COURAGE

connecting collections

Die Sammlung der Inszenierungdokumentationen hat ihren Ursprung in den 1960er Jahren in der Arbeit der Akademie der Künste (Ost-Berlin) und dem Verband der Theaterschaffenden der DDR. Ziel der Dokumentation war es, künstlerische Erfahrungen und Ergebnisse der Arbeit zwischen Theaterfachleuten auszutauschen. Neben der Möglichkeit, einen differenzierten Einblick in die Berufsgeschichte des Theaterpraktikers und seine kreativen Prozesse zu bieten, zeigt die Dokumentation auch, wie die Zeitgeschichte in den Theaterproduktionen reflektiert wird. Die Sammlung ist nicht nur für die Bereitstellung einer wertvollen und einzigartigen Dokumentation der kreativen Arbeitsprozesse in den DDR-Theatern von Bedeutung, sondern erfasst auch die abwechslungsreichen Ansätze zum Regime, insbesondere ab den 1980er Jahren.

The collection of Art on the Streets in Poland 1962-2015 is a unique collection of photos documenting various manifestations of creative activities in public space from the last few decades. The creator of the collection, Tomasz Sikorski has accumulated an extensive photographic collection, which also includes photographs made available by other artists. The concept of "art on the streets" allows you to juxtapose self-employed graffiti and happenings, performances and installations created in the public space by avant-garde and neo-avant-garde since the 1960s.

The collection is about the activities of the Dziekanka Students' Art Center and Dziekanka Workshop (Pracownia Dziekanka) in the years 1976-1987. Under these two names was the same place, an extraordinary interdisciplinary artistic and educational laboratory, combining the debuting students of Warsaw's art academies and outstanding artists from Poland and abroad. Around the studio, a unique milieu was created, combining post-Fluxus artists interested in new media and avant-garde theatre ventures, but also painters and sculptors of new expression or punk music bands. The years 1976-1987 is the most intense, though the heterogeneous period in the history of Dziekanka, filled with exhibitions, performances, shows, discussions and social life. During this time Tomasz Sikorski was an active participant in events at Dziekanka, and from 1979 he was the co-director of the institution. Owing to his constant presence and managerial function, Sikorski gathered an extensive collection of photos and other materials documenting the functioning of the initiative, going beyond the definitions of independent galleries.

The collection contains mainly documentation, primarily photographic, of the Mospan Gallery operating in the years 1976-1978 at the Mospan Club at Warsaw University of Technology. Initially, it was run by Tomasz Sikorski, and then by Sikorski together with Tomasz Konart. The gallery during three years of its existence was one of few independent places (together with Gallery Remont and Repassage) of presentation neo-avant-garde art in Warsaw. The profile of the Mospan Gallery focused on ephemeral works, meetings, performances, not permanent objects, and therefore archive contains mostly pictures from current events that used to take places there.