„Balm”
Krzysztof Grzybacz, Filip Rybkowski
opening: 6 November 2020
duration of the exhibition: 6–29 November 2020
venue: Lokum Vena, ul. Ks. J. Poniatowskiego 2-4, Wrocław | Krupa Gallery
curator: Antoni Burzyński

Contradicting the feverish ordering of archives, there are the workings of memory – attempts to recreate that which has already been experienced on the basis of whatever shreds remain. Such memories are necessarily co-created by the present self.
On the one hand, they extract the essence of the meaning of events. They are like phenomena immersed in formaldehyde, which, removed from their former context, assume new meanings and look at us as if from the other side of the mirror.
On the other hand, this is a process of reproducing missing elements on the basis of the preserved fragments, resembling the work of a conservator or an archaeologist who recreates an entire artefact from a tiny piece. It is a simulation of an imagined whole, with guesses and mistakes. Sometimes, the reconstructed work surpasses the small finding, adding more than there was before. But the authenticity of each such creation is supported by the authenticity of the original part. Although this loan could be unsecured.
However, knowing the nature of this process, it is difficult to expect faithfulness to some original. The works by Filip Rybkowski and Krzysztof Grzybacz use similar mechanisms to talk about things that may have existed or happened.