Introducing contemporary art into industrial space is now established worldwide practice. To revitalise post-industrial sites through cultural usage, and in particular as contemporary museums, has been one of the key priorities of recent European cultural policy. With these objectives in mind, in 2005 the President of the Municipality of Kraków, Jacek Majchrowski, applied for part financing of the Museum of Contemporary Art from the funds of the Ministry of Culture. The Minister, Waldemar Dabrowski, allocated the subsidy of 4 milion PLN to the project. At the end of August 2005, the President and the Minister signed an agreement concerning subsidy for the Museum of Contemporary Art project.
The site of the Museum incorporates a library, a bookshop, audiovisual halls and artists' and restorers' workshops, including—unique in Poland—a restoration workshop for modern art.
The project, produced by Claudio Nardi Architetto, involved erecting a new building on the site of the old Schindler's Factory, and adapting six other existing buildings in the post-industrial district of Zablocie, which in recent years has recently undergone a vigorous renaissance.
On 19 May 2011 at 6 pm, a formal opening of the Museum will take place, as well as the presentation of the following inaugural exhibitions:
20 May–25 September 2011
History in Art
The exhibition of 44 international artists presents a critical, alternative interpretation of history. The presentation of over 120 works aims to provide an analysis of the relationship between history and art, taking a closer look at the prevailing image of history and displaying individual artistic interpretations of the most significant historical events.
from 20 May 2011
The MOCAK Collection:
The exhibition of the Museum collection presents a variety of stances, media and interpretations present in contemporary art. The show comprises a few dozen works of both Polish and international artists from the MOCAK collection. One of the main aims of the exhibition is to break the stereotypical view of modern art as detached, enigmatic and incomprehensible.
20 May–26 June 2011
The Award of the Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation
The Swiss Foundation Vordemberge-Gildewart in—co-operation with MOCAK—has organised the first Polish edition of this prestigious competition for a grant awarded to a young artist. Out of the 15 artists nominated from all over Poland, the international jury selected three winners. The main award—20,000 euros—went to Anna Okrasko, and the second award was split equally between the artists Jan Dziaczkowski and Róza Litwa, who received 10,000 euros each. The exhibition is a presentation of all the works submitted by the participating artists for the competition.
Maurycy Gomulicki. Bibliophilia
'Bibliophilia is a perhaps somewhat naive, but close to my heart, tale about desire and the beauty of books,' says MaurycyGomulicki about his project. The artist's inspiration was his grandfather—a distinguished humanist Juliusz Wiktor Gomulicki—and his rich book collection. The theme of the exhibition is women and books. The library becomes a place where the intellect and the senses meet; where the lust for knowledge accompanies carnal desire.
from 20 May 2011
Mieczyslaw Porebski's Library
Professor Mieczyslaw Porebski, a prominent Polish art historian, has donated to the Museum a part of his book collection together with a number of paintings by his friends, amongst whom he counted the members of the Krakow Group. The Professor's collection has been assembled in one of MOCAK's exhibition halls so as to resemble his study in his Krakow flat. Despite it being essentially an exhibition, the Library provides access to its unique book collection for academic research.
20 May–12 June 2011
ALIAS: Madeleine Sante
This is one of the projects which are part of the Krakow Month of Photography. The exhibition presents six alternative life stories of the fictitious eponymous character. Human fate is shown as an unpredictable, complex narrative, whose content is dependent on many factors, including historical circumstances and casual meetings and events.
