International Exhibition of Leather Forms

The exhibition takes as its point of departure works created by artists who participated in leather art sessions held in Krzynia (Ogólnopolski Eksperymentalny Plener Graficzny „Zapis graficzny w skórze” / National Experimental Graphic Workshop “Graphic Record in Leather”, 1977–1989), co-organised by the Bureau of Artistic Exhibitions (BWA) in Słupsk, the Słupsk section of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers (ZPAP) with support from the leather goods manufacturer Północne Zakłady Przemysłu Skórzanego “Alka” and the tannery in Dębnica Kaszubska. Archival pieces from the collections of the BGSW and the Museum of Central Pomerania are presented in dialogue with contemporary works by artists who treat leather as both material and subject matter.

The International Exhibition of Leather Forms contains two chapters that can be read independently. Recorded in Leather, on display in Słupsk, looks back at the workshops in Krzynia within the context of the history of the region’s leather industry and the mythology of the local art community. Metabolism and Fetish, to be seen in Ustka, takes the form of a speculative workshop embedded in the present, providing a pretext for reflecting on ecological, ethical, psychological and cultural aspects of leather. This chapter includes works by contemporary artists addressing such themes as exploration of bodies and resources, speciesism and the mechanisms of desire.

The leather art workshops in Krzynia constitute a vital part of local history as well as an element of a wider quest that used to define the practice of many artists in past decades. The universal, while also deeply symbolic, dimension of leather – an animal-derived matter with strong biological and semantic significance – invited a whole range of interpretations. The influence of those sessions reached beyond artistic circles: leather forms began to appear in offices and flats, making this unordinary aesthetic familiar and, from today’s perspective, leaving questions regarding the use of leather and its implications unanswered.

The arrangement has been designed by Agnieszka Grodzińska. Performative activities and international artistic residencies act as extensions to the show staged by the BGSW in Podgrodzie, Słupsk, and Ustka.

Additional context is provided by Jan Baszak’s individual exhibition running concurrently at BGSW’s Tower in Słupsk, titled A gentle kiss on a double forehead (curated by Kamil Mizgała), devoted to leather as a material and a figure separate from the body. It uses the concept of fetish as a fragment that acquires extra meanings, renders lack tangible and redirects desire from a person towards an object, raising the question of an ethical relation towards what is merely a trace.