solo exhibition, BWA Tarnów, 2015
dedicated to and in Park Strzelecki

Cultivating Culture is a collection of Kama Sokolnicka's works dedicated to (presumed and real) relations and roles of the BWA Gallery and the surrounding Park. Set in the local contexts, the works also refer to the activity mentioned in the title, whose very name implies hardship or the risk of injury. Both in her life and work the artist – daughter of gardeners – points out to the idea which defines two kinds of men's attitudes: the horticultural and the hunting. The artist has placed her works – Photosynthesis, Czyżnia, Advisor, Goldfinger, Rhapsody –  among the trees, shrubs and buildings of the Park. The pivot of the show is Fence – a sculpture which recreates in real scale a span of the historical fence designed by an inter-war Tarnów architect Edward Okoń. Kama Sokolnicka's Cultivating Culture presented in Park Strzelecki heralds the 150th anniversary of the Park, established in 1866 by the decision of the City Council.

the project accompanied by the book of the same title with the texts:
Cultivable Land by Ewa Łączyńska-Widz and Wild Sprouts by Agnieszka Tarasiuk, published by BWA Tarnów in 2015.

Budding Meanings—a talk led by Joanna Kobyłt in SZUM Magazine
(here also in pl)

Earring (Kolczyk)
golden leaf on blowed up fragment of archival photo of Strzelecki Park
25 x 40 cm, 2015

Goldfinger
collage on a print of blackthorn bush
2015

photo: J. Więcław

Advisor
(photo-documentation)
a park intervention
brass letters on the trees 2015

Photosynthesis
sculpture; brass 
2015

The form of this work comes from the schema of the chemical particle of chlorophyl. More ⟶

the original fence of  Strzelecki Park in Tarnów
designed by Tarnow's architect Edward Okoń in 1936
photo: Kama Sokolnicka

photo: BWA Tarnów

Scrub

site specific; blackthorn bushes planted in two rombs behind Shooting Palace where BWA Tarnów is placed
2015


The name of Tarnów city popssibly comes from tarnina (blackthorn), but in the time of my exhibition there were no blackthorn bushes in the area, so I decided to pland a few. Romboidal shapes repeat in the architecture of Tarnów and were also present in Edward Okoń’s ouvre.