Dorothea von Stetten Kunstpreis 2022

With Poland, the Dorothea von Stetten Kunstpreis 2022 is devoted to an exceptionally polyphonic, uncommonly vital and highly reflective art scene. Against the social background of a still fairly rigid Catholicism (98 % of the Polish population describe themselves as devout Catholics) on the one hand and an urban neoliberalism on the other, many of the frequently performative and installation-based artistic projects revolve above all around questions of identity, nationality and religion. In this, today’s young scene differs both from the representatives of the “critical art” of the 1990s such as Paweł Althamer or Artur Zmijewski and from the post-communist generation of painters such as Wilhelm Sasnal or Rafał Bujnowski, who after 2000 placed the banalities of everyday life at the forefront of their investigations. The selection of positions represented in the exhibition impressively reflects the breadth, intensity and critical depth with which the young generation of Polish artists approaches its fields of subject matter. Zuza Golińska (b. 1990), for instance, uses her suggestive arrangements of sculpture to ask about the position of the body in the world, while Diana Lelonek (b. 1988), in her proliferating installations, engages critically with the idea of unlimited growth and our irresponsible handling of natural resources. Daniel Rycharski (b. 1986), finally, works in an oeuvre strongly marked by actionist elements towards overcoming the antagonisms within Polish culture, taking a clear position against the normative claim of heterosexual orientation.

Exhibition:
Kunstmuseum Bonn, 16/6 – 4/9/2022