern Bloc. This date marks the anniversary of the first democratic election in Poland; and with its celebration, a cautious optimism pervades the formerly communist country as various events—such as the premiere of the documentary film Eastern Europe Strives for Freedom—take a[…..]

Olaf Brzeski’s work spans many different media, but his practice is unified by a central sense of iconic situations having gone awry. For Brzeski, the hunter becomes the hunted, the superhero-savior is hideously deformed, the stately bust is bloated and misshapen. Brzeski’s work has been included in solo and group shows throughout Poland and in Prague, Copenhagen, Budapest, and Lille. We met up in Tarnow,[…..]