magic mountain

4 July - 20 September 2015
BWA SOKÓŁ Gallery

vernissage:

3 July 2015, hour 18:00

Special works were created for the exhibition, taking into account the specifics of the BWA SOKÓŁ Gallery, Nowy Sącz and the whole region of the Nowy Sącz region. The main theme is the idea of mountains. As the prominent curator of contemporary art exhibitions, Harald Szeemann said - the mountains are the place where our minds can reach the sky ... - because of the large number of cultural meanings, the mountains still inspire artists to portray the wild nature.
Artists: Bogdan Achimescu, Pio Bujak, Karolina Grzywnowicz, Kornel Janczy, Angelika Markul

At the exhibition, we will present works resulting from a specific impact - enchantment or attraction - which mountains can exert on people. The region, whose capital is Nowy Sącz, is largely mountainous, where it multiplies from fascinating stories, sometimes fictitious, but having a beginning in real, related to nature, events. The reference to Thomas Mann's work is an allusion - it signals that we are interested in the mythology of the mountains, the effect of remoteness from the problems of "ordinary" life, the view of the vast panorama of the world, closer contact with the sky.

Inspired by the authentic stories of people whose lives in the mountains were intertwined with creative passion, the exhibition raises questions about the attractiveness and strength of mountains such as the Beskydy or, more broadly, the Carpathians, their importance and influence on people. Part of the Carpathians, located within the current borders of Poland, after the bloody war history, began to attract social outsiders and people who want to change their lives to lead them in harmony with nature, in a more creative way than "in the lowlands". This romantic-intelligentsia mythology of the Beskids is still being created. These mountains were basically rural areas. They are also connected with the beginnings of tourism in Poland, some places in the region are important for the development of the idea of ​​treatment through contact with nature and climate, that is, natural medicine (sanatoriums, healing waters).

Finally, the exhibition will reflect the fascination of the mountains, which causes some people to test themselves in difficult conditions: extreme experiences, isolation, searching for boundaries of the body and mind, experiencing freedom or even plunging into madness and self-destruction. It is also a reflection on the contemporary image of mountains in culture.

The exhibition will be enclosed in an educational part, it will be accompanied by performative lecture and discussion with invited guests.