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Bigos is an open group
of younger generation Anglo-Polish artists, organised by Stefan
Szczelkun and Kasia Januszko. It had its first major exhibition
in Brixton Art Gallery in August 1986 and was open to any
artist with a Polish heritage.
"Advertisements
in Artists Newsletter and The Jewish Chronicle to attract
artists outside our immediate London circle got a good response
and the group grew from 12 to over 30 with more women than
men. From then on the group itself became more important than
the initial concept of a prestigious exhibition." (Szczelkun,
Collaborations, Working Press, 1987 p.88)
Each artist self-selected
work for the Brixton exhibition which was then hung by Andrjej
Borkowski helped by Kasia Januszko and Krystyna Borkowska.
A video recording was made by Janusz Szczerek. This inclusive
and self curating mode continued through our future exhibitions.
We toured Poland in 1989 (arranged by Leszek Dabrowski) and
in the following few years had a further eight shows around
England.
Arts Council funding
was awarded for a British tour of made-to-measure shows. Work
was chosen to be site specific to each venue and each show
was preceded by a site visit. The made-to-measure shows were
hosted by the Watermans Art Centre at Brentford (1990); Cartwright
Hall in Bradford (1991); The Huddersfield City Art Gallery
(1992); and the Polish Cultural Institute in Portland Place,
London (1998). These shows were accompanied by performances
and workshops which often included an element of contact with
local Polish communities.
The self-selection mode
was difficult to maintain however. Self-selection contradicts
the prevailing ethos of curatorship. Groups are not meant
to self-select in British art culture. They usually submit
to the eye of the professional curator. However the self-selection
process benefits an ethnic artists group because participants
can represent their culture on their own terms without mediation.
Collective work also
went on in meetings in which we talked, ate Polish food and
did creative work together. The work of immigrant, bicultural
and subsequent generation artists is a crucial part of the
considerations of cultural assimilation which are so necessary
to all refugee and immigrant peoples. It is hard to see how
else much of this thinking can happen.
In spite of our high
profile exhibitions it was difficult to engage a critical
discourse that was capable of supporting and validating this
work. Interest seemed to be shifting towards artists from
marginal cultures being categorised simply as contemporary.
Britain still needs the critical channels to support discourse
on the cultural needs and development of the many cultures
which are marginal to its mainstream definition of the Arts.
This lack of response was in my view the main cause of the
decline in the group's activity in the late Nineties.
Note: An account of the
early formation of Bigos is available in 'Collaborations',
Stefan Szczelkun, Working Press, 1987. (Still available from
Central Books, London).
Stefan Szczelkun 2002 e-mail szczels@wmin.ac.uk
(with additions from Krystyna Shackleton Dzieszko)
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