Citizens of the Cosmos: Anton Vidokle with Veronika Hapchenko, Fedir Tetyanych and the Collection of the International Cosmist Institute

graphic design: Kaja Gliwa

What if Katarzyna Kobro’s Hanging Constructions had come from investigating zero gravity and life beyond our planet? She was probably exposed to Cosmist ideas, which were discussed in artistic circles in Revolution-era Moscow. And what if Władysław Strzemiński’s interest in inaugurating a museum was also partly inspired by the writings of Nikolai Fedorov, who compared the world after the conquest of death and resurrection for all to a museum, a space where time is suspended? These speculations connect an intellectual movement that originated in Russia in the mid-nineteenth century with the origins of the Muzeum Sztuki.

INFO

Place

ms¹, 36 Więckowskiego St, entrance from 43 Gdańska St

Time

October 7, 2022 - March 12, 2023

Opening

7.10.2022 Friday, 6 pm

Cosmism assumes that resurrection is possible through technology. This thought experiment led to a vision of radically transformed culture and living conditions. Nikolai Fedorov’s doctrine had consequences in such remote fields as the Soviet space program, new poetry, Constructivism, museology, and even blood transfusion research.

The Muzeum Sztuki, a museum of the avant-garde, is holding an exhibition that introduces this multiplicity of ideas and the aesthetics of Cosmism. It is organized around research by Anton Vidokle (born 1965), an artist and publisher who has spent nearly a decade exploring and working with the philosophy of Cosmism in order to imagine a future devoid of death, war, decay, and the exploitation of nature. The exhibition features a series of his films, shot in Japan, Ukraine, Italy, Russia, and Kazakhstan, which stage some key notions of this intellectual and artistic tradition.

The show also includes works from the Muzeum Sztuki’s collection as the holdings of a speculative Cosmist International. This exhibition seeks to show that the Vosmism movement has not been limited to Russia, by emphasizing the work of Ukrainian artists who have explored the field. Fedir Tetyanych was a performer, designer, painter, and poet who was deeply moved by the notion of the biosphere. He developed the doctrine of Frypulia, based on notions of eternity, infinity, and boundlessness. The show also includes the paintings of Veronika Hapchenko, a visionary painter from Krakow who illustrates various aspects of the writings of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

Daniel Muzyczuk

Citizens of the Cosmos. Anton Vidokle with Veronika Hapchenko, Fedir Tetyanych and the Collection of the International Cosmist Institute is presented on one floor together with the exhibition The Fire and the Ashes. Nikita Kadan. We suggest visiting them together. Both projects open with a presentation of sketches and assemblages by Ukrainian artist Fedir Tetianych.

Artists: Zbyněk Baladrán, Wojciech Fangor, Stano Filko, Veronika Hapchenko, Karol Hiller, Jerzy Janisch, Zdzisław Jurkiewicz, Paul Klee, Katarzyna Kobro, Aleksandra Korsakowa, Zofia Kulik, Jacek Malczewski, Kuba Mikurda, Roman Opałka, Isabel Pons, Michael Sandle, Henryk Stażewski, Jonasz Stern, Mladen Stilinović, Robert Tilling, Fedir Tetyanych, Jerzy Tchórzewski, Anton Vidokle, Andrzej Wróblewski