'Praise the shadow' - post-residency exhibition

21 October 2023. 12:00 - 16:00

Nowa Art Space in Nowa Ruda

Artists: Anastasia Palczukiewicz, Tomasz Kawecki, Jakub Leniart

On 21 October, we would like to invite you to a one-day exhibition 'Praise the Shadow' at Nowa Ruda Art Space. As part of the event, we will summarise a 2-month-long artistic residency aimed at exploring themes and issues related to Nowa Ruda and its surroundings.

We move among the shadows. Anastasia Palczukiewicz brought her shadow from her native Belarus, but decided to materialise it in the space of Nowa Ruda, as it is a space filled with the shadows of former inhabitants and the presence and history they left behind. Tomasz Kawecki from Krakow, a photographer and cameraman, found numerous shadows in the vicinity of Nowa Ruda, which attracted his attention or which he created himself, inspired by the places in which he found himself. A torch, for example, proved helpful in creating the 'scenery' for his photographs. For Kuba Leniart, the medium of photography was the beginning of his encounter with Nowa Ruda, for example with the silhouette of the church visible from the window of his studio or others, used to create projections that became ghostly sketches for the creation of his new paintings. The shadows of the projections turned into paintings.

The Nowa Art Space is located on the premises of the former "Splot" People's and Artistic Handicraft Cooperative in Nowa Ruda, a small town with a unique historical and industrial charm, situated in the Central Sudetenland (between Kłodzko and Wałbrzych).
Each of the three artists taking part in the residency focused on different issues related to the place where they lived and worked.



Anastasia Palczukiewicz
Belarusian artist of Polish origin, working with various media, including sculpture, installation, video and sound. Her artistic practice is based on issues of identity, the formation of which is conditioned by the relationship between the subject and forms of power. She studied at the BAZA Institute of Contemporary Art and Theory and the Rodchenko Moscow Art School, as well as the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts de Paris-Cergy, among others.

Tomasz Kawecki
Visual artist and photographer. He is a lecturer at the Academy of Photography in
Krakow. He studies at the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava(CZ). His works have been exhibited and published all over the world and have been recognised with awards in the USA, Poland, Japan and Italy, among others.
Tomasz's works are inspired by various manifestations of nature. Using elements of performance and installation, Kawecki's practice explores the boundaries of fiction and reality, resulting in a quasi-documentary outcome.

Jakub Leniart
Graduate in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. Works in the field of painting and new media. In his work to date, he has attempted a painterly interpretation of the archetype of the seven deadly sins. He is particularly interested in Japanese animation, a humanist approach with elements of hedonism, and draws on the aesthetics of instagram, queer and manga. Finalist of the 45th Painting Biennale Bielska Jesień, winner of second place in the Attitude competition.