Biegi z przeszkodami. Wystawy: Ziem Odzyskanych (1948) i Wrocław Moje Miasto (2000)
Obstacle courses. Exhibitions: Recovered Territories (1948) and Wrocław My City (2000)

Summary/Abstract: Two exhibitions are to be described as significant installation achievements in Wrocław since 1945: ‘The Exhibition of the Recovered Territories’ (1948) and ‘Wrocław My City’ (2000). Although organized around some social and historical subjects, their arrangements made them pioneering for the art of exhibitions. The first one (curated by Jerzy Hryniewiecki) ‘The Exhibition of the Recovered Territories’ in spite of many propaganda orders and pressures, have emphasized the very presence of works of art as well as striking assemblages of ready made objects. Joined by most important Polish architects and artists of that time, it was installed in historical site of the former 1913 Centenary Exhibition with its two modernistic masterpieces (Centenary Hall and Pavilion of Four Domes). The forms at the Courtyard, precisely arranged by Marek Leykam, emphasized 106m tall ‘Spire’ (masterly constructed by Stanisław Hempel). Amongst departments of this exhibition especially important was the space devoted to the ‘Coal’ theme – huge black interior with walls made of bricked coal (with imaginative design by Stanisław and Wojciech Zamecznik). There were monumental paintings and sculptures in several places of this exhibition as well as some striking agglomerations of objects (a tower built of buckets, a bus stop of bowls, kiosks of cans, drainpipes full of goods, huge propellers etc). The second exhibition, ‘Wrocław My City’ was devoted to life in Wrocław after 1945 and it was shown in the hall of Film Factory. The designers (Włodzimierz Dolatowski, Michał Jędrzejewski, Stanisław Lose and Mieczysław Piróg) have developed there a kind of multimedia installation with strong emphasis on agglomerations of objects as well as their reconstructions slightly smaller than originals. Especially two features could be mentioned: a cellar labyrinth of drainpipes imitating water-sewerage system under Old Market Place and the ribbon with all names of Wrocław citizens since 1945 running around the whole exhibition. In spite of very limited responses in the media, this very vivid ‘city in miniature’ was very much enjoyed by visitors. Both exhibitions: that of 1948 and the other one of 2000, could be seen as anticipating further features in Polish art.

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