Ewa Partum: Contemplating Art, Contemplating Love

Ewa Partum (b. 1945) celebrates her 80^th birthday and 60^th anniversary of her artistic career. In the reality of socialist Poland and a conservative, Catholic society, she deliberately emphasised that her art was the voice of women. She confronted the male-centred neo-avant-garde by creating incarnated conceptualism and developing visual poetry as a tool for a critique of the roles and positions of women in the art world. Her activities went beyond institutions to encompass public space. She made the lipstick imprint of her lips her trademark, and her naked body – a medium for confronting authority. She ran the Adres gallery in Łódź, an important venue for mail art and anti-institutional discourse, and engaged in dialogue with Fluxus. The title of the exhibition, taken from the artist’s works, highlights the inseparable connection between art and physicality, sensuality, and love.

The exhibition aims to contextualise Partum’s work – both in relation to her contemporaries (Joseph Beuys, George Maciunas, Katalin Ladik, VALIE EXPORT) and to artists today who are developing the strategies of feminist rebellion she initiated (Iwona Demko, Monika Drożyńska, Joanna Pawlik). The main themes include the body, touch, imprint, voice as a physical and political medium, criticism of patriarchy, écriture féminine, social engagement and opacity of communication.

Also works by: John Baldessari, Leonora de Barros, Joseph Bauer, Mehtap Baydu, Renate Bertlmann, John Cage, Anna Daučíková, Vlasta Delimar, Iwona Demko, Monika Drożyńska, Alexis Hunter, Sanja Iveković, Alfredo Jarr, Joseph Kosuth, Katalin Ladik, Cecylia Malik, Piero Manzoni, Dóra Maurer, Clemen Parrocchetti, Joanna Pawlik, Maria Pinińska-Bereś, Bogdanka Poznanović, Jadwiga Sawicka, Peny Slinger, Gabriele Stötzer, Endre Tot, Ulay, VALIE EXPORT and others.

Curators: Adam Budak, Marta Smolińska
Co-ordinators: Marta Műller, Aleksandra Żelichowska