Art stations fundation - by Grażyna Kulczyk

Dorota Nieznalska is known to the wide public as an author of the notorious „Passion” (2001). Despite the publicity the young artist earned by this installation, her works remain rather unknown. The aim of the exhibition was to change it by presenting a few works Nieznalska has made over the last few years, starting from a series of photographs made in 1999 called „No title [Bitch]”, through „Potency” (2001), „Implantation of Perversion” (2004-2005) and „Prayer Position” (2005), up to the latest, never shown in Poland before, series of sculptures called „No. 44”. They allowed to notice one of the themes dominating Nieznalska's works, i.e. The structure of made domination and violence which The Passion is an element of.

Dorota Nieznalska is one of such critical artists who are more focused on the analysis of attitudes and behaviors observed in life than on media creation of masculinity. The artist keeps track of male dominance and violence both in the private and public areas, concentrating mainly on family relations and state activity. When portraying domination, Nieznalska focuses mostly on imposing social order by patterns of thinking, perception and evaluation, and often emotions. The works of Nieznalska are deeply rooted in the native context, they refer to beliefs and stereotypes that mould Polish mentality. This is the case with her new work, called No. 44, whose leitmotif is, as the artist says, "the Messianic approach", extremely popular in Poland. The artists criticises many people's usurping of exceptional role whose justification is sought in religion, and draws attention to hazards of enslavement that such usurpation brings.

The exhibition was accompanied by a panel discussion „The case of Dorota N.”, which was to analyse the events related to charges against Nieznalska made in 2001 for offence of religious feelings after the exhibition of "The Passion" installation in Galeria Wyspa in Gdaƒsk. We invited guests representing several institutions shaping the artistic life in Poland to talk to them about the "Dorota N.'s case". We focused on the course of the trial and the reaction of the media, artistic and academic communities. We also wondered about its consequences for the artist's career as well as for the artistic life in Poland. Finally, we tried to predict how things can develop. In the discussion chaired by the curator, Agata Jakubowska, the following people took part: Grażyna Kulczyk, Łukasz Guzek, Dorota Jarecka, Grzegorz Klaman, Piotr Piotrowski and Hanna Wróblewska.