KATARZYNA (KASIA) SLOBODA
Since 2009 I am involved in curating and researching practices of contemporary art, choreography and improvisation in the context of exhibition making and participatory projects. I have edited several publications on dance, choreography and contemporary art.
I have a Ph.D in dance studies (thesis: Embodied attention in contemporary dance practices in the perspective of critical dance studies / Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw // supervisor: prof. Krystyna Duniec). I was teaching classes at at the Institute of Contemporary Culture at the University of Łódź (curatorial practices, dance/choreography/performance).
Currently I’m an Assistant Professor in curatorial studies at the Art Academy in Szczecin. Between 2009 and 2022 I had been a part of curatorial team at the Modern Art Deparment in Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz.
I am a member of AICA - International Association of Art Critics, as well as Board Member of Forum Association of Dance Art Societies and Common Space collective. Between 2019 and 2022 I was a member of CIMAM - International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art. Together with Alex Baczyński-Jenkins, Ola Knychalska, Julia Morandeira Arrizabalaga and Kasia Właszczyk developed How to touch movement? Social choreographies, performance and queer feminisms as world-making kem school programme.
I am a recipient of Grażyna Kulczyk fellowship in the field of contemporary choreography and Młoda Polska scholarship (2018). In 2018 I was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Dance Studies / Roehampton University, London.
Time out of Joint
Time out of joint is time that has fallen out of the well-known framework, negating norms and linear thinking. It is the dimension where the relationships between the past, future, and present, as well as what is private or shared, intertwine. The exhibition offers a reflection on the passing of time and the ways of experiencing it, both in a personal and social dimension.
The norm, at the centre of which is Man and to which we are accustomed, does not work, it fails us. Our lifestyle is not working, and the consequences are experienced not only by us, but also by other species and the entire ecosystem. The intensive exploitation of natural resources has led the world to an ecological disaster. We are faced with the urgent need to change our perspective and rethink our role on the planet.
In the works presented in the exhibition, what is intimate merges with what is planetary. For some artists, the starting point is their memory and private stories conveyed through the materiality of objects, photographs, videos, or sounds. This is evident in the works of Maja ∀. Ngom, Kuba Stępień, and Magdalena Franczak. Marta Krześlak and Agnieszka Polska use the medium of sculpture and video to talk about the entanglement of the individual and society in the climate catastrophe. Other female creators, Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz, postulate through their work the emancipation of minority groups.
The exhibition “Time out of Joint” is not only an artistic commentary on the daily experience of global, local, or private problems. It is also an invitation to jointly look for alternatives to current ways of experiencing time. It is to encourage us to attempt and treat life non-linearly, and to open ourselves to otherness, both in the other being and in ourselves. One of the suggestions may be understanding and feeling the process of the passing of time through the body, through listening to its rhythm. The very space of the exhibition space seems perfect for this. The environment and conditions here enable us to perceive time differently, to get out of the constant race and redirect our attention to those issues that have eluded us so far.
Each and every injury requires care. The remedy for time dislocations is the affirmation of one’s own rhythm of life, together with the acceptance of the experiences of other people and beings. The healing process must take under consideration the experiences of those whose voices have been ignored or marginalized so far. The exhibition recognizes the need not only to make (time and) space for different identities and ways of life, but it also encourages active opposition to manifestations of exclusion and hostility towards others. We can heal injured time only if we act together.
You can find more photos here.