The collection includes over 50 works of art created by international artists from 22 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Peru, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Great Britain, USA and Zimbabwe, who work using various techniques, such as: book art, calligraphy, collage, drawing, fibre art, handmade paper, mixed media, painting, photography, poster design.
The aim of this important and timely project is to educate and to create a dialogue between the viewer and the artist in this crucial time of human history
– explains Ania Gillmore, the project curator.
The works constitute a kind of manifesto of creativity "which exceeds the boundaries of its autonomous field and becomes an activity aimed at achieving real effects in the non-artistic world."
As Artur Żmijewski wrote in his famous manifesto from 2007, art only makes sense when it becomes a tool for social change
– adds Jolanta-Sławińska-Ryszka, cultural events coordinator from the University of Lodz Communications and PR Centre.
The exhibition is yet another proposal of the MATERIA. MEDIUM. WYMIANA. series initiated in 2023 in cooperation with the University of Lodz Library. A selected part of the collection will be presented at the exhibition at the University of Lodz Library. FREEDOM PROJECT KOLEKCJA will be shown under the umbrella of the Book Art Museum and also shown at www.freedomproject.art as an online exhibition.
The University of Lodz would like to thank the Director of the Book Art Museum in Łódź, Jadwiga Tryzno, for making the collection available.
ABOUT THE PROJECT CURATOR
Ania Gilmore is an artist born in Warsaw, a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (distinction for graphic design). She studied printmaking, book art and textile arts at the Rhode Island School of Design, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Her portfolio includes works on paper, art books, artistic textiles and works made using mixed techniques. Ania is the co-founder of the New England Book Artists (NEBA) organisation, founded in 2019 in Boston. She has been a curator of many exhibitions in Poland and the USA.
The curator would like to thank the artists for the generous donation of all the works to the Permanent Collection of the Correspondance Des Arts Foundation / Book Art Museum in Łódź for their 30th anniversary. The artists hold the copyrights to their artworks and statements.
THE LIST OF INVITED ARTISTS
- Miyako Akai (Japan)
- Lasse Antonsen (USA / Denmark)
- Alicia Barrantes (Peru)
- Sarah Bodman (Great Britain)
- Witold Boguszewski (Poland)
- Eszter Bornemisza (Hungary)
- Grażyna Brylewska (Poland)
- Leonie Castelino (USA / India)
- Andrzej Chętko (Poland)
- Aleksandra Ćwikowska (Poland)
- Włodzimierz Cygan (Poland)
- Barbara Frankiewicz (Poland)
- Ania Gilmore (USA / Poland)
- Kathryn Hart (USA)
- Gunta Kaža (USA / Latvia)
- Sucheol Kim (Korea)
- Danielle Krcmar (USA / Slovakia)
- Lilla Kulka (Poland)
- Karen Kunc (USA)
- Carole P. Kunstadt (USA)
- Elisa Lanzi (USA)
- Ewa Latkowska-Żychska (Poland)
- Anna Leliwa (USA / Poland)
- Carolyn Letvin (USA)
- Basha Maryanska (USA / Poland)
- Chaz Maviyane Davis (USA / Zimbabwe)
- Anna Mavromatis (USA / Greece)
- Sandra Mayo (USA / Argentina)
- Renate Minarz (Austria)
- Małgorzata Malwina Niespodziewana (Poland)
- Elin Noble (USA)
- Małgorzata Oakes (USA / Poland)
- Anna-Mária ORBÁN (Romania)
- Jan Owen (USA)
- Joanna Owidzka (Poland)
- Adam Paczkowski (Sweden / Poland)
- Anne Plaisance (USA / Poland / France)
- Braulia Puma (Peru)
- Hanna Rechowicz (Poland)
- Laura Russell (USA)
- Alexandra Sheldon (USA)
- Alicja Słowikowska (Poland)
- Stephanie Stigliano (USA)
- Anna Śliwińska (Poland)
- Jadwiga Tryzno (Poland)
- Janusz Paweł Tryzno (Poland)
- Tymoteusz Tryzno (Poland)
- Kęstutis Vasiliūnas (Lithuania)
- Charles Win (USA)
- Kamila Wojciechowicz-Krauze (Poland / Australia)
- Leszek Wyczółkowski (Canada / Poland)
- Nadine Wyczółkowski (Canada / Poland)
- Kacper Zagdan (Poland)
- Jan Zaremba (Germany)
- Małgorzata Żurakowska (USA / Poland)
Edit: Bartosz Kałużny (Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz)
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