Making Use
Life in Postartistic Times

Making Use

The exhibition "Making Use: Life in Postartistic Times" is engaged with the various avenues that lead from the field of art to daily life and in the reverse direction—from life to art.

The so-called coefficient of art is present in high concentration in many realms of activity — it can be found in alternative economies, street protests, diversion advertising, food cooperatives and urban gardening, critical tourism, and the curricula of flying universities. In such cases, life is permeated by a sensibility that is characteristic of art: a conceptual surplus, thinking in terms of form, or endless games with imagination — political, economic, and scientific. It is not a new phenomenon, let alone a tendency or style in art.

The exhibition Making Use: Life in Postartistic Times addresses one of the fundamental postulates of twentieth-century avant-garde movements — the mutual penetration or even fusion of art and everyday life. The Polish art theorist Jerzy Ludwinski wrote in 1970s in his essay “Sztuka w epoce postartystycznej” [“Art in the Postartistic Times”], “It is highly likely that today we are no longer dealing with art. We simply overlooked the moment when it transformed into something entirely different, something that already escapes our capacity to name it. Beyond any doubt, what we are dealing with today has a greater potential.”

An engagement with the status and competences of the individuals and collectives who work with what has been thus described as the postartistic age animates this exhibition. In a world that requires a redefinition of the individual's obligations to the community and the new global challenges of migration, economic crisis, armed conflicts, and environmental threats — multifarious questions emerge. How can artistic competences achieve an impact on reality? Do they always have to materialize as artworks? What role can the museum play in a situation where art radiates to non-artistic environments, and in so doing, loses the characteristics that distinguish it as art?

The project "Making Use: Life in Postartistic Times" is indebted to three phenomena known from the history of twentieth century art which have remained topical and universal until the present day. The first consists in attempts to question the borders of art institutions with a view to enriching the everyday with poetic qualities or pursuing the goal of a radical social change. The second is the migration of artists from the field of art to other areas of reality: utopian communes, social political movements, social work — popular especially during the periods of social turbulence, such as the turn of the 1970s and the first decade of the twenty-first century. The third is the creation of new institutional environments beyond the scope of the traditional gallery and museum network and the art market.

The point of departure for this exhibition is the collective writings of the theorist Stephen Wright, who postulates a deconstruction of “conceptual edifices” that have provided the foundations of institutionalized art since the nineteenth century. As counter to this edifice, Wright proposes a model of art that implements its own potential — imagination-driven and conceptual — through the process of making use. Such postulates operate on a 1:1 scale, akin to a map that begins to overlap with the actual territory that it represents. Wright is looking for strength in the weakness of art; the theorist disputes Kantian “purposeful purposelessness”, the need to replicate existing systems, the rigours of ownership and authorship, and the haughtiness of so-called “expert” culture.

The exhibition "Making Use: Life in Postartistic Times" will develop over time, reaching its ultimate form on the closing date, May 1, 2016. The exhibition will feature reports about the activities of over seventy artists, collectives, social movements and patainstitutions from different parts of the globe: Aaron Burr Society, Adrian Kolarczyk, Andrzej Haręza, Anja Rüegsegger, ASMR / Anna, Arabian Street Artists / Heba Amin + Caram Kapp + Stone, At Work Collective, Biennale de Paris, Brandalism / Jonathan Barnbrook Studio, Brett Bloom, Brud, Bureau d'études, Carlos Espinosa Arancibia, Cecylia Malik, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Center for PostNatural History, Centrum, Chris Onesto, Chto Delat / Nikolay Oleynikov, Compass / Brian Holmes + Rozalinda Borcila, Contingent Movements Archive, Daniel Rycharski, Debtfair, e-flux, Estar(ser) / Order of the Third Bird, Electronic Disturbance Theatre/b.a.n.g. lab, Etcétera, Feral Trade / Kate Rich, Forensic Architecture / Charles Heller + Lorenzo Pezzani, Greenpeace Polska, The Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History, GULF Labor, Hugo Vidal, Iconoclasistas, Institute for Human Activities, Institute for Model Nations, Isola Art Center, Janez Janša + Janez Janša + Janez Janša, Jesper Alvaer, Joanna Rajkowska, Jonas Staal / New World Summit, Jerzy Ludwiński, Jerzy Rosołowicz, Kamila Szejnoch, Kein mensch ist illegal, Les UX., Liberate Tate, Loompanics Unlimited, Ludovic Chemarin ©, Luther Blissett, Manual Labours / Sophie Hope + Jenny Richards, Museum of American Art, Museum of Arte Útil, Muzeum Społeczne / Krzysztof Żwirblis, Myvillages / Company, N55, Niewidzialne Miasto, Ogród Botaniczny Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Omer Krieger, Peter von Tiesenhausen, Precarious Workers Brigade, Public Works, Raivo Puusemp, Reverend Billy & the Stop Shopping Choir, Robin Hood Minor Asset Management Cooperative, Rolling Jubilee Fund, Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland, S.a.L.E Docks, Salvage Art Institute, San Precario, Shigeru Ban, Standing Man, Temporary Services, That's Painting, Third Text / Rasheed Araeen, Tools for Action, Włodzimierz Borowski, Zentrum für Politische Schönheit.

Curators
Sebastian Cichocki
Kuba Szreder

Curatorial co-operation
Stephen Wright

Research and production
Meagan Down
Szymon Maliborski
Szymon Żydek

Co-operation
Daniel Woźniak

Exhibition architecture
Maciej Siuda
with the team:
Agnieszka Wach
Katarzyna Dąbkowska
Rodrigo Garcia González

Graphic design
Krzysztof Pyda

See also:

Archive Events connected with the exhibition:

DzieńGodzinaNazwa wydarzeniaMiejsce wydarzenia
18:00 Seminar Readings for Art Users #1On the Uses of Uselessness
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Small Auditorium
Pańska 3, Warsaw
18:00 Seminar Readings for Art Users #2How to live in post-artistic times?
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Small Auditorium
Pańska 3, Warsaw
15:00 Guided tour Guided Tour with CuratorsOf the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
14:00 Guided tour Guided Tour in EnglishOf the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
15:00 Guided tour Guided Tour with CuratorsOf the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:00 Meeting San Precario’s Name DayWorkshop, curatorial guided tour and other activities
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:00 Lecture Ideology = FormLecture by Jonas Staal
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
14:00 Guided tour Guided Tour in EnglishOf the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
15:00 Guided tour Guided Tour Of the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:00 Workshops Close Up#1Museum of Arte Útil
In cycle „Close Up”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
14:00 Guided tour Guided Tour in EnglishOf the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
15:00 Guided tour Guided Tour Of the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:00 Guided tour Guided Tour of 'Making Use' exhibition
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:00 Workshops Close Up#2The Art of Bottom-up Urban Development: The Case of Public Works
In cycle „Close Up”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:00 Lecture Forensic Architecture Lecture by Eyal Weizman
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:30 Film screening Cineclub #4My Name Is Janez Janša: On Changing Names and Consequences of Such Subversion
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:00 Meeting Close Up #3Instruction-Based Art. 50 Unrealized Artwork Recipes by Greg Sholette
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
13:00 Workshops Knowledge is PowerLearning Flags Workshop
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
14:00 Event First Warsaw Patainstitutional ConventionIn cycle „Making Use” Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
15:00 Guided tour Guided Tour of the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:00 Meeting Close Up #4Elka Krajewska presents Salvage Art Institute
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:30 Film screening Cineclub #6Beyond Work, Beyond Refusal: A Cinematic Lecture by Marina Vishmidt
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:00 Seminar Readings for Art Users #6Diogenes, Duchamp and rejection (of art, work and others)
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:00 Meeting Close Up #5Institute of Model Nations
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
14:00 Guided tour Guided Tour in EnglishOf the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
16:00 Event Yet Another Way of Sharing the PieAn Afternoon with Alternative Economies
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
14:00 Lecture RedCSur: Reshaping What “South” Means Lecture by Mabel Tapia
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
15:00 Guided tour Guided Tour of the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:00 Meeting Close Up #6: #MuseumLiberation beyond Institutional Critique Meeting with Gavin Grindon
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:00 Workshops Inflatable Barricade with Tools for Action Presentation, Workshop, and Action Training with Artúr van Balen of Tools for Action: April 15, 16, 17
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
15:00 Guided tour Guided Tour of the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
19:30 Film screening Cineclub #8A Science Fiction Show / Episodes 1 & 2: The Fall of Artists' Republic
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:00 Seminar Readings for Art Users #7Art and Social Evil
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:30 Guided tour Guided Tour of the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
17:00 In public space Close Up #7: Social MuseumSocial Actions in Kamionek
In cycle „Making Use”
The parking lot at the corner of Targowa and Skaryszewska streets
Skaryszewska 2, Warsaw
18:00 Guided tour Guided Tour in EnglishOf the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
16:30 Meeting Continental Drift Then and Now: Update on a Decade-Long ExperimentMeeting with Brian Holmes and Claire Pentecost
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:00 Performance Luser StoryInternational Brud Day
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
12:00 In public space Continental Drift Then and Now: Update on a Decade-Long ExperimentA walk with Brian Holmes and Claire Pentecost
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
15:00 Guided tour Guided Tour of the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:00 Lecture Contemporary Art Again and Again: Formal and Informal InstitutionalismLecture by Suhail Malik
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
12:00 Workshops Museum 3.0: Occupy the FutureWorkshops on the Future of the Museum led by Neil Cummings
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:00 Book presentation BOOK RELEASE: The Projectariat ABC's. On The Misery of a Project-Driven Life Meeting with Kuba Szreder
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:30 Guided tour Guided Tour of the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
17:00 Conference Do We Live in Postartistic Times? Usology Roundtable
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:30 Guided tour Guided Tour of the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
14:00 Museum Game Canceled!Match 3.0
In cycle „Making Use”
plac Defilad
plac Defilad 1, Warsaw
14:00 Guided tour Guided Tour with CuratorsOf the „Making Use” project
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw
18:30 Meeting Joanna Mytkowska in conversation with Yael Bartana A meeting with the artist and a screening of the movie „True Finn” (2014)
In cycle „Making Use”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Emilia Pavilion
ul. Emilii Plater 51, Warsaw