Barbara Gryka and Aurélie Pertusot have been selected as this year’s artists in residency in the frames of Gdańsk – Strasbourg bilateral exchange project.
In her practice Barbara Gryka is interested in identity and memory, personal one, which is close to each of us. Her works pose questions about what is public or collective, not only in material sense but also the symbolic one. Participants of her projects are simply invited to be together, to act collectively. The artist looks for positive implications and provokes pleasant thoughts, referring to the places where the participants live. In her works, she does not turn away from problematic issues, she tries to reach what has been hidden, omitted, forgotten or has disappeared forever.
Consistently for her work, as part of the residency, the artist proposed a project in the public space of the city, focusing on the inhabitants and their memory related to the green areas of Strasbourg. Existing ones as well as those long displaced by the dynamically progressing urban processes. The encountered residents will be asked to recall parks, gardens, squares, playgrounds, forests and abandoned areas. All those places that are not necessarily in the official narrative but are important from the point of view of an individual.
Barbara Gryka was born in April 1992 in Puławy (Poland).
She began her artistic education in Liceum Plastyczne im. Józef Chełmoński in Nałęczów. From 2013, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, at the Faculty of New Media Art. She completed her BA diploma at the Department of Audiovisual Space prof. Grzegorz Kowalski. In 2019, she graduated from Mirosław Bałka's Studio of Spatial Activities. In her practice, she deals with performative activities. Grand Prix winner in Hestia Artistic Journey competition, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, (2019), Gray House Foundation Awards (2019), Jak jest? in Gallery Labirynt (2017). She exhibited in Poland and abroad, including: MACBA, Barcelona (2020), Gallery Labirynt, Lublin (2019), MOS, Gorzów Wielkopolski (2019), Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2019), Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Tel Aviv (2018 ), Bangkok Art and Culture Center (2018), Izolyatsia Platform for Culture, Kiev (2018), City Gallery Arsenał, Poznań (2017), Gallery Arsenał in Białystok (2017), Gdańsk City Gallery (2016), Studio Otwock (2016), Biennale WRO Test Exposure, Wrocław (2015), Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome (2014). MACBA Barcelona Artist in Residency (2020), Residency Unlimited, NYC (2020).
Residency of Barbara Gryka in Strasbourg takes place in the frames of artist residency exchange program initiated in 2011 by Apollonia – European Art Exchanges association in Strasbourg, City of Strasbourg, City of Gdańsk and LAZNIA Centre for Contemporary Art.
Previous editions of this bilateral exchange program involved the following participants from France: Ahmet Dogan, Patrick Bogner, Jia Qiu, Dorothee Haller, Yiumsiri Vantanapindu, Stéphane Clor, Elise Alloin. Among Polish artists working in Strasbourg were: Dominika Skutnik, Dorota Walentynowicz, Michał Pecko, Angelika Fojtuch, Grzegorz Stefański, Urszula Kozak, Eliza Proszczuk, Julita Wójcik, Patrycja Orzechowska.
Simultaneously to Barbara Gryka’s residency in Strasbourg, Aurélie Pertusot will be developing a project in Gdańsk. More information on her project soon.