This publication attempts to remind
readers of the exhibition titled Struna
(String). Mounted fifteen years ago, it survives through remaining
photographic documentation.
As a project, Struna
was initiated by Fredo Ojda.
Ojda approached exceptional art theoretician and critic Jerzy
Ludwiński about compiling a list of artists who would present works
constituting their personal responses to the artistic stance of
Jerzy Rosołowicz, who had passed away in 1982.
The exhibition assembled in this manner was presented at the
Galeria Działań (Actions Gallery) in Warsaw from May 18th
to May 30th of 1988.
It was symbolized by an image that was included in the
invitation directed to artists and on display as part of the
exhibition. The image,
a photograph staged by Rosołowicz, depicts the artist “playing”
a violin without strings.
This publication includes
photographs of the works of all the artists who participated in the
exhibit and a section of the brochure published at that time.
The brochure included a text by Jerzy Ludwiński titled Mimikra
Neutrdromu (The Mimicry of
the Neutradrome) dating
from 1968 and supplemented with a Post
Scriptum written twenty years later, a text by Zbigniew
Makarewicz titled Krople światła
(Drops of Light),
as well as English translations of both texts produced by Joanna
Holzman.
This reminder after fifteen years
of both the exhibition titled Struna and the idea of neutral art – devised by Jerzy Rosołowicz
and embodied by the show – might elicit the question: “Is now
the right time to focus attention on an attitude that so radically
avoids all antagonisms?”
We must admit that in a world full
of conflicts, the atmosphere was not right for reflection and art
free of any forms of persuasion – neither then, when Struna
was originally mounted, nor before that time.
This does not mean that this persuasion-free stance is
superfluous nor that we need to postpone taking on such a stance
until a distant, undefined future.
G.B.
April
2003 |