ALINA SZAPOCZNIKOW

HUMAN LANDSCAPES 

MENSCHLICHE LANDSCHAFTEN

 

 

General informations

 

Technical informations

 

 

Concept

The catalogue which was edited by Kunsthalle Baden-Baden for the “Alina Szapownikow - Human Landscapes” exhibition directs the reader’s focus from the numerous tangible artistic outcomes to the actual creative process of the Polish artist.

This catalogue is a collection of countless photographs, showcasing Alina Szapownikowt at work in her studio. Despite her personal struggles and grievances, the artist presents herself in her photographs as a buoyant, humorous and upbeat person. Her actual artworks on the other hand reflect her personal history: the cancer patient and the Holocaust survivor are confronted with the decay, fragmentation and reproducibility of their human body, occasionally with a humorous twist. 

It is not only her creative process and her work that are fragmented, this catalogue attempts to imitate this unconventional process. Passages appear in direct relation to the photographs, which makes it impossible for the reader to elude from the pictures’ powerful impressions. The text is then interrupted and continued at a later point in the catalogue. 

The catalogue invites the reader to explore Alina Szapownikow’s artistic oeuvre by accompanying her on her creative process: in her messy study, alone and with others. An allegory to this processual method is the printed cellophane wrapper (of this catalogue?): it projects one of the artist’s work onto the cover and the reader has to destroy it in order to open the book for the first time. A break in the catalogue is the comprehensive and revealing biography of the artist. In 1973, the artist dies of cancer. In the catalogue, her death is reflected in the photographs of her now completed works. The art is the focal point of the images/photographs. The laughing, working and  contemplative artist, however, is missing. The creative process is therefore completed. The photographs, however, are still snapshots of the artworks in the exhibition’s contemporary, spatial and societal context: The process will continue.