Summary 2022

Exhibitions

EXHIBITION "PAINTING TUMULT 1979-1988. MÜLHEIMER FREIHEIT"

CSW, Toruń, November 13, 2022 - April 16, 2023
Organizers: European Film Centre CAMERIMAGE, TUMULT Foundation
Partner: Center of Contemporary Art „Znaki Czasu” in Toruń
The main partner: Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region

The exhibition was a part of the project "Kujawy+Pomorze - promotion of the economic potencial of the Region - edition II" within the Regional Operational Programme for Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region for the years 2014-2020, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

The exhibition Painting Tumult 1979-1988. Mülheimer Freiheit accompanying the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival was the first in Poland presentation of works by the group of German neo-expressionists being active in Cologne in the first half of the 1980s. The exhibition – curated by Marek Żydowicz – was open for visitors and available from November 13, 2022 to mid-April, 2023.

The German New Expressionism is perceived as one of the last great artistic movements of the 20th century. The success of young artists from across our western border, whose work became very popular in the 1980s, was considered in art as a symbol of return to figurative painting. The Mülheimer Freiheit group played an important role in this movement, and was distinguished by its amicable attitude to all artistic phenomena. They were said to be artists without ideology. The group was named after the location of the studio – the backyard of a neglected tenement near the banks of the Rhine River, at Mülheimer Freiheit No. 110 in Cologne. In October 1980, several painters gathered there, and started to work together until 1984. It was due to preparations for a joint exhibition offered to them by Paul Maenz, the owner of an extremely crucial gallery in Cologne, who became their promoter. The exhibition was eventually opened on November 13, 1980. It is truly an amazing coincidence that the opening of the event in Toruń will take place exactly 42 years later!

The group members were: Hans Peter Adamski, Peter Bömmels, Walter Dahn, Jiří Georg Dokoupil, Gerard Kever, and Gerhard Naschberger. The founders of Mülheimer Freiheit defined their painting in the following way: as an inexpensive, quick medium that satisfies the need for being with art on a daily basis, an artistic life that is also – but not only – romantic. They worked without any program assumptions, without formulating any manifesto, nor did they have any ambition to create their own school or style. They distanced themselves from engaged art and politics. One cannot remain indifferent to the paintings of the Mülheimer Freiheit group. The works have their unquestionable place in the art history of the 20th century and had a significant impact on art, both German and global.

More than 200 large-format paintings by the group were presented in Toruń. The works stand out by their unusual, expressive form referring to the aesthetics of art brut, graffiti, bad painting, punk fanzines, new wave music, or the scribbled walls of public toilets. It was a unique chance to see how the 1980s Painting TUMULT artists in Cologne used techniques of action painting, collage, spray painting, and mural painting. The paintings may seem violent, aggressive, seemingly carelessly framed. But they perfectly capture the spirit of the times in which they were created, the times when the flame of euphoria of the youth movement of the late 1960s had already burned out, and the world, after Russia's invasion of Afghanistan, was once again plunged into the arms race and rivalry between two global powers. Does this sound familiar?

In the words of Marek Żydowicz, the exhibition curator: Works of the Mülheimer Freiheit artists were a form of spontaneous reaction by sensitive young people to the surrounding world, including minor private and occasionally public events, those of historical importance. The Mülheimer Freiheit phenomenon does not intentionally follow any of the Expressionist styles. Their creative efforts are unique in their full acceptance of the laws and roles played by various phenomena in the world of art. They simply represent Affirmative Expressionism.

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EXHIBITION "RYSZARD HOROWITZ. PHOTOCOMPOSITIONS 1969-2022"

CSW, Toruń, Kuyavian – Pomeranian, November 13 - 27, 2022 and TUMULT Foundation, 13.11.2022 – 2.12.2022
Organizer: TUMULT Foundation

The most widely recognized Polish photographer, claimed to be a pioneer in commercial photography, participated in the anniversary edition of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival. The Ryszard Horowitz. Photocompositions 1969-2022 exhibition was open to visitors at the Tumult Foundation's headquarters (Rynek Nowomiejski street) as well as at the Contemporary Art Center Znaki Czasu starting November 13. The artist not only presented his most important works, but also met with the festival guests and the residents of Toruń.

Ryszard Horowitz was a pioneer in using special effects in photography in the digital imaging era. Many works have been created as a result of technological development with the use of innovative techniques and computer programs. He became a model for designers and photographers working on commercials, he was a world trendsetter and an inspiration for generations of photographers. Horowitz is at the same time a very interesting character whose life, as he himself underlines in interviews, could be a complete movie script. He was born on May 5, 1939 in Cracow. Four months later, Poland fell under the Nazi Germany occupation, his entire family was arrested and its members were kept in various concentration camps. Their survival was a miracle, and when the war ended, they settled again in Cracow just like many other Jewish families. Ryszard Horowitz belongs to the youngest survivors of Auschwitz. He attended the High School of Fine Arts in Cracow, and then studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in his hometown. In 1956, which was a short period of political and cultural rest in Poland, the time of government subsidizing innovative, original artistic forms, Cracow suddenly became a center for avant-garde jazz, painting, theater and film. Seventeen at that time Horowitz took full advantage of that revival and eventually became fascinated with American photography. In 1959, he emigrated to the United States and started studies at the famous New York Pratt Institute. At that time, he received a scholarship from Alexey Brodovitch – one of the most influential persons in the publishing graphics and photography circles. He worked in many cinematography institutions, design and photography studios. The proof of the high reputation he earned at that time was entrusting him with a position of an art director at one of the largest and best advertising agencies in the world, the New York-based Grey Advertising. In November 1967, he opened his own photography studio which he still runs. Photography is not only a profession, but also his life passion. For the next forty years, his works have been exhibited, published and got into world’s collections. Ryszard Horowitz received all major awards and titles granted to photographers. In the early phase of his career, the artist used various techniques of photography, retouching, multiple plates exposure or manipulation in a darkroom. When computer image processing techniques did not exist, he achieved extraordinary aesthetic effects and created images that are iconic. His works often present surreal worlds intriguing with the play of meanings and symbols, which remain in the memory for a long time.

Ryszard Horowitz belongs to the group of the Festival’s closest friends. His photocomposition became a symbol of the very first edition of CAMERIMAGE in 1993. Back then, the artist also participated in the works of the competition jury, shaping the criteria for the evaluation of the image in the film compositions shown at the Festival. The guests of the second edition of CAMERIMAGE could admire the exhibition of his works, which attracted a great attention. In the following years, the artist participated in the event several times as a guest and a member of jury, and in 2015, designed the festival poster for the second time – the event at that time was held in Bydgoszcz.