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Piotr Kurka

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Piotr Kurka, born in Poznań in 1958, holds a degree in painting from PWSSP in Poznań (1982) in the studio of Prof. Jerzy Kałucki. He works in sculpture, photography, drawing, and also creates experimental films and large-scale spatial installations. He is a full professor and head of the Studio of Intermedia Actions and Photography at the Department of Intermedia at the Faculty of Media Art at the University of the Arts in Poznań. He is an editor and co-publisher of the Artistic Notebooks of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, where he regularly publishes essays and commentaries on the latest issues and topics in contemporary art. He is also a co-founder of the famous group Koło Klipsa. He has participated in over 100 group exhibitions in many countries and 35 solo exhibitions.

His works are in the collections of:
The National Museum in Poznań, the Museum of Modern Art in Łódź, the Museum of Modern Art in Wrocław, the Mazovian Centre of Contemporary Art “Elektrownia” in Radom, the National Museum in Szczecin, Zachęta Contemporary Art in Szczecin and Poznań, and the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko.

Never miss anyone
Aug 3, 2024 -- 11:15

The work touches on a place and time where childhood (symbolically) ends, and Eros and Thanatos are merely a vague and undefined area—already sensed but not yet experienced. Glass marbles are an inseparable element of children's games and, at the same time, a transparent and fragile material prone to injury. The title comes from a poem by John Berryman and is the closing line of the poem titled "Once on Henry’s Heart Sat a Thing." This "thing," both in the poem and the installation, is fear and a premonition of a confrontation with something that offers no chance of escape from oppression.

Technical description:
Year of creation: 2003
Material: children's bicycle, lantern, metal, glass marbles, MDF, polychrome
Variable dimensions: area 15 m²