Polish Pavilion at the 57th International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia Venice, 13 May–26 November 2017

Sharon Lockhart: Little Review Curator: Barbara Piwowarska

Developing out of Sharon Lockhart’s long-term artistic engagement with the Polish social landscape, Little Review is a project about growing up, the end of childhood, and giving a voice to adolescent women entering adulthood. The project’s namesake, Mały Przegląd (Little Review), was a weekly supplement to the daily pre-war newspaper Nasz Przegląd (Our Review). Initiated and run by , the supplement was an unprecedented endeavour — one which lasted for 13 years (1926–1939), and presented texts sent in by children and teenagers.

For over twenty years, Lockhart has worked with local communities in the Americas, Asia and Europe, developing close and continued collaborations with these groups. Known for her intimate films, photographs, and installations, Lockhart’s works are a reflection of collective work and social structures. At the heart of her interests lie issues related to childhood and adolescence, and the ways these are represented. Lockhart is also herself a pedagogue and a lecturer. Since 2009, she has worked on long-term projects in , focusing on groups of children and youth. During the production of Podwórka (Courtyards) in Łódź, she befriended Milena Słowińska, then a young girl, who became her guide to the trials and tribulations of childhood, introducing her to the juvenile rehabilitation system in Poland. In following years Lockhart has researched the Youth Socio-therapy Centres (Młodzieżowe Ośrodki Socjoterapii — MOS) and begun collaboration with the MOS centre in Rudzienko, where Milena was once a resident. Her recent works feature and are the result of cooperation with several adolescent girls from around Poland, all of whom were once housed at Rudzienko. Between 2013–2016, the artist organised a number of workshops to which she invited young women from the MOS centre, as well as artists, well-known pedagogues and educators specialising in improvisational techniques. One outcome of this was the film Rudzienko (2016). The principal part of the project prepared for the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale is a collective film portrait entitled Little Review, which attempts to portray Korczak’s idea of ‘giving voice to the young’, featuring residents of the MOS centre. Furthermore, all historical issues of Mały Przegląd (Little Review) will be translated and presented in the pavilion.

Polish Pavilion exhibition organiser: Zachęta — National Gallery of Art Polish Pavilion Commissioner: Hanna Wróblewska Deputy Commissioner: Joanna Waśko

Participation in the 57th International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia is financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. http://zacheta.art.pl/en/biennale

Press contacts: Olga Gawerska, [email protected], Joanna Waśko [email protected] Biographies

Sharon Lockhart (born 1964 in Norwood, USA) — Los Angeles-based artist, creates photographs and films born from the processes of in-depth research and long-term collaboration with various communities. These include: Goshogaoka (1997) created in Japan, Teatro Amazonas (2000) in , Pine Flat Lunch Break (2008) in the USA, as well as Podwórka (Courtyards) (2009) and Rudzienko (2016) in Poland. Lockhart’s works have been presented in numerous institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Sala Rekalde in Bilbao, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Secession in Vienna, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in , Kunstmuseum Luzern in Lucerne, Bonniers Konsthall in , as well as during the Four Cultures Festival in Łódź, Sundance Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, the Whitney Biennale in New York, the Shanghai and Liverpool Biennials. Lockhart’s work is also included in many prominent international collections, such as those of the Tate Modern in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The artist has participated in numerous fellowships and residencies, including those from the DAAD programme, the Radcliffe Institute/Harvard University,

Barbara Piwowarska (born 1976 in Warsaw) — curator and art historian. She specialises in avant-garde art, its reception and reinterpretation, and contemporary art. In 2007 she organised Lockhart’s first presentation in Poland at the Bytom Culture Centre during the residence Live, Survive, and Create!

The Atlas of the Imaginary (CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw), and MAMC, Strasburg), Film Matters (Beton7, Athens), Die Footnote 6: As Model (Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York), The Third Room (Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw), Repeat Only Unconsciously (Foksal Gallery Foundation and the Institute of Avant-garde, Warsaw), Erna Rosenstein: Organism (Art Stations by Grażyna Kulczyk, Poznań) among others. As of 2016, she has worked as curator at the Studio Gallery (Galeria Studio) in Warsaw.