Alicja Karska, Aleksandra Went

Alicja Karska, ur. 1978 w Malborku, i Aleksandra Went, ur. 1976 w Gdańsku, fotografki, autorki wideo i książek artystycznych, instalacji przestrzennych, realizują prace site specific w przestrzeni publicznej. W latach 1998–2003 studiowały w Akademii Sztuk Pięknych w Gdańsku, Alicja Karska uzyskała dyplom w pracowni prof. Zdzisława Pidka, a Aleksandra Went w pracowni prof. Sławoja Ostrowskiego. Już w trakcie studiów realizowały wspólne projekty wideo, które przyciągały uwagę i zdobywały międzynarodowe nagrody. Jako duet Karska & Went współpracują od końca 2002 roku. Artystki podejmują zagadnienia związane z architekturą i przestrzenią publiczną, pamięcią i dialogiem z przeszłością oraz procesem odzyskiwania tego, co ulotne bądź zapomniane. Zatrzymują się nad pomijanym, opieką obejmują porzucone, koncentrują się nad rewitalizacją tego, co publicznie wypierane. Ich gesty wobec natury, obiektu, zdestruowanej architektury i opuszczonych przestrzeni wynikają z humanistycznej postawy. Prace Alicji Karskiej i Aleksandry Went prezentowano na licznych wystawach indywidualnych i zbiorowych w Polsce i za granicą.

Alicja Karska, b. 1978 in Malbork, and Aleksandra Went, b. 1976 in Gdańsk, are photographers, the authors of videos and art books, and spatial installations; they create site-specific artworks in the public space. In the years 1998–2003 they studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, Alicja Karska obtained a diploma in the studio of Prof. Zdzisław Pidek, and Aleksandra Went in the studio of Prof. Sławoj Ostrowski. During their studies they created joint video projects that attracted attention and won international awards. They have been collaborating as Karska/Went since the end of 2002. The artists focus on issues related to architecture and the public space, memory and dialogue with the past, and the processes of recovering what is fleeting or forgotten. They are interested in the neglected, take care of the abandoned, and focus on revitalizing what is publicly refuted. Their gestures concerning nature, objects, dilapidated architecture and abandoned spaces result from a humanistic outlook. Their works have been presented at numerous solo and group exhibitions in Poland and abroad.

: Alicja Karska, Aleksandra Went

Object type:

video
Year:

2011
Duration:

8 min 58 s
inv. no.:

MNG/NOMUS/27/D/1
Własność:

Gdańsk Collection of Contemporary Art, a deposit of the Gdańsk City Municipality in the collections of NOMUS - the New Museum of Art, a Department of the National Museum in Gdańsk

: Alicja Karska, Aleksandra Went

From the start of their joint creative practice, Karska / Went have been interested in forgotten and abandoned spaces where the hustle and bustle of human activity has gone or not yet appeared.

Młyniska is a two-channel video juxtaposing the images of two kinds of urban space: a park, and industrial architecture. The films were made in the eponymous Gdańsk district combining these two different landscape formations. The work refers to architectural changes and shows the artists' fascination with the transformation of areas displaced by industry, and imultaneously their belief in the need to protect our heritage.

photos: Bartosz Bieniek, editing: Irena Siedlar, sound: Marcin Zieliński, producer: Olga Bieniek

Object type:

video
Year:

2011
Duration:

8 min 58 s
inv. no.:

MNG/NOMUS/27/D/1
Własność:

Gdańsk Collection of Contemporary Art, a deposit of the Gdańsk City Municipality in the collections of NOMUS - the New Museum of Art, a Department of the National Museum in Gdańsk

: Alicja Karska, Aleksandra Went

Object type:

colour photographs (lambda,dibond)
Year:

2008-2009
Dimensions:

different dimensions
inv. no.:

MNG/NOMUS/27/D/2-25
Własność:

Gdańsk Collection of Contemporary Art, a deposit of the Gdańsk City Municipality in the collections of NOMUS - the New Museum of Art, a Department of the National Museum in Gdańsk

: Alicja Karska, Aleksandra Went

From the start of their joint creative practice, Karska/Went have been interested in forgotten and abandoned spaces where the hustle and bustle of human activity has gone or not yet appeared.

In the Miastoprojekt / The City Project series, they documented the appearance of a fleeting installation, a model of an imaginary city built of sugar cubes on wet sand. The location of this project was not accidental: the Gdańsk Shipyard, the cradle of Solidarity, once a symbol of the power of coastal industry, gradually deteriorated since the 1990s. Since 2000, this area has been transforming from an industrial to an urban district deprived of context and heritage.

The City Project exposes modernism's utopian ideas – promising, and yet inhumane. In Gdańsk, examples of this are the large districts of Przymorze, Zaspa and Żabianka, which, although located with access to the sea, overpower with their lack of individualism.

Object type:

colour photographs (lambda,dibond)
Year:

2008-2009
Dimensions:

different dimensions
inv. no.:

MNG/NOMUS/27/D/2-25
Własność:

Gdańsk Collection of Contemporary Art, a deposit of the Gdańsk City Municipality in the collections of NOMUS - the New Museum of Art, a Department of the National Museum in Gdańsk