Is this your first visit to Korea? Are you experiencing any difficulty due to this summer’s unusually hot weather?
Yes, this is my first visit to Korea. Since it’s also very hot in Poland due to abnormally high temperatures, I don’t find Korea’s hot summer particularly unfamiliar (laughs). I’ve been in Korea only for two days, so it’s a bit too early to discuss my overall impressions of Korea. But I found it very interesting that modern buildings stand in harmony with traditional structures here and there around Seoul.
I understand this exhibition has toured several other countries.
Yes. I am very grateful that we are holding an exhibition of the same theme here for the 14th time in the world. For the Seoul exhibition, 16 Polish designers or design groups have contributed 18 pieces of prototypes, small-scale serial works, or unique s. With the same theme and style, we have presented exhibitions at world-famous design festivals in Italy, France, Hungary, and Hong Kong, such as the Milan International Furniture Fair and the Paris Designer’s Days, as well as various museums in Germany and Finland.
What is the purpose of this exhibition?
This exhibition aims to introduce some of the interesting works and achievements by young Polish artists and design groups to audiences around the world. Along with Pawel Grobelny, whom I have worked with closely, I visited various exhibitions held in Poland and personally selected the artists and works to be featured in this exhibition. The Korean exhibition showcases not only famous award-winning works by Aze Design, Oskar Zięta, and Beton, and those regarded as Poland’s emblematic works, but also new creations by young artists. I hope that this show will be an opportunity to introduce Poland’s young artists and their interesting works to Korean art lovers.
You named the exhibition “Young Design from Poland.” How would you define Poland’s young design?
To put it in a word, I would say that Poland’s young design refers to works designed with “wise ideas.” The design works featured in this exhibition have one thing in common: they all focus on simplicity, handicrafts, and the 3Rs (recycle, reuse, and reduce). Traditionally, Polish designers have worked with the simplest, cheapest and most easily available resources, or recycled materials, which they can handle with ease. So, viewers can easily recognize their working processes. However, this doesn’t mean that they have d entirely new or beautiful works. “Simple but leaving a strong impression” is the primary characteristic of young Polish design.
As the exhibition’s curator, would you say there are any particular works that you want to recommend for viewers to look more attentively? And why?
That’s a difficult question (laughs). All the works here are new and significant. But to mention a few examples, “BLOW SOFA” by Malafor looks like a simple piece of fabric and metal parts, but when the fabric is inflated and placed on a metal frame, it becomes a comfortable sofa. Also, “Plopp” is a stool made of specially inflated metal components that can be shaped into various forms, and is easy to carry around. In case of the “Tubo Motus” series, a regular ceramic vase is given a twist in form to a fresh look and feeling as if it was made of soft material. Moreover, “Ogryzki” is a unique piece expressing beauty through the rather crude act of biting off a section of the ceramic surface, leaving a personalized mark. This contrasts with the typical act of most other artists who put their initials on the bottom of their vessel. Like the “Tubo Motus” series, these works are distinctive in a whimsical way.
Have you had opportunities to see Korean design, or “young design” in particular?
I had a chance to see an exhibition of Korean pottery at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, where I’m currently working. I took notice of various pottery works, including a huge jar, and thought the designs were beautiful. I am interested in seeing more of Korean design.
What impressions, or feelings, do you want this exhibition to give its Korean viewers?
So far, whenever I held this kind of exhibition in another country, I heard many visitors say, “It’s so interesting. What an idea!” I must admit that Poland is a somewhat unfamiliar country to most Koreans. So, I hope that Koreans will develop an interest in Polish designers’ “wise ideas” through this exhibition.
Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielcka
Curator of numerous exhibitions, critic of contemporary design, and journalist, she also lectures at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ponan. While serving as the art director and curator of the Łódź Design Festival since 2008, she works closely with numerous cultural organizations in Poland and abroad. She served as the curator for such design exhibitions as “Natural Sources of Polish Design” (2009), “Polska Folk” (2010), and “Materia Prima” (Original Material, 2010). She is dedicated to promoting Polish design and designers.
Pawel Grobelny
Designer and curator of design exhibitions. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, he has received scholarship grants from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, the French government, and the Pont Neuf Association in Paris. He received grand prizes at many design contests and an honorary award at “The New Subjectivity in Design,” organized by the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw and the British Council. His works include Albertine Plaza in Brussels, benches at Zhongshan Park in Shanghai, and the interior design of public facilities in Poland, Belgium, France, and Spain. Currently, he is a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan. (www.sof.edu.pl)
Choi Kyung-sook Freelance Writer
한국국제교류재단
