In their performance, Barbara Gryka and Maciej Kryński, the artists embody victorious knights or warriors returning from battle, dressed in pure white. Weary but dignified, they reflect on the concepts of strength, resilience, and victory. Each step speaks of survival, as they carry with them not only their physical armor but also the inner tools that empowered them. Their presence, graceful yet heavy with the weight of battle, symbolises the triumph of perseverance and the power to endure, reminding us of the honor in both victory and struggle.
Tuesday / Oct 1, 2024 / 6 pm / City Campus of the University of Ostrava
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Barbara Gryka
Artist and performer, born in Końskowola near Puławy in 1992. From the age of 6 to 16 she danced in a folk group. She studied at the Faculty of Media Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 2019 she graduated from Mirosław Bałka’s Studio of Spatial Activities. She lives and works in Lublin and Warsaw.
In her practice she uses performative activities, working with people who are not necessarily involved in art, which she learnt from her mother. Her favorite activity is talking, she also likes to observe the behavior and lifestyle of other people. As part of the project Architecture from the Inside she visited her neighbors in Lublin, knocking on their doors and asking to have a conversation. She is planning to continue the project and visit other modernist Polish housing estates. In the performance The Motorcycle Dance she led a group of eight men on motorcycles dancing a folk dance from Lublin.
She is the winner of numerous prizes and awards, including the Grand Prize of Hestia’s Artistic Journey (Warsaw, 2019), the Szara Kamienica Foundation Competition (Krakow, 2019), the Zagłębie Theater Prize (Sosnowiec, 2020), ICIA International Competition for Intermedia Work of Art (Krakow, 2022). She has presented her works at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Manifesta 14 in Pristina, the National Gallery in Prague, the Labirynt Gallery in Lublin, the Bangkok Art and Culture Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, and the Kaunas Biennial. She has had residencies at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona (MACBA), Residency Unlimited, National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens (EMST), Plato Ostrava, Akademie Schloss Solitude, and many others.
Maciej Kryński
Performer, director, musician and visual artist born in 1996. In his artistic practice he combines stage experience with visual media. He graduated from the University of the Arts London: Central Saint Martins in Performance Design & Practice and from the Faculty of Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
He is interested in the politics of the stage, its theatrical and performative dimensions, but also in its architectural, sculptural, and social contexts. He has created performative actions, theatre performances and installations, presenting his work in Poland and abroad as part of institutional collaborations and festivals/artistic residencies, including Wozownia Gallery in Toruń, Wrocław Off Gallery Weekend, Zawirowania Theatre in Warsaw, Light Move Festival in Łódź, Centrale Festival in Fano, Platform Theatre in London, CSM Alive Festival, Studio Theatre in London.
