Dates: May 30–August 23, 2026

ZAK Center for Contemporary Art, Upper Floor

 

Opening: Friday, May 29, 7:00 p.m.

 

Welcome:

Dr. Carola Brückner, District Councilor for Culture & Dr. Ralf F. Hartmann, Artistic Director of ZAK

Speakers:

Prof. Dr. Maciej Kurak, Rector of the University of Arts in Poznań & Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska

 

The persistent feeling of multiple existential threats is a central symptom of our contemporary society. These threats manifest themselves directly in the individual’s perception, but they are also communicated through the media, thereby shaping the collective awareness of entire communities. Contemporary art often functions like a seismograph, registering with incredible sensitivity the “vibrations” of all kinds of dangers and threats. Both concretely tangible and only perceptible through mediation. How do artists from the neighboring countries of Germany and Poland analyze similar threats? How do they react to them, how do they process them, and what strategies of resilience or direct response do they develop?

The artistic contributions to the German-Polish exhibition, which jointly presents leading faculty members from the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznań and guests from Berlin, navigate the tension between acute and perceived threats, between experience and fear.

Natalia Brandt, Zehra Doğan, Nezaket Ekici, Diana Fiedler, Adam Gillert, Joanna Hoffmann, Anna Kędziora, Karolina Komasa, Kamila Kobierzyńska, Maciej Kozłowski, Katarzyna Klich, Ewa Kubiak, Katarzyna Kujawska-Murphy, Maciej Kurak, Ewa Kulesza, Hanna Łuczak, Janusz Marciniak, Paul Magee, Anahita Razmi, Sonia Rammer, Magda Starska, Sebastian Trzoska, Anna Tyczyńska, Veronika Witte, Marc Tobias Winterhagen

Curated by Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska and Dr. Ralf F. Hartmann

 

With the kind support of the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

 

Abb.: Anna Tyczyńska, ohne Titel, 2009.