How about something different? Contemporary Art at the Wawel Castle

Wawel Royal Castle would like to take you on a unique journey through a little-known but extremely intriguing chapter of its own history. The exhibition “How about something different? Contemporary Art at the Wawel Castle” showcases a collection of Polish contemporary painting – works by artists who have made a lasting mark on the history of 20th and 21st century art.

In spite of the fact that Wawel Museum's collection of paintings created after 1945 is relatively small, it features works by outstanding artists – Jerzy Nowosielski, Jonasz Stern, Tadeusz Brzozowski, Edward Dwurnik and Marcin Maciejowski. This collection is virtually unknown to experts and the general public alike. The exhibition is an opportunity to ask one pressing question – should contemporary art find a permanent place in a royal residence whose greatest treasure is the past?

The exhibition shows that openness to new ideas was already present at the Wawel Castle in the 1960s and 1970s thanks to collaborations with designers, including interior designers, and the organisation of exhibitions featuring contemporaneous artists. At that time, the collection of contemporary paintings started coming to fruition, drawing on works that were stylistically diverse and connected to the royal residence and other works of art in the Museum's collection in various ways.

The narrative of the exhibition takes visitors from the museum's first post-war initiatives, through the acquisitions and exhibitions of the 1970s and 1980s, to the 21st century, when the collection gained works by Edward Dwurnik, Marcin Maciejowski and Łukasz Stokłosa.

The prologue to the exhibition will be 'A Visit to Wawel' – a painting by Marcin Maciejowski in which the author asks one question: ‘It would be nice to see some tapestries in question, don’t you think?’ We answer him with a perverse question in the title: ‘How about something else?’ By doing so, we encourage audiences to look at Wawel Castle from a modern perspective, recognising that contemporary art at Wawel Castle is by no means a new concept. The epilogue will be a work by Magdalena Miłoś, inspired by the Wawel tapestries, which symbolically links the past with the present. The last part of the exhibition will also become a space for dialogue – a place where every visitor will be able to express their opinion on the presence of contemporary art at the Wawel Castle.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue of the 'Polish oil paintings after 1945 in the collection of the Wawel Royal Castle’ exhibition.

Exhibition curator: Lidia Brzyska.