CinEast Screening: ABAKAMANIA. Magdalena Abakanowicz – An Individual Artist

Visit of ‘The Wise Men’ at the Court

17:00–17:30 | PL

17:30–18:00 | EN

Screening

18:30–20:00 | PL with EN subtitles

Conversation

20:00-20:30 | EN

With: Róża Fabjanowska and Sławek Malcharek

Moderated by: Iwona Bigos

Partner Instituitions:

CinEast – Central and Eastern European Film Festival  

Court of Justice of the European Union  

Instytut Adama Mickiewicza

Framework: CinEast Festival

Language: EN/PL

Access: Free

Booking required:

mudam.com/rsvp-cineast

Mudam is pleased to continue its long-standing collaboration with the CinEast – Central and Eastern European Film Festival, now in its 18th edition.

This year’s focus is on Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930–2017), one of Poland’s most celebrated and influential artists. Known for her pioneering use of textiles and monumental sculptural environments, Abakanowicz challenged conventions of form, space and identity, leaving a lasting imprint on the history of contemporary art.

Mudam will host the international premiere of ABAKAMANIA (Magdalena Abakanowicz an Artist Apart),. an original project produced by Róża Fabjanowska and Sławek Malcharek. Their will present Abakanowicz’s most important works created in Poland and abroad. The team followed her footsteps, listening to the stories of people connected to the artist’s world – a symbolic and literal journey, retracing her travels and installations in order to trace new interpretations of her work.

For this special edition, Mudam partners with its neighbour institution – the Court of Justice of the European Union – to offer a unique opportunity to experience Abakanowicz’s work. Alongside the screening, a special visit will be organised to her installation The Wise Men, located at the Court. Two sessions will be held for the tour, one in Polish at 17h and one in English at 17h30.

The film will be followed by a 30-minute conversation with the directors Róża Fabjanowska (director, editor) and Sławek Malcharek (director, cinematographer), moderated by Iwona Bigos (Head of the Four Domes Pavilion Museum of Contemporary Art).

Biographies

Róża Fabjanowska and Sławek Malcharek have been creating documentaries together since the mid-1990s. They specialise in cultural subjects, with a particular focus on art and artists. Their biographical films have explored the lives of prominent figures such as Anda Rottenberg, Leon Tarasewicz, and Magdalena Abakanowicz, among many others. Over the years, they have collaborated with Polish public television (TVP) and worked closely with esteemed institutions, including the National Museum in Warsaw, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, and Zachęta – The National Gallery of Art, among others.

Iwona Dorota Bigos is an art historian, art curator and, since 2018, curator and head of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Branch of the National Museum in Wrocław. She was the director and founder of the Gdańsk City Gallery (2009–2015) and, in 2017, the director of the Stadtgalerie in Kiel (Germany). She has organised many individual and collective exhibitions in Poland and internationally and is a co-creator of major artistic events in public spaces. In 2021, she was the curator, alongside Barbara Banaś, of the major solo exhibition Abakanowicz. Totalna, which showcased all of Abakanowicz's works (approximately 400 pieces) from the National Museum in Wrocław's collection in Four Domes Pavillon. She is the author of papers on contemporary art and curatorial practice.