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What remains the poets provide

Michal Martychowiec

What remains the poets provide

 

6th January -28th February 2017

 

Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts
No. 15 North Huju Road
Gulou district
Nanjing
China

NUA Museum

 

The exhibition  (1) “What remains the poets provide” is constructed with many individual and not necessarily directly relevant (to one another) works.

The purpose of this exhibition is establishing grammar of the artist’s language rather than discussing a particular problem or an idea.

It has a form of a prelude or an introduction to the following cycle of two larger exhibitions curated by the artist with his own works: (2)„The tears of Iblis” and (3)„The Journey to the West”.  These three exhibition projects construct together a narrative of the whole body of his work: (1) establishment of language; (2) exploration of emptiness created by the modernity; (3) foundation of mythology and symbols.

In this exhibition the neon work  “All is history” is positioned at the centre. It turns anything, in a sense, into a readymade or in other words establishes the frame of history upon any object, including that of a work of art. This concept creates the essence of the artistic language of Martychowiec.

This simple gesture becomes explained and developed through the words of a poet – Friedrich Hölderlin. Hölderlin functions as a ‘hero’ who stands at the threshold of a new era while his iconic poem “Remembrance” becomes installed into the exhibition in the form of a curatorial statement. It is the artist’s intention to use the Hölderlin’s text precisely as a both form of explanation, guide and directory for this exhibition.

The other works incorporated into the exhibition include elements of projects: “La Chambre de Labastrie”, “In memory”, “NN”, “Sous les paves la plage”, “the beginning the end” and all oscillate around the themes of history, memory and oblivion,  time and most importantly the present – presence.

Parallely to Hölderlin, through these narratives what is established is the essence of art. As Hölderlin writes ‘what remains the poets provide’ – this throws the light at the essence of poetry. Poetry is founding by the word and in the word and what is established in this way is – what remains. The poet names the gods and all things with respect to what they are. The artist operates differently however, he establishes the universe where the names are yet to be provided.

Artist Michal Martychowiec
Curator Chen Zheng

art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec
art by Michal Martychowiec