Łódzkie Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych
Łódzkie Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych was founded in September 2004. The project of creating the collection was initiated as a part of Narodowy Program Kultury „Znaki Czasu” [National Culture Programme „Signs of The Times”], financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage donation and by private sponsors. The Acquisition Commission consisted of art critics and historians: Dorota Jarecka, Dorota Monkiewicz, Maria Morzuch, Grzegorz Musiał, Paweł Sosnowski, and in 2007 it also included Jarosław Suchan. In 2008 the organisation signed an agreement of cooperation with Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, transferring its seat to the Museum building.
The collection includes works by Łódź artists as well as by artists from Poland that correspond with the Muzeum Sztuki collection. It now amounts to almost seventy pieces. The collected artworks represent progressive art often referring to contemporary problems, using various media. Some of them discuss the issue of avant-garde heritage, e.g. video art and artistic actions documentation: „Unik” [Duck] by Cezary Bodzianowski, „Wszystko już było” [Everything’s Been Done] by Azorro Group, Things by Igor Krenz and „Awangarda bzy maluje” [Avant-garde Paints Lilacs] by Przemysław Kwiek. Many works refer to the situation of an individual within a system of power mechanisms and culture constructions – this matter is discussed by, among others, Natalia Lach-Lachowicz, Zofia Kulik, Zbigniew Libera, Katarzyna Kozyra, Alicja Żebrowska, Chief Judge Group, Elżbieta Jabłońska, Jadwiga Sawicka, Joanna Rajkowska. The collection also contains works connected with Łódź artistic traditions and with the Museum collection, e.g.: Łódź Kaliska’s „Śniadanie w muzeum” [Breakfast at the Museum], Artur Chrzanowski’s „Światło ze wschodu” [Light from the East]. Also included are the projects by Łódź representatives of video art descending from the V13 workshop: Konrad Kuzyszyn, Agnieszka Chojnacka, Anna Orlikowska, Wiktor Polak. The collection also contains works by many other outstanding personalities of Polish art scene: Krzysztof Bednarski, Bogna Burska, Tomasz Ciecierski, Stanisław Drożdż, Twożywo Group, Wojciech Leder, Robert Maciejuk, Magdalena Moskwa, Robert Kuśmirowski, Dominik Lejman, Karol Radziszewski, Józef Robakowski, Jan Simon, Paweł Susid, Grzegorz Sztwiertnia and Ryszard Waśko.
Photograph: Zofia Kulik, part of the series: Graden – Libera and Flowers no. 1, 1996-2004
