exhibitions

Us and Them. An intricate history of otherness

16.03.2011 - 05.06.2011

From images of mythical creatures and demons recorded in prints by modern masters like Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer or Lucas van Leyden; from illustrations in books on monsters datable to the late 15th and early 16th centuries; from mass-produced engraving presenting exotic tribes of the new world; from 19th-century illustrations for manuals in medicine and natural sciences; from portraits, and political and life-style caricatures; from selected examples of 20th-century circus posters; from comic books on Batman and films directed by Tod Browning and F.W. Murnau, we have built an exhibitions on otherness.
Through these images we wish to speak about the history of prejudice, fear and fascination; about the history of human judgements on nature; about permanent divisions to "us" and "them". The lives of the heroes of this exhibition – freaks and misfits − have in fact been dependent on an accidental configuration of religious beliefs, political line-ups, wars, disasters and the medical knowledge. In this history, neutral interest in a curio changes into fascination with a person of unusual appearance or a lone hero hiding in the shadow, or – as easily – into repressions against a madman or the enemy. No epoch judged "them" unambiguously.

 

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Promotional movie

Trailer

Karolina Grodziska

Doctor of historical sciences, director of the Scientific Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences and Arts, and editor-in-chief of its yearly magazine. A researcher of Polish burial places in Poland and abroad (beneficiary of several M.B. Grabowski Scholarships). In 2004 she received the Krakow Municipality Award for works on the history of Krakow cemeteries. Author of more than 300 academic works and essays, currently working on the third volume of Polskie groby na cmentarzach Londynu.

The Print Room in the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences Library

The Print Room in the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences Library – one of the most valuable collection of prints in Poland whose history goes back to the 19th century. It originates in the works from the Polish Library in Paris as well as a collection by the Moszyński family. Among the collection’s highlights, one finds the prints by such celebrated artists as Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn. Until today, eight exhibitions have been organised by the International Cultural Centre in cooperation with the Print Room in the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences Library – a testament to the years-long cooperation between the two institution. To quote from the Director of the International Cultural Centre, Prof. Jacek Purchla, the exhibitions’ aim has been “to evoke the memory of one of the most valuable collections of European art in Poland; the collection which is an important part of our national heritage. By displaying the works in the International Cultural Centre Gallery, we bring them back to our collective memory. For years, the collection localised in the heart of Krakow remained practically unknown. Due to our exhibition efforts it has finally claimed it rightful place and is widely recognised nowadays”.

Us and Them. An intricate history of otherness

collective work

The catalogue was published alongside the exhibition entitled Us and Them. An intricate history of otherness which is a treasury of various depictions of the Other in the graphic arts. The exhibited works (presented in four sections: Person, Freak, Hero and Enemy, and by such artists as Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer or Lucas van Leyden) show various types of anomalies recorded in medical manuals, exotic tribes from the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries as well as mythological, often dangerous and demonic creatures, among others. Over a hundred works are fleshed out with extensive commentaries illuminating their history and themes as well as scholarly papers by the experts from different realms of science and humanities such as Bronisław Maj, Anna Olszewska, Andrzej Rabenda and Andrzej Szczeklik.
The catalogue is another work published in a series which presents the most precious items from the Print Room in the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences Library.

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