News
Archaeology and art. More than a surface survey
(7 November 2020 - 28 February 2021)
We have the honour to invite you to our new temporary exhibition Art and archaeology. More than a surface survey, organised thanks to the initiative of artists from the Faculty of Painting and Drawing, University of the Arts in Poznań. The exhibition will be on show until 28 February 2021. Currently, due to the Covid-19 pandemic it is impossible to visit our museum, but we invite you to take a virtual tour available here. We also encourage you to see the catalogue of the exhibition.
From the very beginning of its activity, the Archaeological Museum in Poznań has been opened to various kinds of art-related initiatives, supporting the organisation of concerts, theatre performances and exhibitions of paintings and graphics in the magnificent interiors of the Górka Palace. Several years ago, in the jubilee year of our Museum's establishment, we held an exhibition entitled Archaeological inspirations in contemporary art. It was created by professors and graduates of the then Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. The exhibition enjoyed great interest, and was later displayed in other museums and galleries in Poland. Having in mind that event, we were happy to welcome another initiative of the Poznań artists and co-organise the upcoming exhibition of paintings and drawings.
Just like years ago, the exhibition focuses on the theme of encounters between archaeology and contemporary art and their mutual relations. It was created by the artists from the Faculty of Painting and Drawing, University of of the Arts in Poznań: Prof. Marek Haładuda, Prof. Grzegorz Keczmerski, Dr Marcin Lorenc, Prof. Janusz Marciniak, Dr Dawid Marszewski, Prof. Marek Przybył, Prof. Tomasz Siwiński, Dr Agnieszka Sowisło-Przybył. All these artists share a common aesthetic approach inspired by archaeology, artistic reflection on the remains and fragility of material things and, like researchers of the distant past, a fascination with the unknown, forgotten, undiscovered.
The surface highlighted in the exhibition title is undoubtedly a common denominator of the artist’s and archaeologist’s work. While for painters the surface is a canvas on which they apply layers of paint, for archaeologists, it is layers of soil which they methodically unveil, carefully uncovering the relics of the past.
The archaeologist and the artist are connected by surface, but not superficiality, because they are inspired by discovering and exploring a specific reality. Creating this reality is also their common realm. Artists feel truly fulfilled when they create, while archaeologists, although they strive to recreate phenomena and facts from the distant past, they in fact construct them each time. Both the artist and the archaeologist view the world through the contemporary lens.
The exhibition Archeology and art. More than a surface survey is addressed not only to the circle of artists and archaeologists but also to all Guests and Friends of our Museum who are sensitive to the beauty of prehistoric and contemporary art.
