Exhibitions of works by Aleksandra Waliszewska entitled "The Dark Arts: Aleksandra Waliszewska and the Symbolism from the East and North", in which, together with Magdalena Romanowska from Romanowska Studio, we had the pleasure of designing the architecture of the exhibition for the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
"The Dark Arts" is the first such cross-sectional display of Aleksandra Waliszewska's works. The exhibition juxtaposes her extensive works with historical works by other artists from Eastern Europe and the Baltic landscapes.
The aim of the exhibition scenography design was to highlight the unique themes presented by Aleksanda Waliszewska's works.
The exhibition presents 130 works by the artist and over 80 works by other authors forming her visual and ideological environment.
The architecture of the exhibition referring to the dreamlike nature of the works, shaped into islands - a labyrinth separating individual thematic sections and at the same time simply combining them into one whole, was intended to emphasize and provide a view in a broad context on the fairy-tale motifs, apocalyptic scenarios and Balto-Slavic landscapes permeated with meanings: forests and swamps, fantastic beasts or depicted suffering. Waliszewska's works seem to be governed by the logic of dreams, and the means of illustration is metaphor, which refers to primary emotions: love, desire and fear of death.