On World Collage Day, we join various collage art events organised around the world. This time, two renowned collage artists are inviting you to join them at the collage table. In the world of contemporary collage, Marta Janik and Maria Filek stand out as two fascinating voices – each weaving together fragments of reality into something surprisingly new, poetic and profound.
Together, Janik and Filek represent two sides of the same coin: one introspective and intimate, the other explosive and colourful. Their work pushes the boundaries of what collage can be, reminding us that sometimes the most powerful stories are told in fragments.
The workshop has been specially prepared for World Collage Day. The artists, who have methodical and pedagogical experience, provide all the materials: hand-made papers by Maria Filek and old albums and postcards from the collection of Marta Janik. During the meeting, we will perform exercises to develop our imagination, using various cutting techniques to compose our own worlds. We will glue: sometimes less, sometimes more. It will be funny, it will be serious. Just like in life.
The workshop will take place at the ‘Środek’ gallery, a unique place on the map of Warsaw. At the same time, Środek is a vintage shop, a place with spirit and verve, full of original clothes and objects located in Praga-Północ, right next to the Museum of Warsaw Praga, at the entrance to the legendary Bazar Różyckiego.
Ul. Targowa 48 Warszawa
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Maria Filek has been taking part in group exhibitions organised by the Wadowice Art Community since 1995. She has presented works in international ‘ex libris’ competitions: Gliwice 2005, Malbork 2007, Šiauliai (Lithuania) 2008, Burgstadt (Germany) 2014. In 2022 she showed her collage at the Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival in Ireland during the international collage exhibition ‘Migration’. Her collages have been printed by, among others, Maintenant magazine published by Three Rooms Press in New York. Her last solo exhibition took place at the Wadowice Cultural Centre in 2022.
She is currently interested in creating collages, which she composes using newspaper cuttings and – uniquely – handmade graphic materials. She feels comfortable working in small graphic forms. Her favourite technique is etching. She has also been interested in ceramics for several years.
Maria Filek: ‘Creating collages can be compared to an arduous journey through a world of fantasy, associations or through a specific theatre of events. In order to create a collage, it is necessary to collect interesting and peculiar materials which, when combined, will create a new image and convey an idea, giving it a unique form.’
Marta Janik is a collage artist. Her work has been printed, among others, by ‘Kwartalnik Przekrój’ and ‘Maintenant’, an independent dada magazine published in New York by Three Rooms Press. Winner of the 2020 Warsaw Prize for Cultural Education (1st place in the category ‘Cultural Institutions’ for the project ‘Collage language’). Her collage ‘God’ recently appeared on the cover of the ‘Przekrój’ – Yearbook. She produced an animated music video by Alicja Majewska for Sony Music Poland. Marta has participated in many exhibitions in the USA, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, among others. In recent years she has been a guest lecturer at the Birr Vintage and Arts Festival in 2021 and 2022, at the ‘New Reality’ collage festival in Cappoquin, Ireland and for the Museum of Caricature in Warsaw, among others.
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World Collage Day is an annual international celebration of collage, celebrated on the second Saturday of May, initiated by Kolaj Magazine in 2018.
Cost: 180 PLN
To take part in the workshop, email: warsztaty@martajanik.com
Participants will receive gifts.
The number of places is limited. The workshop will be intimate, with 10 people at the table.
PLEASE NOTE: An exhibition of collages by Marta Janik is being held at the gallery at the same time. This is a rare opportunity to see Marta Janik’s hand-cut works live. Prints of the artists’ work and Baba with a Fish (do you know her?) will also be available.
Zapraszamy!!!