POLES AMONG THE DANES - PAINTING AND INSTALLATIONS
The exhibition being held this year from April 23 to May 15 in the Palac Poznanskich in Lodz showcases the artistic oeuvre of both Danish artists and a range of Poles who, for a wide variety of promptings, chose to pursue their lives in Denmark. Presenting their paintings are: Barbara Domagala-Wilson, Grazyna Gotz, Beata Teresa Wroblewska, Janusz Tyrpak, and Anna Izabela Zadros Hansen, who in the past was associated with Lodz's Academy of Fine Arts. Also included are their Danish colleagues Anita Viola Nielsen and Jan Wessel. This exhibition also highlights the drawings of Malgorzata Maria Buras and the installations of Marianne Soegaard Soerensen. This exhibition was earlier held at the Culture Center ZAMEK located in Poznan's Castle.
Poles among the Danes is a title that we hope will intrigue and allure a host of visitors. The Danish Cultural Institute is again pleased to be able to invite guests to an encounter with Danish culture. In this instance, we put on display a fascinating slice of that culture, in that we are presenting the work of Danish artists who once hailed from Poland. Their creative presence in the cultural life of Denmark, along with the standing they enjoy there, signals not only the scale of their own artistic potential, but also the power of the culture they have come to thrive in. Indeed, the successes of Polish-born artists in Denmark testifies to the impressive capacity of Danish cultural life, as well as to Denmark's model cultural policy toward artists welcomed from abroad.
Some 15,000 Poles live in Denmark, among them approximately 3,000 who were forced to leave Poland in the wake of the shameful events of March, 1968. Within that group of Danish immigrants is a startlingly great number of active artists who both contribute importantly to Danish culture and seed Danish culture with that of the land of their birth.
Indeed, in is they - to Polish artists living and working in Denmark - who are the stars of the present exhibition. In order to stress how completely they find themselves woven within the fabric of Danish cultural life, we present them in the company of several of their Danish colleagues.