Gallery 2
24.04 – 23.05.99

The exhibition of Tomek Sikora entitled Transparent Things (after Nabokov) shows several dozens of objects which the artist received from different people that he met during his life. They are usually people close to him but also people he met accidentally during his extensive travels around the world which are part of his professional activity as a photographer.

Tomek Sikora: "Transparent Things", Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw

These objects are accompanied by short stories explaining why they were or are especially important to their owners. Tomek Sikora also places the portrait of each contributor on the object in such a way that it would neither destort its basic shape nor change its function.

Tak skomponowana wystawa jest swoistym "inwentarzem"tych przedmiotów poprzez to, że należały one kiedyś do osób szczególnie ważnych dla autora. Jest jednocześnie próbą interpretacji zjawiska przenikania osobistych biografii do świadomości szerszej za pomocą nadania im charakteru nośnika pamięci. Wyjaśnienie, dlaczego jakaś rzecz ma wielką wartość dla danej osoby powoduje, że wiecej dowiadujemy się o niej samej, niż o przedmiocie, który jest tylko materialnym śladem naszej egzystencji.

Tomek Sikora: "Transparent Things", Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw

This way composed exhibition is a specific "inventory" of objects which once belonged to the people specially significant to the author. It is also an attempt to interpret the phenomenon of penetration of particular biographies into broader consciousness by means of attributing the objects with the feature of memory carrier. The explanation of the reason why the given object was extremely important to its owner makes it possible for us to learn even more about that person than the object itself which is only a tangible trace of our existence.

Tomek Sikora: "Transparent Things", Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw

It is not possible, after all, to photograph everything but by combining photography with the object we can achieve more profound interpretation of the past of even the individual life stories. This is the main area that Tomek Sikora explores. This time he uses photography in a more refined and sublime way. The photographs of each contributing person are "inscribed" in the object. They are stuck directly to them. In a somewhat twisted way they are recorded in our memory strongly unveiling the load of magical sphere which is contained in them when confronted with the objects once belonging to these people.

Marek Grygiel

Marek Grygiel and Tomek Sikora "Transparent Things" - exhibition opening Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw. Photo Michal Mutor/GW