GALERIA AT

Our interest in bringing to Krakow presentations from authorial galleries that are active in Poland outside the state exhibition circuit reaches back to 1994, when the BUNKIER SZTUKI hosted an exhibition of works by artists associated with Lublin's Galeria Biala. The idea of putting together such presentations arose from our eagerness to make the closer acquaintance of these authorial galleries, their atmosphere and specific character and to put on display an uncommonly valuable phenomenon in contemporary Polish art: the phenomenon that such places as these exist. We can only admire the authors, the artist-animators, who bring such places into being and direct them, full of commitment and passion for the initiatives they have undertaken, people who see the purpose and the efficacy of their actions.
It is such people who give these galleries their salient individuality which can be seen in their programs, in how they choose the artists and the art they present. Authorial galleries create very particular places for creative thinking to be stimulated, for various ideas of art to be compared and contrasted, for artists to meet, for their achievements to be presented. These are also disinterested places, friendly to artists, bringing artistic circles together-They point to interesting current phenomena in art, reveal individualities and creative personalities, and play a vital role in promotion. The exhibition we are now presenting is a continuation of our original plans. In April of 1997 we are handing over the space of the BUNKIER SZTUKI Gallery to the authorial AT Gallery of Poznan. The materials contained in the catalogue will give the reader some idea of AT Gallery (operated by Tomasz Wilmanski since its foundation in 1982), of its history, its experiences, and its events. and of the imposing number of artists it has presented. This exhibition, to be sure, cannot display the whole wealth of the transformations and vitality of AT Gallery It can and will be an opportunity to encounter the art and the individual, independent creative attitudes of the ten artists invited to Krakow by the organizers of the presentation and its curator Tomasz Wilmanski.
These artists, close to each other in terms of generation, are associated with Poznan, a city with a distinctive temperament of creative vitality. They bring to Krakow's BUNKIER SZTUKI their own, highly individual creations and reflections. Since "the problem of the creative annexation of place has always been one of the most salient aspects of the functioning of AT Gallery we hope that the space of the BUNKIER SZTUKI will become a new, equally inspiring place of creative thought for these Poznan artists. Fully expecting "the unexpected" - the opening of the exhibition is only the beginning, not the end - we wish the public a fascinating journey through the space filled with the art of these Poznan artists. To AT Gallery in the fifteenth year of its existence, we wish energy in the further discovery of what is important and of value for art.

Krzysztof Głuchowski, director of Bunkier Sztuki Gallery