Paulina Olowska
Paulina Olowska, ‘Slavic Goddesses—A Wreath of Ceremonies’, 2017. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Tuesday 26 – Thursday 28 January 2017
‘Slavic Goddesses—A Wreath of Ceremonies’
The Kitchen, New York / Tuesday 26 January 2017, 8pm / Wednesday 27 January 2017, 8pm / Thursday 28 January 2017, 8pm
Having often addressed questions of feminism and cultural convention, Paulina Olowska here revisited the work of Zofia Stryjeńska—exploring the visionary Polish artist’s notion of ballet as a “wreath of ceremonies,” and designing costumes after her 1918 painting series Bożki sł;owia&ńskie (Slavic Deities) that was based on Slavic folklore and mythology. Katy Pyle, Artistic Director of the Ballez, worked with Jules Skloot, Lindsay Reuter, Mei Yamanaka, Deborah Lohse, Madison Krekel, and Charles Gowin to personify Stryjeńska’s goddesses in solos that reactivate classic folk steps. An original score by Sergei Tcherepnin mixed cosmic sounds together with traditional Mazurkas, Polkas, and Oberkas, as well as spiritual disco. Lighting design by Madeline Best with inspirational quotes of Zofia Stryjeńska and Paulina Olowska.
Slavic Goddesses—A Wreath of Ceremonies is the continuation and evolution of Paulina Olowska’s The Mother An Unsavoury Play in Two Acts and an Epilogue (2015), that was commissioned and produced by Tate Modern (London).
Slavic Goddesses—A Wreath of Ceremonies is made possible with support from Rebecca and Martin Eisenberg, Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner, Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo and The Dorothea Leonhardt Fund at the Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc., and Polish Cultural Institute New York; annual program grants from Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Howard Gilman Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; and in part by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Special thanks for the generous support of Metro Pictures, New York; Simon Lee Gallery, London; and Foksal Foundation Gallery, Warsaw.