One Week at Demarco Gallery

Maria Michałowska (1925-2018) was one of the most important representatives of conceptual art in Poland. After studying at the State Higher School of Visual Arts in Wrocław (now the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts), she co-founded the local art scene, which in the 1960s and 1970s was influenced by progressive ideas propagated by, among others, the art critic and theorist Jerzy Ludwiński (1930-2000). The conceptual turn and conceptual art promoted by Ludwiński found wide resonance in the Wrocław milieu and led to creative experiments that also influenced Michałowska's creative explorations. Conceptual-reflective art practice united the artist's works, which were created using a variety of media. Michałowska pursued painting and drawing, produced objects and intensively explored the possibilities of photography. In the 1970s, ephemeral actions and conceptual events, in which interaction with the public played a key role, gained a special place in her oeuvre due to the then popular philosophy of integrating art and life. The role of the audience changed from passive consumption of art to active intervention in its creation. Participatory activities shifted the focus of the definition of the artwork from material objects, which had previously been the domain of art, to the relationships between participants in artist-inspired events. In 2020, the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin received documentation of one of Michałowska's most famous conceptual actions, staged at the Richard Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh in 1972. The performance, titled One Week at Demarco Gallery, began on August 20 and lasted a week. Throughout the event, visitors to the gallery recorded their impressions, comments and thoughts on calendar sheets prepared by the artist. The resulting notes and photographs documenting the course of the event became an integral part of Michałowska's work and an attempt to capture the energy of the meeting she initiated. Magdalena Lewoc