“The exhibition Skraj / Am Rand is the result of a project of the same name. We present the outcomes of our reflections in the form of visual artworks (painting, drawing, photography, video, installations) addressing the contemporary landscape as a cultural construct—one that encodes signs of the past, serves memory, and offers space for reflecting on the present.

The project explored the collective memory of two nations—Polish and German. It took the form of a meeting functioning as an artistic and academic symposium. The organizers are the Institute of Art Education at the Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw and the Institut für Kunstpädagogik at Leipzig University—two academic institutions with a rich 15-year history of collaboration. We organize workshops, symposia, and artistic and educational gatherings. There is also a longstanding tradition of exchange under the Erasmus program.

The project was aimed at artists and scholars from Poland and Germany. It responded to social changes and the ways these influence perceptions of the past, particularly the tendency to emphasize one's own suffering and to remain enclosed in separate historical narratives within the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

The off-site part of the project symposium took place in Michałowice near Szklarska Poręba. We were hosted by Teatr Cinema, a unique place on Poland’s artistic map. We analyzed the landscape as a contemporary theme in art. Together, we experienced memory in a “critical,” “shared,” and “positive” way—according to the three-step framework proposed by Krzysztof Czyżewski from the Borderland Foundation (Fundacja Pogranicze).

The first, and most difficult, step involves looking at the past not only through the lens of one’s own wrongs but also through acknowledging one’s own faults. The second allows space for the memory of others and shared remembrance within a community. The third involves reflecting on what we gain through an encounter with “the other.”

Our point of reference was the landscape and history of the Jelenia Góra Valley and the practice of meeting at the borderland of cultures, meanings, and traditions.”

Artists: Jarema Drogowski, Alexander Frohberg, Sarah Heuer, Maria Kiesner, Zuzanna Kryńska, Verena Landau, Rafał Kowalski, Thomas Lewandowski, Monika Masłoń, Łukasz Niewiadomski, Karol Pałka, Stefan Paruch, Aleksandra Paszko, Mandy Putz, Katarzyna Rotkiewicz-Szumska, Agnieszka Rożnowska, Maria Sainz Rueda, Joanna Stasiak, Magdalena Świercz-Wojteczek, Laura Wankiewicz, Andreas Wendt, Florie Windelberg, Anna Wójcik, Nicola Zierhut

Exhibition Curators: Verena Landau, Stefan Paruch, Andreas Wendt

Theoretical Supervision of the Project: Magdalena Durda, Thomas Klemm, Alicja Kulik, Przemysław Radwański