Artists

Jumana Manna, Leonor Antunes, Senga Nengudi, Alina Szapocznikow, Eva Hesse, Mona Hatoum, Charlotte Posenenske, Maryam Hoseini, Tala Madani, Maria Bartuszová, Natasha Tontey, Maria Teresa Chojnacka, Katarzyna Depta-Garapich, Rachel Fallon, Robert Gabris, Alexandra Ivanicu, Franzis Kabisch, Anna Krenz, Agata Kubis, Michalina Kuczyńska, Marie Lukáčová, Anna Maria Maiolino, Rafał Milach, Joanna Musiał, Jolanta Nowaczyk, Zofia Reznik, Beata Rojek, Sara Sadik, Sonia Sobiech, Johanna Unzueta, Carmen Winant, Liliana Zeic

Press release

The City of Women is an exhibition consisting of four parts: Gutsy, curated by Julia Bryan-Wilson, Other Tomorrows by Michalina Sablik and Vera Zalutskaya, Her Heart by Karolina Gembara, and We were there. International Women's Year 1975, curated by Wiktoria Szczupacka. This mosaic of different attitudes and aesthetics is a testament to the richness, diverse traditions and power of feminist art, which will be presented in parallel to the historic, monumental exhibition The Female Question 1550–2025. The City of Women offers a multitude of perspectives that refer to both well-known and established research topics related to art created by female artists, as well as trace the changes in current artistic sensibilities in this area. On the one hand, the project Z trzewi (Gutsy) employs aesthetic feminist artistic language and exhibition design that is also political, while on the other, in Inne jutra (Other Tomorrows), the curators challenge established feminist norms. They seek to complicate the image of art created by female artists by introducing fluid categories that cut across binary identity divisions between he and she. Wiktoria Szczupacka takes a more academic approach, calling attention to the overlooked history of feminist emancipation in communist Poland. Karolina Gembara presents an activist point of view, showing the struggle for reproductive rights from a very contemporary perspective. The exhibition opens at a time when attention to women's rights in Poland is once again taking a back seat, and years of globalization and activism are not yielding the desired results. The fundamental demand of various forms of feminist art is equality, and art strengthens the political imagination that can give it real shape. Other Tomorrows Curators: Michalina Sablik and Vera Zalutskaya The exhibition explores alternative ways of thinking about identity and community, beyond the dichotomies typical of our cultural background (e.g., woman–man, nature–culture, human–animal), as well as beyond essentialism and politics of exclusion. An international group of artists proposes various modes of being and of thinking about subjectivity and our relationships with the world, drawing on myths and legends, technology, humor, and fantasy as tools of emancipation and survival. Bringing together speculative artistic narratives, the exhibition presents feminism in transition: not as a closed struggle for women's rights, but as an inclusive movement open to envisioning futures that take into account diverse forms of life. Gutsy Curator: Julia Bryan-Wilson Gutsy is an international group exhibition of bold feminist works that poetically draw on processes such as plumbing, ventilation, and digestion. Twelve artists—including Mona Hatoum, Eva Hesse, Jumana Manna, Senga Nengudi, Charlotte Posenenske, Alina Szapocznikow, and Johanna Unzueta—employ abstract forms to reveal the functionality but also the failures and irregularities of the systems in which we exist. Their works combine organic and synthetic materials, juxtaposing the corporeal with the industrial: supple textiles evoke layers of skin, while aluminum pipes comment on physical labor. The artists' political and historical experiences inflect how they approach gendered bodies as infrastructures, and they expose our fragility and dependence on the hidden networks that sustain life and community. Further, these works emphasize embodied intuition—the "gut feelings" that escape the confines of overthinking mind. Her heart Curator: Karolina Gembara This part of the exhibition is devoted to reproductive rights and presents visual works (photographs and films) that address the experience of abortion in both clinical and home settings, and its social perception. The invited artists share an intimate perspective, revealing their own private stories or those of their protagonists. We were there. International Women's Year 1975 Curator: Wiktoria Szczupacka The exhibition is an invitation to reflect on the history of feminist art in Poland and socialist feminism as an alternative to Western discourses. Looking at a different type of globalization – based on international cooperation within state organisations – it shows how diverse forms of struggle for women's rights have influenced art and the history of feminism. It focuses on socialist and international women's organisations that have shaped the narrative of women's emancipation in a completely different, and perhaps even more global way. The exhibition presents documents related to the planning and implementation of artistic events celebrating Women's Year 1975.