Performer — Krzysztof Jung, Grzegorz Kowalski

Krzysztof Jung (1951-1998) brought vitality, eroticism, and homoeroticism to the Repassage Gallery on Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw. There, after completing his studies, he developed his concept of „plastic theatre”, creating a series of performances dedicated to his friends.

In the gallery space, Jung wove intricate webs of thread resembling spiderwebs. With his threading, he connected naked bodies, constructing protective cocoons or traps. In this sensual way, he explored his fascination with corporeality, interpersonal relationships, emotions, feelings, and the mutual dependencies they create. His performances also carried hidden messages addressed to specific individuals.

In 1993, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw held an exhibition summarizing the activity of the Repassage Gallery. At that time, Jung was responsible for arranging the room dedicated to the period when he himself managed the gallery (Repassage 2, 1978-1979). Within a separate, threaded space, he placed photographs from his own performances. The original prints, preserved in the archive, are being shown for the first time in over thirty years.

The documentation of Jung’s performances, displayed on a table in the center of the gallery, is complemented by a selection of his drawings. These works provide additional context for his performances, depicting people, places, and recurring motifs significant to the artist.

The photographic documentation of Jung’s performances at Repassage Gallery was created by Grzegorz Kowalski, who was closely associated with the gallery. As an annex to the exhibition, Kowalski has prepared a new work dedicated to his friend, entitled Excavation. Its main element is a portrait of Jung, welcoming visitors as they enter the gallery. Kowalski juxtaposes Jung’s electrifying sexuality with a memento mori reflection on the impermanence of the human body.

Krzysztof Jung (1951-1998)

Known mostly as a performer, prolific painter and portraitist, called “the painter of trees” during his lifetime, Jung has become more celebrated over the last few years for his male nudes, intimate drawings, rarely or never shown in public, revealing his queer side and giving an insight into his private life. His works were included in the first large manifestations of LGBTQ-related art, such as Ars Homo Erotica (2010), curated by Paweł Leszkowicz at the National Museum in Warsaw, and the Heritage pop-up exhibition organized as part of the Pomada 7 Queer Festival (2017). The changing reception of his works was recapped by his solo exhibitions at Salon Akademii in Warsaw (2016) and the Schwules Museum in Berlin (2019) as well as the first two presentations of Jung’s drawings at Gunia Nowik Gallery: In the Middle of the World (2021) and Boys (2023). As Jung stated in his will, his friend Dorota Krawczyk-Janisch, based in Berlin, became the sole caretaker of his works after his death.

Grzegorz Kowalski (b. 1942)

Artist and teacher. As a sculpture student at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, Kowalski studied under Oskar Hansen and Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz. In the 1970s, together with a group of artists deeply influenced by Hansen’s concept of Open Form, he founded Repassage Gallery in Warsaw. Treating art as a language of communication, he developed new artistic forms that incorporated the creativity of others, such as his question actions—collections of visual and textual responses to existential questions posed to a group (e.g., Could you and would you like to treat me as an object?, 1979). As a professor at his alma mater, Kowalski integrated similar collective art practices into his teaching, shaping a new generation of artists. In the 1990s, his students, including Paweł Althamer, Katarzyna Kozyra, and Artur Żmijewski, became leading figures in Polish Critical Art. He lives and works in Warsaw.