Exhibition opening
"Kissing Doesn't Kill: Ania Nowak and Guests"
Graphic design: Agata Biskup
The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw invites you to the opening of the exhibition of Kissing Doesn’t Kill: Ania Nowak and Guests. Both the artist and the curator will attend the opening.
Kissing Doesn’t Kill: Ania Nowak and Guests is a choreographic exhibition, made up of the artist’s performances, featuring herself and her invited guests, as well as work by artists in a variety of techniques: photographs, video, sound art, and sculpture. The exhibition also contains non-art objects. Their history, the context of their creation, or their onetime significance bring new tropes into the world to which Ania Nowak invites viewers. The main motif of her exhibition is queer mourning, understood as grief over loss of rights, health, and loved ones.
Friday, 28.07.2023, Wybrzeże Kościuszkowskie 22, Warsaw
6–10 PM exhibition opening and performances:
7:30 PM Untitled performed by Ig May Engel
8:15 PM Golden Gate (excerpt) performed by Alicja Czyczel and Natalia Oniśk
8–11 PM afterparty at Paloma with Super Świnka DJ set
Polish Sign Language translation is available between 6 PM and 8 PM.
Kissing Doesn’t Kill performance by Ania Nowak is scheduled for Saturday, July 29th at 6:30 PM.
Join us!
he works presented in the exhibition may contain content inappropriate for underage viewers, including elements of nudity or vulgar language. Admission for minors under the age of 15 is possible with the prior consent of a parent or legal guardian (statement to be downloaded from the Museum website). Before giving consent, we recommend that you familiarise yourself in advance with the exhibition.
Ania Nowak’s (no preferred pronoun, b. 1983) choreographic practice approaches vulnerability and desire as ways towards reimagining what bodies and language can and cannot do. Nowak develops formats such as live and video performance, installation and text. In their practice Ania engages with bodies in their nonlinear feeling and thinking capacity to tackle the difficulties of companionship and care in times of a perpetual crisis. Her work attempts to reimagine the notions of disorder, pleasure, disease, intimacy, pain, sexuality, class and accessibility as sites of binary free living. Nowak collaborates with alternative educational programs in Eastern Europe, such as Kem School in Warsaw and the School of Kindness in Sofia. Their works were presented at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlinische Galerie, Akademie der Künste, KW „Pogo Bar” and Sophiensæle, Berlin; Nowy Teatr, Warsaw; Kiasma, Helsinki; La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Q21 MuseumsQuartier, Vienna; the Baltic Triennial 14, CAC, Vilnius a.o. Solo shows include „Matters of Touch”, Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona (2017); „Can You Die of a Broken Heart?”, Ujazdowski Castle Center for Contemporary Art (during the directorship of Małgorzata Ludwisiak), Warsaw (2018); „Ill Delights”, Galerie Wedding, Berlin (2023).
Ig May Engel (they/their, b. 2005) is an actor. They have appeared in music videos and films, joining performative pursuits and an interest in the culture and art of Japan. At this exhibition they are performing an untitled work by Ania Nowak.
Alicja Czyczel (she/her, b. 1991) is an educator, choreographer, and performer. Her practice concentrates on ecofeminist (the perception of and struggle against the systemic oppression of women and nature) ways of being and feeling, community-building through movement and the senses, blurring the boundary between the body and its surroundings. At this exhibition, she performs Ania Nowak’s Golden Gate (excerpt).
Natalia Oniśk (she/her, b. 1982) is a dancer, performer, and educator. She teaches contact improvisation, a kind of contemporary dance in which physical contact is a point of departure for communicating with a partner through movement. In her practice, she focuses on embodying internal experiences in dance. She is interested in expanding the consciousness of the body, her own and others’, as an object related to time, space, and other objects. At this exhibition she is performing Ania Nowak’s Golden Gate (excerpt).
Super Świnka, aka Gonia Junkers, is an "average country girl," but also an aspiring businesswoman. She gets around, has loads of opinions and awesome girlfriends. She collects ceramic shoes and stickers, and loves to decorate the spaces she finds herself in.