What remains the poets provide I
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
What remains the poets provide is the first exhibition of the first (1) out of 3 exhibition cycles curated by the artist with his own works. This cycle has a form of a prelude or an introduction to the whole curatorial practice of Martychowiec. It is constructed with many individual and not necessarily directly relevant (to one another) works as its purpose is establishing grammar of the artist’s language rather than discussing a particular problem or an idea.
The following cycles are: (2)Tears of Iblis and (3) Journey to the West. These three exhibition projects construct together a narrative of the whole body of the artist’s 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 its 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 Martychowiec’s artistic language.
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, The incredulity of St Thomas and all oscillate around the themes of history, memory and oblivion, time and most importantly the present – presence.
Parallelly to Hölderlin, through these narratives, what is established is the essence of art. As Hölderlin writes ‘what remains however, the poets provide’ – this throws the light at the essence of poetry. Poetry is founded 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.
Such 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.
Michal Martychowiec, 2017
