Warsaw Autumn 2022: Two Exhibitions on Soros Centers and Bellotto
The Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw presents 'The Influencing Machine,' a survey of the Soros Centers for Contemporary Art (SCCA) network from the 1990s onward, curated by Aaron Moulton. The exhibition explores how the SCCA, funded by George Soros's Open Society Institute, fostered contemporary art in post-Soviet Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It features iconic works such as Ivan Filojic's 'Bruce Lee of Mostar' and Arsen Savadov and Heorhii Senchenko's 'Voices of Love,' alongside a Polish version of Barbara Kruger's 'Your body is a battleground.' The accompanying catalog is the first comprehensive documentation of the SCCA network. Meanwhile, the Royal Castle in Warsaw marks the 300th anniversary of Bernardo Bellotto's birth with a show of his 57 works created during his stay in Poland, including over twenty views of Warsaw and Wilanów. Bellotto's paintings, crucial for the city's postwar reconstruction, survived wartime looting and are displayed in the Old Audience Chamber. The exhibition runs until January 10, 2023.
Key facts
- The Influencing Machine exhibition runs until November 6, 2022 at Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw.
- The show examines the Soros Centers for Contemporary Art (SCCA) network established after the Soviet collapse.
- SCCA centers were set up in Bratislava, Moscow, Prague, Tallinn, Warsaw, Bucharest, Riga, Vilnius, Kyiv, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Saint Petersburg, Belgrade, Skopje, Chișinău, Sarajevo, Odesa, Almaty, and others.
- The exhibition is curated by American critic and anthropologist Aaron Moulton from Los Angeles.
- Bernardo Bellotto was born in Venice on May 20, 1722, and died in Warsaw in 1780.
- Bellotto arrived in Warsaw in winter 1767 and became court painter to King Stanisław II August Poniatowski.
- Bellotto's 57 Polish works include over twenty views of Warsaw and the Wilanów royal residence.
- The paintings were taken to Russia by Tsar Nicholas I, returned in 1922, survived the 1939 castle fire, were seized by Germans in 1940, and returned in 1945.
- The Bellotto exhibition at the Royal Castle runs until January 10, 2023.
Entities
Artists
- George Soros
- Suzanne Mészöly
- Ivan Filojic
- Arsen Savadov
- Heorhii Senchenko
- Barbara Kruger
- Aaron Moulton
- Bernardo Bellotto
- Canaletto
- Augustus III of Poland
- Maria Theresa of Austria
- Catherine II of Russia
- Stanisław II August Poniatowski
- Domenico Merlini
- Dario Bragaglia
- Gianni Rondolino
- Karl Popper
Institutions
- Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art
- Soros Centers for Contemporary Art (SCCA)
- Open Society Institute (OSI)
- Mucsarnok (Kunsthalle) Budapest
- Royal Castle in Warsaw
- National Museum in Poland
- Artribune
Locations
- Warsaw
- Poland
- Budapest
- Hungary
- Bratislava
- Slovakia
- Moscow
- Russia
- Prague
- Czech Republic
- Tallinn
- Estonia
- Bucharest
- Romania
- Riga
- Latvia
- Vilnius
- Lithuania
- Kyiv
- Ukraine
- Ljubljana
- Slovenia
- Zagreb
- Croatia
- Saint Petersburg
- Belgrade
- Serbia
- Skopje
- North Macedonia
- Chișinău
- Moldova
- Sarajevo
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Odesa
- Almaty
- Kazakhstan
- Venice
- Italy
- Florence
- Lucca
- Rome
- Milan
- Turin
- Verona
- Dresden
- Germany
- Vienna
- Austria
- Munich
- Los Angeles
- United States
- Wilanów