FRONT ROW with Agnieszka Polska in De Studio

FRONT ROW, every last Thursday of the month at M HKA,
tonight exceptionally at De Studio / De Cinema

Free entry, but reservation required via De Studio

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet the Berlin-based Polish artist Agnieszka Polska and discover her perspective on the world.

The first solo exhibition of the Berlin-based Polish artist Agnieszka Polska in Belgium, Flowers on the Sun, showcases a selection of recent works. Based on speculative scenarios intertwined with elements of science fiction, the exhibition addresses issues related to the relationship between humans, non-humans, and technology. Urgent questions are raised about our perception of time and history.

On the occasion of the exhibition, we invite you to an artist talk with Agnieszka Polska and a special screening of her first feature film Hurrah, We Are Still Alive! (2020) as part of Front Raw. The screening will take place at De Cinema.

Filmscreening: Hurrah, We Are Still Alive!

An artistic commune is working on a film about Rosa Luxemburg, but the mysterious Director disappears just when they are about to begin filming. Although the crew is fascinated by the Director, they also harbor a deep resentment toward him. The question is: where has he gone and who is this man really, who has so strongly influenced the life of this community? The dynamics of relationships between people living in an artistic and emotional symbiosis prove to be as explosive as they are toxic.

The film is inspired by an artistic group led by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Program:
HURRAH, WE ARE STILL ALIVE! | De Studio

19:00 – 19:45 Artist talk (EN) with Agnieszka Polska
19:45 – 20:00 Break with drinks and snacks
20:00 – 21:20 Screening of Hurrah, We Are Still Alive!

About Agnieszka Polska

During her art education, Agnieszka Polska began making animated films using traditional techniques (such as using a light box). Later, she developed an interest in digital animation and the immersive qualities of the images that technique creates. In her films, Polska employs various narrative formats. She explores these narrative techniques not only in video works but also in other media such as feature films and theater productions: all these art forms naturally expand her artistic practice.

For a time, Polska was interested in the speculative history of avant-garde movements, but today she primarily seeks inspiration in stories surrounding planetary socio-technological systems, global changes, and new crises. Her influences include popular visual culture and the science fiction works of authors such as Stanisław Lem, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Brian Catling.

Imagination plays a significant role in Agnieszka Polska’s work. Her creations, which combine realistic images with phantasmagorical visions, often result in a humorous mix of irony and melancholy. In her films, documentary aesthetics merge with fiction. She creates her works with meticulous attention to detail and consciously shapes the structure of her films. Polska writes scripts with the cinematic gaze and the viewer’s engagement in mind, making the audience an integral part of the experience. In addition to the sophisticated and highly refined visuals, sound design and the hypnotic voice of the narrator play a crucial role. In The New Sun (2017), for example, a star with the face of a child addresses the viewer with an emotional monologue.

Finally, Agnieszka Polska hints at a future way of filmmaking in her recent projects, which may shift from traditional storytelling to world-building.

Agnieszka Polski currently has an exhibition at M HKA, IN SITU

Flowers on the Sun is the first Belgian solo exhibition of the Berlin-based Polish artist Agnieszka Polska. The exhibition showcases a selection of recent works, including her latest film The Book of Flowers (2023), created using AI tools. Polska started with stop-motion animation images of flowers from the 1950s, which were then transformed into AI-generated images.

The exhibition is based on speculative scenarios mixed with elements of science fiction, highlighting issues such as the relationship between humans, non-humans, and technology, and posing urgent questions about our perception of time and history. The series Braudel’s Clocks (2023-…) reflects on the idea of unified time as a social construct, and the world as a complex array of structures developing at different speeds. In her work, Polska also questions the position of the individual in the contemporary world.

With the support of the Polish Institute in Brussels and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.