Accompanying programme

Each Sunday a guided exhibition tour included in the ticket price:
in Polish at 12 p.m.
in English at 4 p.m.

Accompanying programme

April 18, 6 p.m.
"Surrealism and photography"
A lecture by Dr Xavier Canonne

Xavier Cannone – an art historian; a lecturer at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He specialises in the history of Belgian Surrealism. He is the author of many studies on the subject in question, including Le surréalisme en Belgique, 1924–2000 (Fonds Mercator, 2007).Since 2000, he has been the head of the Museum of Photography in Charleroi – where he replaced Georges Vercheval, the institution’s founder.

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April 26, 6 p.m.
"Paul Nougé: in the shadow of Magritte"
A lecture by Marc Quaghebeur

Paul Nougé is a man responsible for the Brussels Surrealism boasting a set of clearly distinctive features and, consequently, being considerably different from its French counterpart. Nougé deliberately remained in the shadow of others, though he was an extraordinary artist and individual capable of stimulating other artists in a thoroughly unparalleled manner. He gathered a large number of modernists around himself, including one René Magritte. They remained friends for over thirty years. If one hopes to understand why Magritte has become a symbol of aesthetic, ethical and political shift pursued by the artists of the circle, one needs to turn to and study carefully both an extraordinary personality and works of Paul Nougé.
Marc Quaghebeur is a director of the Archives and Museum of Literature in Brussels.

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Watch the movie

May 10, 6 p.m.
“Before Magritte. A serious tradition of humour in Belgian art”
A lecture by Andrzej Pieńkos

One of the most persistent stereotypes concerning European nations is the one which makes us associate the Flemish culture with carnival, masquerade and grotesque. In the Flemish tradition, the theme of “topsy-turvy world” is equally present in the Middle Ages as well as in the 20th century. Starting with a reflection on the specificity of Magritte’s version of Surrealism, the lecture will investigate romantic black humour, irony as well as mocking and irreverent look at the world in the 19th century Belgian art – from Antoine Wiertz to James Ensor. An important point of reference will be provided by the figure of Leon Frederic whose works were featured in the previous exhibition of Belgian Symbolism which was entitled “Power of Imagination. Brussels and Symbolism” and remained on display at the ICC Gallery from June 6 to July 23, 2000.

May 18, 3 p.m. – 11.00 p.m.
Night of Surrealism at the ICC

We cordially invite everyone to the ICC Gallery during the 2012 Krakow Museum Night. This year, we encourage you to visit a surrealist world of the subconscious and dreams. While visiting the exhibition entitled “Fidelity of images. René Magritte and photography” one will be given an opportunity to write a poem, make a collage or be immortalised by means of a surrealist photograph. Children and young adults will be further invited to turn an everyday object into a work of art. Natalia Żak, the exhibition’s curator, will accompany the visitors during the guided exhibition tours.
Free entrance

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May 24, 6 p.m. - the meeting has been postponed to June 10 (the details will be available soon)
“Remake”. A meeting with Pola Dwurnik and Tadeusz Rolke

“Remake”, a photographic project by Tadeusz Rolke and Pola Dwurnik corresponds directly to a session from 1984 when Rolke photographed a renowned singer Kora Jackowska in the atelier of Edward Dwurnik, Pola’s father. This time it is Pola’s own atelier that provides a setting for the session, while her paintings are invited to play a multilayered game of dress-ups and references. “Remake” is a performance in which the artist herself “uses” her works for the second time. She does not only undermine or subversively reveal their meaning, but, most importantly, she allows a photographer to create a completely new reality by means of her paintings.

Watch the movie

May 31, 6 p.m.
“Spindles of yesterdays. A short history of Czech surrealist photography, photomontage and photoperformance (1934–1954)”.
A lecture by David Voda
Lecture in Czech simultaneously translated into Polish

The Czech avant-garde of the interwar period remained under the spell of French Surrealism. During the period, Prague emerged as a second European capital city of the movement, after Paris. It was frequently visited by, for example, André Breton, while in Breton’s closest circle of artists one could find Marie Ermínová, a Czech painter working under the pseudonym of Tozen. Such artists as Jaromír Funke or Jindrich Štyrský put photographs as well as closely linked photomontage and photoperformance at the very heart of their artistic interests. However, the techniques were applied in a manner different from what was propagated by the French models. Consequently, the Czech artists arrived at an entirely new quality in surrealist photography.
An idea for the title of the lecture was taken from the book by Jindřich Štyrský and Jindřich Heisler entitled On the needles of these days (Na jehlách těchto dní).

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June 5, 6 p.m.
Is the Belgian federalism surrealistic?
A lecture by Zénon Kowal

Zénon Kowal – graduate of legal studies and postgraduate studies in European politics. Held many offices in Belgium and the European Union. He was the delegate of the French Community of Belgium and the Walloon Region in Prague (1996–2000), Hanoi (2000–2004), Tunis (2004–2008). Since 1 September 2008 he is the Delegate of Walloon Brussels in Poland. As the Delegate in Hanoi he launched the European Jazz Festival there.
Admission free, a lecture in French with Polish translation

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June 10, 10 a.m. – 18 p.m.
Finisage

Programme:

• 12 a.m. – exhibition guided tour
• 2 p.m. – exhibition guided tour
• 3 p.m. – Flying ships of imagination – art workshops for children; to sign up please e-mail us to: warsztaty[at]mck.krakow.pl; workshops cost: 5 zł.
• 4 p.m. – exhibition guided tour
• 5 p.m. – “Remake”. A meeting with Pola Dwurnik – “Remake”, a photographic project by Tadeusz Rolke and Pola Dwurnik corresponds directly to a session from 1984 when Rolke photographed a renowned singer Kora Jackowska in the atelier of Edward Dwurnik, Pola’s father. This time it is Pola’s own atelier that provides a setting for the session, while her paintings are invited to play a multilayered game of dress-ups and references. “Remake” is a performance in which the artist herself “uses” her works for the second time. She does not only undermine or subversively reveal their meaning, but, most importantly, she allows a photographer to create a completely new reality by means of her paintings.

See the photos