Artists

Krzysztof Gil

Press release

curator: Monika Weychert exhibition design: Mirek Kaczmarek assistance with the copper sculptures: Piotr Budzyk assistance with the installation "Midnight in the Estate": Janek Kamykowski, Christoph Krane Krzysztof Gil's exhibition explores the complex issue of the ghetto in its contemporary sense. In the past, ghettos were physically segregated parts of cities, often surrounded by walls and cut off from the rest of the urban space. Today, the term has primarily a sociological dimension and refers to poor neighbourhoods in large cities, inhabited by marginalised groups who have limited access to social resources and a lower standard of living. Refugee camps and temporary and secure centres for foreign nationals are often analysed by sociologists and activists as places that function in a manner similar to ghettos or total institutions, exercising complete control over the lives of individuals. Although the term 'ghetto' historically referred to the forced segregation of ethnic or religious groups, in the contemporary context of migration it is used to describe phenomena such as the isolation, control and restriction of migrants' rights. The term also refers to the tendency of certain communities, professions, classes or ethnic groups to close themselves off, forming their own isolated communities. It also encompasses homogeneous areas within the urban landscape, such as gated communities or social housing estates. These processes are often accompanied by physical interference in the urban fabric, hindering free movement and contributing to the disappearance of public space. At the same time, this complicates relations between the residents of such enclaves and the rest of the urban population, which can lead to marginalisation and hinder the rebuilding of healthy relationships within local communities. In his analysis of the concept of the ghetto, Gil refers, amongst other things, to Ece Temelkuran's book *A Nation of Strangers: How to Rebuild a Shared Home in the 21st Century* (Krytyka Polityczna, 2026). The Turkish journalist and writer proposes a new ethic of survival based on solidarity among all the alienated, and in today's world, that could be any one of us. A second important inspiration for tackling this topic turned out to be the artist's memories of his hometown. Krzysztof Gil grew up in a housing estate established as a result of a government decree (the Act of 17 October 1958 on the permanent settlement of itinerant persons). Similar legislation led to the ghettoisation of Roma people throughout the socialist bloc, and its effects are still visible today, for example in the notorious Luník IX housing estate in Košice. The artist's childhood fell at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, when pogroms, attacks by nationalists and forced departures from Poland with a one-way passport were part of the everyday experience of Roma people. The artist's perspective is rooted in his Polish-Roma identity and experience of biculturalism. This dual identity is not merely a biographical fact, but a cognitive tool that allows him to navigate between two codes, two languages for describing reality, and two ways of seeing. In the exhibition at Zachęta, the artist attempts to grapple with the concept of ghettoisation as a mechanism recurring on various scales, in different places and across different eras. He is interested in both the real ghetto, built of walls or political decisions, and the ghetto of the imagination. He examines the images, narratives and stereotypes that precede the actual exclusion of various groups and justify it. Krzysztof Gil says that the ghetto of the imagination arises at the level of the image; therefore, as an artist, he can exert influence precisely at this first line of shaping perceptions, in order to change the way we view the marginalised and the 'Other', dismantling the stereotypes that have become entrenched about them.