The Museum Between the Square and Palace
Warsaw Under Construction 16
25 October 2024 – 5 January 2025
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw
gta exhibitions collaborated with the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw on an inaugural exhibition for the opening of the museum’s new building.
The theme of this years’s edition of the Warsaw Under Construction festival, which has been organized by the Museum of Modern Art since 2009, departs from the questions that the opening of MSN Warsaw’s new building raises.
What sort of museum do we want? What is its role today? And more specifically, located on the Plac Defilad in the very heart of Warsaw, how does this new building and the museum’s cultural mission relate to the history of its place?
In front of the entrance to the Palace of Culture and the new MSN building is one of the biggest squares in Europe–Plac Defilad (Parade Square). Over time, the site hosted provisional bus stations, street-food stands, vendors stalls, and the KDT market hall (whose dismantling sparked riots).
Festivals, trade fairs, and concerts have all been held here. The space of the square embodies the city’s recent history.
With contributions by Daša Anosova, Ivan Bazak, Olya Gaidash, Violett e a; Honor Bishop, Rachel Skof; Debasish Borah; Centrala (Simone De Iacobis, Małgorzata Kuciewicz); Dzherelo / Джерело (Nikita Kadan, Alina Kleytman, Bogdana Kosmina i Vladislav Plisetskiy); Marta Ejsmont; Ian Erickson, Kaleb Swanson; Jeannelle Fernandez, Sahar Simforooshm; Elliott Friedman; R.I.P. Germain; Ewa Hevelke, Michał Januszaniec; Onyeka Igwe; Nikita Kadan; Jessica Kairé; Lizzie Kripke, Ryan Van Middlesworth; Zyta Kusztra, Ewa Porębska; Michał Laskowski; Jing Liao, Zihao Wei; Narodowy Instytut Architektury i Urbanistyki; OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture); Mara Oláh Omara; Christelle Oyiri; Szymon Rogiński; Meghan Rolvien; Selma Selman; Carrie Mae Weems; Rui Zhang; Artur Żmijewski
Curated by Fredi Fischli, Tomasz Fudala, Natalia Sielewicz and Niels Olsen
Installation view of Selma Selman, Untitled, 2023 © Anna Fritz