Table 1

 

2.

Zamek Group and our beginnings


1
Struktury no. 2 (1959) and Struktury no. 6 (1959), supplement to literary monthly Kamena edited by Jerzy Ludwiński and critics affiliated with the Zamek Group, Foksal Gallery archive

 

2
Włodzimierz Borowski’s Arton A at the Third Exhibition of Modern Art at Zachęta National Gallery of Art, photographer unknown, 1959
Courtesy of Weronika Borowska

 

Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw).

 

3.
Foksal Gallery


1

Catalogue of exhibition launching the operations of Foksal Gallery, with programmatic text, 1966

 

2

Foksal Gallery Programme, containing the manifesto “Introduction to a General Theory of Place” and other texts by critics of the gallery, including an article by Anka Ptaszkowska on Włodzimierz Borowski’s Second Syncretic Show, 1967

 

3

Catalogue of exhibition by Edward Krasiński at Foksal Gallery, 1966


4

Catalogue for the audiovisual show 5x at Foksal Gallery, 1966


Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw).

 

3.

Foksal Gallery

5
Włodzimierz Borowski during his Second Syncretic Show at Foksal Gallery, 1966

 

6
Audience during the audiovisual show 5x (composer Zygmunt Krauze and artists Grzegorz Kowalski, Henryk Morel and Cezary Szubartowski) at Foksal Gallery, 1966

 

7
Henryk Stażewski during the installation of an exhibition of his at Foksal Gallery, 1969

 

8
Exhibition by Henryk Stażewski at Foksal Gallery, 1967

 

9
In the Foksal Gallery office during the opening of an exhibition by Grzegorz Kowalski, 1968

 

10
French critic Gérald Gassiot-Talabot at Foksal Gallery, 1969

 

11
Left to right: Edward Krasiński, Ryszard Stanisławski, Canadian Ambassador, unknown, Michel Sephor, Anka Ptaszkowska, unknown, Jolanta Spława-Neyman and Henryk Stażewski at the SARP café next to Foksal Gallery, 1967

 

12
Left to right: Tadeusz Kantor, Anka Ptaszkowska, Wiesław Borowski, Edward Krasiński and Zbigniew Gostomski on the terrace of Henryk Stażewski’s studio in Warsaw, 1970

 

13
Left to right: Mariusz Tchorek, Maria Stangret and Wiesław Borowski at the opening of an exhibition by Edward Krasiński at Foksal Gallery, 1966

 

14
Edward Krasiński during the opening of an exhibition of his at Foksal Gallery, 1966


Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw)


4.

Mariusz Tchorek and the Theory of Place


1
Manifesto “Introduction to a General Theory of Place,” by Wiesław Borowski, Anka Ptaszkowska and Mariusz Tchorek, published in the Foksal Gallery Programme, 1967

 

2
Letter from Mariusz Tchorek to Anka Ptaszkowska, 1989

 

3
Typescript of Mariusz Tchorek’s article “On the Artist’s Body,” dedicated to Władysław Strzemiński, 1993

Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw)

 

5.

Henryk Stażewski – Mewa – Studio


1
Brief texts by Henryk Stażewski which the artist copied and gave to friends

 

2
Catalogue of exhibition by Henryk Stażewski at Krzywe Koło Gallery with texts by Wiesław Borowski, Anka Ptaszkowska and Mariusz Tchorek, 1961


3
Catalogue of exhibition by Maria Ewa Łunkiewicz-Rogoyska at Krzywe Koło Gallery, 1962 Warsaw Public Library—Central Library of the Masovian Voivodeship


Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw)

 

8.

Kantor – happenings

 

1
Catalogue of Tadeusz Kantor’s happening The Letter, published by Foksal Gallery, 1967

 

2
Catalogue of Tadeusz Kantor’s Panoramic Sea Happening, published by Foksal Gallery, 1967


3
Score to Tadeusz Kantor’s happening Cricotage, 1965

 

4
Score to Tadeusz Kantor’s happening The Letter, 1967

 

Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw)

 

10.

Krzysztof Niemczyk


1
Text by Henryk Stażewski “Scandal in the Field of Literature,” about Krzysztof Niemczyk, 1969


2
Krzysztof Niemczyk’s novel The Courtesan and the Hatchlings, published with Krzysztof Niemczyk’s Treatise on Life for the Young Reader, edited by Anka Ptaszkowska, 2007

 

3
Krzysztof Niemczyk, street action Municipal Waste Bins, photographer unknown, Kraków, 1960s


4
Krzysztof Niemczyk, street action Bathing in the Fountain, photographer unknown, Kraków, 1960s

 

5
Krzysztof Niemczyk, street action Buttocks, photographer unknown, Kraków, 1960s


6
Krzysztof Niemczyk, street action Laocoön Group, photographer unknown, Kraków, 1960s


7
Krzysztof Niemczyk, street action Wanda, Who Didn’t Want a German, photographer unknown, Kraków, 1960s


8
Letters from Krzysztof Niemczyk to the prosecutor, 1983–1985


Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw)

 

11.

Dividing Line

1
Tadeusz Kantor, Dividing Line, 1965

Tadeusz Kantor
Dividing Line
(fragment)

The dividing line should be made everywhere and always, quickly and decisively, because regardless of our will it will function automatically and relentlessly, leaving us on this side or that.
By making it ourselves, even when we find ourselves in a worse situation, we will have the impression of free choice or the awareness of necessity.
The dividing line is created always and everywhere, it fulfils all possible roles, it assumes all possible forms, it is eternal and amoral.

The dividing line:

(Left side)

backward
trustworthy
settled
seated
judges
jurors
reviewers
decreeing
continuing
maintaining their line
and their individuality
coquettes

 

(Right side)

the few
unofficial
ignored
refusing prestige
not fearing ridicule
risking
disinterested
entirely without possibilities
explanations and justifications
defenceless
impossible


To make the dividing line immediately and irrevocably! Drawing a line 4 metres long in the course of 45 minutes, I felt mainly satisfaction from this generalized but at the same time absolute fact.

Quoted from Tadeusz Kantor, Writings, vol. 1: Metamorphoses: Texts on 1934–1974 (Wrocław: Ossolineum and Cricoteka, 2005), pp. 339–340.


2
Anka Ptaszkowska reading Tadeusz Kantor’s manifesto Dividing Line during the exhibition of performance pieces Living Currency, staged by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw at Dramatyczny Theatre, 2011, photo Jan Smaga


Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw)

 

12.

What Do We Not Like about the Foksal Gallery?


1
Manifesto “What Do We Not Like about the Foksal Gallery?” published by Foksal Gallery, 1969

 

Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw)

 

13.

We Are Not Sleeping

 

1
Zbigniew Gostomski, Krzysztof Niemczyk and Anka Ptaszkowska as the “Permanent Jury” in the action We Are Not Sleeping at the Golden Grape Symposium in Zielona Góra, 1969


2
From left: unknown, Mieczysław Dymny, Krzysztof Niemczyk and Anka Ptaszkowska during the action We Are Not Sleeping at the Golden Grape Symposium in Zielona Góra, 1969


3
From left: Mieczysław Dymny, Stanisław Szczepański and Tomasz Wawak during the action We Are Not Sleeping at the Golden Grape Symposium in Zielona Góra, 1969


4
Invitation to take part in the deliberations of the “Permanent Jury” during the action We Are Not Sleeping at the Golden Grape Symposium in Zielona Góra, 1969

5
Anka Ptaszkowska and Krzysztof Niemczyk in Zielona Góra, photographer unknown, 1969


6
Letter from Anka Ptaszkowska to Mieczysław Dymny, Stanisław Szczepański and Tomasz Wawak, 1969

7
Letter from Anka Ptaszkowska to Krzysztof Niemczyk, 1969

 

8
Letter written in the name of the Foksal Gallery, addressed to foreign critics, artists and galleries requesting support for the action We Are Not Sleeping, 1969

 

9
Letter from French critic Pierre Restany to Mieczysław Dymny, Stanisław Szczepański and Tomasz Wawak, inviting them to participate in the exhibition organized by him Art Concepts from Europe at the Alfredo Bonino Gallery in New York, 1969

Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw)

 

14.
New Rules of Collaboration with Foksal Gallery


1

Wiesław Borowski, Anka Ptaszkowska, New Rules of Collaboration with Foksal Gallery, 1969

We hereby announce a break in Foksal Gallery’s activity as a site of exhibitions, happenings, and artistic manifestations of all kinds. The gallery has realized that it is a privileged place—a place where everything is possible. Possible and legitimate.
So act outside the galley as you would act here! Everything is possible, everything is legitimate. Act in non-artistic places (that is a condition of our collaboration), in public or private (depending on your preferences).
The gallery undertakes to document your activities and publicize them.
We will hold an open, public, and permanent media briefing at the gallery.
Send us your materials (photographs, films, accounts, documents).
You don’t need to trouble yourselves personally.
You don’t have to cover the cost of shipping your works. Nor do we.

 

Unless stated otherwise, all archival items are from the Anka Ptaszkowska collection (MSN Warsaw)