WHERE TO GO - 07.2010

Let us start with the exhibition in the National Museum (Muzeum Narodowe) in Warsaw that has already become well-known in Europe. This exhibition, entitled Ars Homo Erotica, is simultaneously contemporary and historical, as well as erotic and political. The title refers to homoerotic arts connected with desire and love for persons of the same sex. Ars Homo Erotica is immersed in the culture tradition, but it refers to the topical policy of minority rights. It combines myths and art history with the present times and with debates on the condition of democracy. It refers to the philosophy of eroticism as an experience which leads to humanist ideas that affirm joie de vivre and sex, even in the face of repressions. The exhibition offers an alternative view on art history, on the collection of the museum and on the art of Central and Eastern Europe. The works, both selected from amongst those in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw and those created by contemporary artists of both sexes invited to participate in the project, present a cross section of culture history, from antiquity to the present, from the point of view of homoerotic imagination. The works for the exhibition have been selected on the basis of their theme or context, and not on the basis of the artists’ orientation.

Another revelation of the summer cultural season in Warsaw is the visit of Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. The Royal Castle (Zamek Królewski) invites you to see brilliant works of art, such as Lady with an Ermine or The Landscape with Good Samaritan by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. These paintings, together with many others, for example by Dirk Bouts and Jean Pierre Norblin, come from the precious collection of the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, which is closed for renovation, and are presented in Warsaw Royal Castle accompanied by excellent works of handicraft from Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. The presentation has been agreed on by the Management of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation and the managements of the National Museum (Muzeum Narodowe) in Krakow and the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

The Zachęta Gallery invites to the exhibition entitled Seal of Eros and Thanatos. Paris 1960s (Pieczęć Erosa i Thanatosa. Paryż lata 60) presenting the crucial period in the artistic life of excellent Polish artist Jan Lebenstein. He spent many years in Paris, and the exhibition presents the whole decade of the 1960s, especially the so called three Paris winters: 1959/1960, 1960/1961 and 1961/1962. It was then when Lebenstein’s private mythology was expressed in his art. Before that, it was „encrypted” in axial figures and „deciphered” in private sketchbooks and gouaches, but it was never disclosed publically. This duality of the artist’s works is presented for the first time.

The Center for Contemporary Art (Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej) invites to a series of exhibitions of contemporary artists, such as the interesting exhibition of American Heidrun Holzfeind entitled Behind the Iron Gate (Za Żelazną Bramą). The Iron Gate (Żelazna Brama) is the name of one of Warsaw’s housing estates and the exhibition is dedicated to the life of its residents.

As for music events, the most important one is the twentieth Mozart Festival, which is a real feast to lovers of this great composer. During the festival, to last until the 26th of July, all Mozart’s operas will be performed, which has not been done on any other stage before.

And finally, the Year of Chopin has been going on, so it is a must to go Żelazowa Wola near Warsaw. This is the place where the composer was born and the place that influenced his personality and music. There, you can immerse yourself in this unique ambience and the beauty of Chopin’s music. Besides, you should absolutely go the Royal Baths Park (Park Łazienkowski) to listen to a Sunday concert of the composer’s music. The concerts are organized every Sunday near the monument to Chopin at 12 p.m. and at 4 p.m. The ambience of these concerts is unique. We do recommend you to see for yourselves.