What sort of things Poles have been surrounding themselves with for the last 100 years? Which Polish armchair delighted the renowned architect Le Corbusier? What type of bicycle was used by at least two generations of Poles? How propaganda posters and house magazines have been created since the 1950s? What does a bus designed by the famous painter Beksiński look like? The answer to this and hundreds other questions can be discovered at the exhibition “The illustrated primer of Polish design” available for viewing at Workshops of Culture starting from 5 October.
The Illustrated Primer of Polish Design
You will also learn what the design process looks like, how ideas are created and what an incredible concept is design – the field of art that’s closest to us, that we meet daily and without which we couldn’t live , though we don’t seem to realise it. As the author of the project reveals, the greatest difficulty in creating the primer was the selection of objects to present. For the past 100 years, Polish design has seen countless projects and many deserve to be shown, recalled, sometimes discovered. That’s why the list of projects not included in the exhibition is much longer than 100 items on display. Aside from furniture, glass, porcelain, that is items commonly associated with design, the exhibition also presents less obvious things: typeface, logos, children’s toys, a locomotive, neon lights, a glider and even the tastiest Polish delicacy, Ptasie Mleczko.
At the exhibition presented at the Workshops of Culture, we will be able to see the works of 25 talented Polish illustrators who use their art to interpret the greatest works of Polish applied art. The exhibition will be accompanied by an educational programme related to Polish design, the objects on display and contemporary illustration as well a series of weekend workshops with artists involved in the creation of the primer.
The primer of Polish design is not just an exhibition, it’s also a book published by Wytwórnia (“Ilustrowany Elementarz Polskiego Dizajnu”) and a series of workshops and panels promoting the history and the present state of Polish design, as well as contemporary Polish book illustration. The exhibition premiered at Gdynia Design Days. It was shown in Budapest, Berlin, Warsaw, Poznań, Bucharest, Kielce and Vienna. Our project is part of the celebrations of the anniversary of Poland regaining independence, it is co-funded by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the office of “Niepodległa” programme. The primer could not have been created without the support of many people, companies and institutions that have helped with its organization, lent objects and given access to archival photos. We want to thank everyone for their support.
Curated by: Ewa Solarz
Practical info:
The exhibition is on display until the end of November between 10 am and 4 pm and on selected weekends when the educational programme is taking place. The exhibition shown at Lublin’s Workshops of Culture is part of this year’s edition of Patterns of Europe / Wzory Europy.