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Leszek Golec (born in 1959) and Tatiana Czekalska (born in 1966) form an artistic duo, which focuses on animals in their works. Some of the pieces created by these artists are devoted to animals, such as Awatary – a series of objects–utensils created in the 1990s, used to rescue and carry insects to safety. In others, such as Wearing White Vege Fur Petformance for Photography. created in 2009, the animal is a full-fledged participant in the process of creating the work and its protagonist at the same time. In a series of photographs acquired for the contemporary art collection of the National Museum in Szczecin, the artists' role was to take pictures documenting the activity of a white cat named Wieloryb, who appeared in surprising night-time scenes. The viewer observes the effects of this interspecies collaboration solely via the photographs, which – thanks to the technology used by the artists, namely framing on aluminium and covering the photo prints with a layer of transparent plexiglass, gain extraordinary visual depth. There are situation, in which Golec and Czekalska invite animals to co-create exhibitions in which they actually take part as participants. For the duration of the exhibition prepared in 2014 at the Monopol Gallery in Warsaw, Mono the cat lived in gallery – while moving around, Mono triggered sensors that turned on the neon signs designed by the artists. Two years earlier, Melania, a sheep living in the Łódź zoo was invited by the artists to take part in the opening of their exhibition at the Atlas Art Gallery in Łódź. Including live animals in projects and exhibitions has been an important trend in contemporary art for more than fifty years to date. Some of the activities are drastic in their nature, leading to objections and serious ethical concerns. The empathetic, conscious attitude of Golec and Czekalska – two artists advocating for animal rights and agency, allows them to avoid the violence often associated with this type of creative practice.

Magdalena Lewoc