Primary Forms (2023-2024)

"Primary Forms" is a cyclical program for pupils at Polish primary schools.

According to Ahmet Öğüt, one of the artists who co-created this year’s edition of “Primary Forms” programme, there is no need to learn how to create art – we can and should learn many other things, while art is something that we should just make.

“Primary Forms” is a periodic programme addressed to students from the fourth through the eighth grade of primary school, carried out by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and the Roman Czernecki Educational Foundation. Each year it features a set of new artworks (instructions, games, scores, objects, etc.) — a box that contains a “dormant” exhibition, which can materialise at any moment in a form chosen by students with the support of their teachers and the Museum’s education team. 

This year’s programme features new work from artists including: Adriano Costa, Jarosław Fliciński, Veronika Hapchenko, Edith Karlson, Krzysztof Maniak, Ahmet Öğüt, Olivia Plender, Laure Prouvost, and Maciej Siuda, the architect responsible for the design of the “exhibition toolbox.”

The boxes are sent out to selected schools in Masovian Voivodeship and –for the first time– to schools in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, as part of the country’s 3rd Art Biennale curated by Rirkrit Tiravanija and Gridthiya Gaweewong.

Previous editions were presented in the shape of a box filled with artworks, but this year is different. Architect Maciej Siuda proposed a new form – a “toolbox” that is simultaneously a piece of furniture, a repository, a display case, and an art installation.

This year’s “Primary Forms”, to a much greater extent than previous editions, engages with the notion of exhibition as medium, learning – and unlearning – how we can look at objects, and how we perceive relationships between objects and recognise our own relations with them. The exhibition will be created and presented in classrooms and school corridors, in gym halls and playgrounds. It can be prepared many times and interpreted in various ways (through selecting particular elements, choosing different scale or colours, etc.). 

The “Primary Forms” programme asks the following questions: What can we do with art? What can an art exhibition be? We can influence objects, but can objects also change us? How can we understand art, or perhaps finds ways of taking pleasure in not understanding it?

Conveyed in the form of artistic exercises and objects contained within the toolbox, the idea for this project is rooted in 20th-century artistic traditions. It references, among others, the work of Marcel Duchamp and his portable suitcase exhibition or “Fluxkits” i.e. boxes prepared by artists associated with the Fluxus group that contained, among others, scores, models, audio recordings, games, puzzles, and templates. The project also draws on other 20th and 21st-century experiments in conceptual art and education – for example, On Kawara’s “Pure Consciousness.” Initiated in 1998, this series a series of exhibitions presented in kindergartens featured paintings by the Japanese conceptualist artists reflecting on lessons that children learn about fundamentals such as letters, numbers, and time.

ADRIANO COSTA
„LOVE”

Adriano Costa is a sculptor who primarily creates installations. These are works of art that consist of a number of ready-made elements or objects prepared for this very purpose. Installations are most often created with a particular space in mind and can be transformed depending on contexts. Adrian frequently uses seemingly familiar, often worn-out objects – such as old bottles, shoes or train tickets – and combines them together in order to create art installations.

In the box you will find pieces of fabric. They all once had certain functions – do you recognize what those might be? Spread them on the floor and familiarize yourselves with them by looking at and touching them. What are their sizes, shapes, thickness, textures, colours, and patterns? What are the differences and similarities between them?

 Now, split into smaller groups and start arranging the pieces of fabric in different configurations – lay them out flat, next to or on top of each other, mixed up or separated into categories. There are no rules here – you can decide what form your installation will take. You can act intuitively and spontaneously or create thoughtful layouts. Why don't you arrange the different elements in the shape of something specific or come up with an entirely new form?

Consider how different kinds of fabrics interact: what do they bring out in one another? Can they talk to each other? Can they compliment, or disagree with, one another?

When your installations are ready, show them to other groups. Talk about what they make you think about and describe your motivations. You can freely disassemble and reassemble your installations.

Is it possible to turn an everyday object into a work of art? If yes, how can we do it? What is a ready-made? Is there a hierarchy among different items? How can memories be hidden within objects?

JAROSŁAW FLICIŃSKI
“KEEP ON TELLING STORIES”

Jarosław Fliciński’s game is based on a childhood memory so foggy, that it might as well have been formed in the artist’s mind as a reverberation of a children’s play. Perhaps it has never really existed, although it certainly could. It is called: “Keep on telling stories.”

In the bag you will find colourful cardboard rounds. The maximum number of players equals the number of rounds in the bag, the minimum is one person.

Each player should draw one round, show it to the others, and take it with them. Then, you should look at the world around you. The colour of the cardboard round should help you tune in and determine how you experience reality over the next few hours or even days. It is your secret key – please use it to “filter” the world around you. What did you manage to “notice” thanks to this key? You should tell and hear the stories, but you don’t have to write them down nor read them out. Arrange to meet with the other players and share your stories. Listen to them carefully. Or maybe you can draw new rounds and meet again in a while? Each of you can catch some colourful butterflies – stories from your world.

The artist suggests: “Stories don’t have to be long, they don’t even have to be particularly impressive or surprising. It is enough that – in some small way – they are linked with the colour on the round.”

Are we seeing and hearing the same things? Can colours be happy or sad? How do we know whether a given colour looks the same to everyone? How do we listen to others, and how can we encourage others to share their stories with us? What is the colour of friendship?

VERONIKA HAPCHENKO
“THOUGHT-FORMS” 

Veronika Hapchenko’s work was inspired by the 1905 book Thought Forms by Annie Besant, an English activist, writer, and philosopher. The author reflects on the shapes and colours of thoughts appearing in particular situations, brought on by emotions and world views, but also music. According to Besant, “thoughts are things” and affect both us and those around us.

Hapchenko spent plenty of time looking at the illustrations and reading descriptions of thought forms from Besant’s book. She decided to create her own images. You will find them in the box. On the back of each of the 26 cards there’s a description of a thought – in the form of, for example, seeing a friend, a thirst for knowledge or the purring of a cat. 

Close your eyes. Can you imagine the shapes and colours of thoughts and emotions? What do, for example, ambition, enthusiasm, or stage fright look like? Are their contours sharp or blurry? Are their colours bright, or pale? Do they consist of one or more elements?

Besides the artworks, the box contains some instructions. These include themes, clues, and suggestions – based on them, you can arrange your thought forms into various configurations and art exhibitions.

What does it mean to understand a work of art? Are sad thoughts heavy, and cheerful thoughts light? What is synaesthesia? Can an abstract image tell a story? Do you ever communicate without words? Can a work of art tell us something entirely different from what its author intended? What does it mean to get lost in one’s thoughts? 

EDITH KARLSON
„ME”

Let's start with a tip from Edith Karlson: “Your head is an egg, and if you draw eyes on this egg, that will be your portrait.”

The artist predominantly creates sculptures of animals, beasts, dinosaurs, and mythical creatures. Behind each of them there is a person, with their dreams, fears and hidden powers. Karlson believes that the best self-portraits are created by people who have never created one before. We will give you the clay for creating self-portraits separately – it would not fit in the tool box. In the box you will find wooden eggs – they can become a part of your sculpture, but also a starting point, an inspiration.

Art history teaches us that the unique form of a self-portrait does not have to reflect the physical features of its creator, and instead can capture the invisible: the character, passion, temperament, but also the negative character traits.

On our programme’s website – formy.artmuseum.pl – you will find a video in which the artist explains, step by step, what you can do with the clay. 

Can art really be used to express inner emotions and thoughts? What stays up at night and sleeps during the day? What can hide behind an animal’s mask? Does the person in the self-portrait have to look the same in reality? Do you ever see human faces where there are none – in the sky, in a tree, in a stain of ink, etc.?

KRZYSZTOF MANIAK
„POSTCARDS”

Krzysztof Maniak’s artistic work is predominantly based on walking and working with various natural materials: grass, wood, stones, or flowers. A walk is difficult to pack in a box, but we can tell others about it, or – simply – experience it. This is the purpose of the instructions attached to the artist’s 24 recent artworks.

In the box you will find cards featuring photographs of clouds taken by the artist on the front, and other photos and texts allowing you to recreate various activities and walks on the back.

Pull out the cards and spread them out on a table or floor. Read all the texts out loud and then decide which of the activities you want to focus on. If you decide to complete all of them, you can plan a schedule for doing so. Some of them will depend on the season and weather conditions. The more difficult the instructions, the more interesting the activity. The artist adds: “Some are simple, you could even say – banal. Others are much more difficult, perhaps even impossible to follow.”

Think about how you can present the results of your activities at the exhibition. After completing the tasks, depending on your experiences, you can draw, glue, paint, sculpt, or use your finds – such as twigs or stones – in order to make your artworks.

In the box you will also find a small object that comes from Tuchów, the artist's hometown. Find a suitable location for it at school or its vicinity.

What does a walk have to do with an art exhibition? Are works of art only created by people, or can a plant, insect, or perhaps a river also make art? What happens to a stone when you bring in to an art museum? What happens to a work of art when you bring it into a forest? How to show a storm, snow, or heat through art?

AHMET ÖĞÜT
“WHAT WE LOVE TO DO”

In the box you will find instructions for creating an ikigai diagram. What is that? The term compounds two Japanese words: iki, meaning “to live” and gai, meaning “reason”. In a simple translation, ikigai can be understood as a “reason to live.” More broadly, it refers to the ability to enjoy simple things, as well as find meaning in difficult experiences – a reason to get out of bed in the morning. The diagram itself has little to do with Japan – it was invented in 2012 by the Spanish astrologer and writer Andrés Zuzunaga. Since then, it has become very popular as a tool to help us recognize what we really want to do in life.

Ahmet Öğüt is a conceptual artist, and as such he is interested in reflections and experiments that we can carry out in our own mind. He happily reaches for whatever is at his fingertips and draws his inspiration from everyday life. 

Ahmet has often wondered what questions children ask themselves, what they really like to do, and what the world expects from them. So he reached for the ikigai diagram, modified the questions and gave it his own title: “What we love to do.”

From the elements in the box, create your own diagram, and then write down your answers to the following questions:
1. What do we love to do?
2. What are we good at?
3. What does the world need?
4. What can we offer in return?

In each of the circles, enter three to five answers. Look for those that appear in more than one circle. Focus on the things you can do and, at the same time, the things that others might need.

Can everything be considered art? If yes, is that definitely a good thing? If not, how can we make sure whether something definitely is or can become art? Can art make the world a better place? How is art different from non-art? What is conceptualism?

OLIVIA PLENDER
“INSIDE OUT LION”

Olivia Plender is an artist who often carries out projects in schools and in cooperation with students. She is fascinated by education and children’s ingenuity and ability to imagine the world anew, without paying attention to existing rules or norms.

The game created by Olivia is based on exploring our imagination and telling stories. In the box you will find three sets of cards (characters, places, and tasks), and dice with images of objects.

1. Split into groups of 4 people.
2. Shuffle the cards and place all three decks on the table so that you can't see what they are.
3. Each group draws one card from each deck and rolls the dice. Start with the task card.
4. Tasks are different from each other. Some of them are meant to be completed individually and intuitively, others should be conceived and played out together.
5. Once you have completed the task, move on to the second stage of the game: come up with a story based on your task. It should feature the character, place, and objects that chance has selected for you. You'll probably start by talking about your ideas and associations – why don’t you make things easier by drawing your characters and places?
6. Think about how you will tell your story to your classmates? Maybe you can write it down, e.g. in the form of a poem or short story? Or will you prepare a speech, or present a play, performance, or concert?

The process of coming up with a story is as important as the end result. You don't have to finish it right away, you can let it grow inside you over time. Write it down at your own pace, create it together, modify it freely. Or, perhaps, this story will never end?

How does art tell stories? Can fiction bring us closer to reality? Does every story have a beginning and an end? How many heroes or heroines can one story contain?

LAURE PROUVOST
“GROWING IN BALANCE”

Laure Prouvost's art is said to be immersive, which means that looking at or interacting with  it is accompanied by a feeling of being absorbed by the world created by the artist.
Her installations resemble fairytale universes or stage design for a theatre play and combine films, sound, sculptures, furniture, paintings, fabrics, and performances.

The artwork prepared by Laure for the occasion also combines the mixture of dreams and reality.

The artist’s instruction for playing with the mobile are presented in the form of acts – dramatic works staged in the theatre are written in a similar way. You will find them in the box, which also contains examples of two objects from two different orders: the natural and man-made world. They are the starting point for your work. Examine, compare, and discuss these objects – let them inspire you.

The mobiles, which you will create from found objects, can perform various functions: serve as decorations, elements of set design, or learning aids. You get to choose their size, shape, and quantity. How they are received by viewers will vary depending on how many objects you’ll attach and the height at which you’ll hang them. They can be dense and hang low to resemble a forest, or hang high up to resemble a single constellation of stars that cannot be reached.

You do not have to follow all the instructions at once. Take your time, experiment, and look for inconspicuous links between different objects that surround you.

Can art be immersive? What is assemblage? Can art offer us an escape or shelter us from something? What do playfulness and art have in common? Can communing with art resemble dreaming? What does it mean that something is fluid? Can art be as fluid as water?