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3УДК: 7.036(4) ББК: 79.1 А43
DOI: 10.18688/aa200-5-65 G. Switek
From Historic Inventory to Contemporary Display: The Collections of the Zachfta — National Gallery of Art in Warsaw
Introduction
In 2009 the Zachçta — National Gallery of Art in Warsaw opened an exhibition of its postwar collection of Polish artists, titled To Pee in a Bun: Works from the Collection of Zachçta — National Gallery of Art [12] (Fig. 1). The title was a quotation from one of the classics of Polish conceptual art, Edward Krasinski (1925-2004), renowned for his spatial interventions with the blue scotch. Krasinski's short, scatological poem "Wouldn't it be fun to pee in a bun" was included in his 1997 exhibition catalogue [3]1. In 2009 the gallery invited Karol Radziszewski, a young Polish artist (at that time 29-year-old) to curate the exhibition of the works from the Zachçta's collection. It was the artist-curator who suggested the title, made a subjective selection of artworks and presented an unusual exhibition concept and design.
Radziszewski included the installation by Krasinski which was made for his aforementioned one-man show held at the Zachçta in 19972. Nowadays, this project is part of the Zachçta's collection of Polish contemporary art (Fig. 2). Krasinski's installation features full-scale photographic replicas of many paintings which were found in the Zachçta's collection before World War I and II, such as Jan Matejko's Battle of Grunwald (Battle of Tannenberg, 1878) — the icon of Polish historicist painting of the late 19th century. Krasinski's work of 1997 was a conceptual game of appropriation played with the Zachçta's historical masterpieces; most of them, including Matejko's Battle of Grunwald, are now on display in the National Museum in Warsaw. Krasinski's blue scotch — "Blue plastic Scotch Tape; the width of 19 mm, length unknown. I stick it everywhere and on everything, horizontally at the height of 130 cm"3 — clasped the paintings' replicas together, creating one artwork, i.e. one art exhibition. In this sense, Krasinski's 1997 installation can be named the artist-curated exhibition of the Zachçta's prewar collection, falling within the history of the "artists as curators", or the history of the artist-created collections, and marked with the gestures of choosing, similar to those by Marcel Du-champ (La Boîte-en-Valise, first version 1941) and Marcel Broodthaers (Musée d'Art Moderne, Department des Aigles, 1968-1972) [6; 4, p. 332].
1 On Krasinski's scatological limericks see also: [11, p. 287].
2 See the photographs of Edward Krasinski's exhibition at the Zachçta Gallery of Art, Warsaw (28.0401.06.1997), in: [3]. For Krasinski's interventions in the Zachçta's exhibition halls in 1997, see also: [20, pp. 152-154].
3 See Krasinski E. Intervention, exhibition catalogue. Pawilon Gallery, 1976. Cited in: [19, p. 34].
Fig. 1. To Pee in a Bun: Works from the Collection of Zachqta — National Gallery of Art (2009), exhibition view. Photo: Zachqta — National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Fig. 2. To Pee in a Bun: Works from the Collection of Zachqta — National Gallery of Art (2009), exhibition view, Edward Krasinski's installation of 1997 (in the background: a photographic replica of Jan Matejko's Battle of Grunwald, 1878). Photo: Zachqta — National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Inspired by Krasinski's quasi-curatorial act, Radziszewski considered the conceptual artist a spiritual patron of his 2009 exhibition. But Radziszewski's idea was not only to replace the blue scotch with Scotch Pink, his own artistic and subversive signature, but also to challenge the dominant museum strategy of presenting "masterpieces from the collection". "Curators try to showcase the pearls of their collections" — Radziszewski argued — "I decided to go with unusual works and artists whose names are largely unknown"4. It is not an accident that I choose the exhibition To Pee in a Bun as an example opening my comments on the status of the Zachfta's collections, created in different periods of time by three different institutions, and on our contemporary strategies of display. The 2009 exhibition alluded to three types of collections that are associated today with the name of Zachqta — National Gallery of Art.
Zachçta's First Collection
Following chronology, the first type is a historical collection of Polish art that was amassed in Warsaw prior to the I World War by the Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts. As a citizen initiative, the society was founded in 1860 in the Russian partition of Poland. It was dissolved just after the World War II and its collection was divided amongst different departments of the National Museum in Warsaw [10; 17, p. 359]. Today gallery's function is primarily as a place of temporary exhibitions; Zachçta — National Gallery of Art does not present its collections on permanent display.
Some traces of the first permanent, national collection — created at the time when Poland did not exist as an independent state and at the parallel time of formation of nation-states which affected the proliferation of museums in Western Europe [8; 17, p. 273] — are still preserved in the very name of the institution. "Zachçta" means "encouragement" in Polish; this word alludes to the name of the pre-war Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the
4 From A to C and Back Again: A Conversation between a Young Artist and the Curator of the Exhibition, in: [12, p. 3].
Fig. 3. A Fragment of the Collection 2 (1995), exhibition Fig. 4. A Fragment of the Collection 3 (1998), view with the works by Henryk Stazewski. Photo: exhibition view with Artur Zmijewski's 40 Drawers
Zachqta — National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (1995) in the foreground. Photo: Zachqta — National
Gallery of Art, Warsaw
founder of both the collection and the gallery's building, erected in 1900 in Warsaw. Moreover, the Zachfta's largest exhibition hall is still named after Jan Matejko. His aforementioned Battle of Grunwald was on permanent display in this hall during the interwar period.
Thus, Krasinski's conceptual intervention of 1997 — recalled by Radziszewski in 2009 — created a "hauntological" situation (in a Derridian understanding of something that is contradictory in appearance and calls for our re-interpretation of its visible-invisible body [5, pp. 156-160]). Krasinski presented the photographic re-enactment of the original museumlike space of the Zachfta which exists today only as an exhibition hall with no original 19th-century paintings. Radziszewski re-created this re-enactment in his own curatorial project.
Zach^ta's Second Collection
The second type of the collection associated today with the Zachfta — National Gallery of Art in Warsaw is the one that was accumulated between 1949 and 1992, that is during the period of existence of the Central Bureau for Artistic Exhibitions. The Central Bureau was located in the building erected in 1900 by the Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, badly damaged during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 and restored after the II World War [15; 17, p. 357]. The activities of the Central Bureau were fully subject to the political and economic control of the Ministry of Culture and Art. The statutory responsibilities of this central institution were generally defined as the popularisation of art and the organisation of artistic life over the whole territory of the Polish People's Republic (1947-1989), including: "the purchasing of works of art" from contemporary artists, "the negotiations of the sale of works of art shown at exhibitions organized by the Bureau", "the inventory [...] of works of contemporary art ordered by the Ministry" [9; 17, p. 359].
The Central Bureau accumulated works of art in the Zachfta's gallery building, but without any overall conception of a permanent collection of Polish contemporary art. The purchases were often selected on grounds which had nothing to do with a clearly defined artistic profile. Works were bought from exhibitions (i.e. solo exhibitions of Polish artists presented at Zachfta, or the group exhibitions of the members of the Union of Polish Artists), competitions and sometimes simply as an official form of financial aid to artists. The funds for pur-
chase came from the Ministry of Culture and Art: from the Fund for the Development of the Visual Arts, or through the national ordering system of the Art Department in the Ministry [14; 17, p. 365].
In the 1960s and 1970s the Central Bureau for Artistic Exhibitions located in the Zachfta's building became something of a transitory staging post for purchases ordered by the Ministry and their subsequent distribution amongst other institutions, such as state museums, public buildings, or the headquarters of the Polish People's Army (the latter example is connected with the exhibitions celebrating the anniversaries of the Polish People's Army, held regularly at Zachqta in 1963, 1968, 1973 and 19785). Briefly speaking, the post-war collection of the Zachqta — the gallery of the Central Bureau for Artistic Exhibitions, until the dissolution of this institution at the time of political transformation of the state after 1989 — is a bizarre conglomerate mirroring the meanders of official cultural policy of the Polish People's Republic.
In this sense, the 2009 exhibition To Pee in a Bun was conceived as a provocative display of an "unwanted heritage" [13]. Radziszewski's curatorial experiment included paintings and rarely displayed graphic works, mainly dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. As we recall, the artist-curator intended to challenge the strategy of presenting masterpieces from the collection. As a consequence, he focused on the seldom, or never, shown "storeroom mass". Moreover, Radziszewski claimed that he was embodying a curator as an "unfulfilled artist." As he argued: "Curators are the ones who [...] manipulate the works being displayed, creating their own narratives from pre-existing works, at the same time disregarding their previous context"6. He also admitted: "I treated other artists works as elements of a larger whole, like tubes of paint, from which I have to squeeze out colours in order to paint one complex painting. [...] I created the exhibition as if I were planning a giant picture - relying most on intuition"7. Thus, the artist's concept resulted with a very aesthetic whole, composed of some works of questionable artistic values, to put it mildly. In one of the exhibition halls, for example, the paintings, placed against a colourful background, were mounted from the largest to the smallest irrespectively of their chronology order or their iconography. As the artist-curator explained: "it was the easiest way to organize them"8.
On the one hand, the exhibition To Pee in a Bun was appreciated for implementing the strategy of artist-as-curator9. Under the mask of irony — not quite accepted by the artists whose works were presented — the viewers could discover the important issues tackled by this exhibition. Indeed, it embraced the issue of working with the historical collection, and the question of the official art production as a result of the cultural policy of the Polish People's Republic. On the other hand, this experiment provoked strong criticism, directed both against the artist and the gallery. Radziszewski was criticised, for example, for acting in an "unceremonious manner" as a curator, or for treating artworks as purely visual objects as if there were no social, economic and political history behind them [13].
See Galeria Zachçta. Kalendarium wystaw 1950-2000, in: [17, pp. 332-336].
From A to C and Back Again [12, p. 2].
Ibidem, [12, pp. 2-3].
Ibidem, [l2, p. 8].
For the concept of artists-as-curator see for example: [4; 17, pp. 329-346].
6
7
8
Fig. 5. This Is Not an Exhibition (2008), exhibition view Fig. 6. Collections (2016), exhibition view. Photo: with Katarzyna Kozyra's Pyramid of Animals (1993). Zachqta — National Gallery of Art, Warsaw Photo: Zachqta — National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Zach^ta's Third Collection
Let us now elaborate on the third type of collection amassed in the Zachfta — National Gallery of Art. Radziszewski's exhibition, as we recall, included one of the most spectacular projects by Edward Krasinski, which had been produced especially for his exhibition held at Zachfta in 1997 (Fig. 2). This installation may also be considered a symbol of the new opening in what concerns collecting Polish contemporary art. The history of Zachfta's collection took a new turn in 1992 when the Central Bureau for Artistic Exhibitions was disbanded and the building housed a new institution, the Zachfta State Gallery of Art, later renamed: National Gallery of Art. However, one of the statutory requirements of Zachfta nonetheless remains "the collection, inventory and upkeep of works of contemporary art" [16; 17, p. 362].
In 2018 Zachfta's current collection numbers 3,598 works: 709 paintings, 97 sculptures, 31 installations, 2,107 prints, 313 drawings, 236 photographs and 236 videos, including 163 deposits10. These data include the works bought by the Central Bureau for Artistic Exhibitions (the collection uneven from an artistic perspective but intriguing from a political one) as well as the most recent acquisitions. Except for 57 works by foreign artists, it is a collection of Polish contemporary art (despite the gallery's international programme). The works document a number of important phenomena in Polish art from the late 1940s until today, including different types of geometric abstraction, the metaphorical-expressive movement (a Polish version of surrealist tendencies in modern art), the new figurative movement of the 1980s, and the most recent tendencies, such as the so-called "critical art" of the 1990s. During the 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century the Zachfta has succeeded in putting together a collection of works by middle generation and young generation of Polish artists, such as, internationally renowned Pawel Althamer (b. 1967), Miroslaw Balka (b. 1958), Katarzyna Kozyra (b. 1963), Zbigniew Libera (b. 1959) and Artur Zmijewski (b. 1966). The most recent acquisitions are primarily of works by Polish contemporary artists exhibited at the gallery and
10 Raport Roczny 2017 (Annual Report 2017), ed. zespol Zachçty. Warszawa, Zachçta - Narodowa Galeria Sztuki Publ., 2018, p. 125.
of works co-produced by the Zachqta, whether in-house or for the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Today's collection is small yet quite mobile. In 2017, for example, 101 works were on loan in Poland and abroad. One of the most renowned works in the collection, Alina Sza-pocznikow's sculpture Tumours personified (1971) travelled to KUMU Art Museum in Tallin and to the Hepworth Wakefield art museum, for the first UK retrospective of Szapocznikow, entitled Human Landscapes (21.10.2017-28.01.2018)11.
Zach^ta's Fragments of the Collection
The Zachqta — National Gallery of Art does not have a permanent exposition but organises cyclical presentations of its collection, initiated in the 1990s, when the director of the gallery was Anda Rottenberg (1993-2001). In 1994 the Zachfta's storage rooms were being reorganized; as a result, a part of the painting collection was presented. The exhibition was titled A Fragment of the Collection and included about 100 works by 42 artists, such as Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990) or Stefan Gierowski (b. 1925). A year later the Zachqta gallery presented A Fragment of the Collection 2 (Fig. 3), with a selection of works from the constructivist and geometric movement, acquired already by the Central Bureau for Artistic Exhibitions. During the 1970s, the gallery obtained, for example, a large and valuable collection of the paintings by Henryk Stazewski (1894-1988), one of the most renowned Polish avant-garde artists representative of geometric abstraction. The third Fragment of the Collection (Fig. 4) was shown in 1998. It included works gathered in the years 1980-1990 which were mostly either donated or deposited by the artists. Katarzyna Kozyra's celebrated Pyramid of Animals (1993) was shown in A Fragment of the Collection 3, as well as Artur Zmijewski's diploma work 40 Drawers (1995).
Kozyra's Pyramid of Animals, amongst other works, was also shown ten years later, in a different display context. In 2008 the Zachqta organized another presentation of its collection titled This Is Not an Exhibition, which was in fact the exhibition evolving around a theme of collection care12. One of the exhibition spaces was arranged to look like a museum storage room. The curators from the Department of Collection and Inventories have gathered collection items in the same manner in which they are usually stored — in crates, on racks (Fig. 5). The second room became a place of working with objects such as complex-assembly installations, large-format works difficult to store and transport, or objects presenting conservation problems — it is worth emphasising that the Zachqta gallery has no conservation department; most major works are commissioned in other institutions. The viewers responded to the project This Is Not an Exhibition with enthusiasm, because they could observe these activities, taking part in meetings with artists who were invited to discuss their technique and material aspects of their work. At the same time, the curators of the collection had an opportunity to take photographs of large-format items and to film the assembly of works.
Collection building is a significant part of the Zachqta gallery's contemporary mission, however, it is not the institution's main activity. The number of annual acquisitions varies depend-
11 Raport Roczny 2017, p. 125. See also: https://hepworthwakefield.org/whats-on/alina-szapocznikow-human-landscapes/ (accessed 10 December 2018).
12 To nie jest wystawa / This Is Not an Exhibition, Zachqta — National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (26.024.05.2008), https://zacheta.art.pl/pl/wystawy/to-nie-jest-wystawa? (accessed 10 December 2018).
ing on funds obtained through the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage programme Collections — Regional Collections of Contemporary Art, funds offered by sponsors and generated by crowdfunding. The 2016 presentation of a fragment of the Zachfta's collection, with a simple title Collections (Fig. 6), was dedicated mainly to the gallery's sponsors13. The 2016 acquisitions — e. g. the works by Anna Jermolaewa (b. 1970), Wojciech Gilewicz (b. 1974), Karol Radziszewski (b. 1980), Iza Tarasewicz (b. 1981) and Monika Zawadzki (b. 1977) — were presented in the context of works which has been in the Zachfta's deposit for years, such as the paintings by Edward Dwurnik (1943-2018). The plural noun — Collections — alluded to another important Polish collection of contemporary art, i.e. the Arsenal Gallery in Bialystok, which participated in the exhibition. The collection from Bialystok, like the one from the Zachqta, reflects the exhibition programme of the institution; it includes a strong representation of East and Central European art with a special focus on the art from Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova.
In November 2018 another exhibition of a fragment of the collection was open at the Zachqta gallery, titled Very Diverse and Very Exquisite: Graphic Works from the Collection of Zachqta14. The curators from the Department of Collections and Inventories presented a selection of the 2,107 prints amassed in the gallery since the 1950s, which reflects exhibition programme of the Central Bureau for Artistic Exhibitions. Many successful graphic art exhibitions took place in the Zachqta gallery during the period of CBAE, including national exhibition, anniversary exhibitions as well as individual shows; the 1st National Exhibition of Graphic Arts and Drawing (1956), Polish Exhibition of Graphic Works (1967) or the Graphic Arts in the Polish People's Republic (1971) are cases in point. The curators' intention was to re-define the historical context of the medium. On the one hand, graphic works are the most numerous items in the Zachfta's collection; they also occupied an important position in the hierarchy of the visual arts in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. On the other hand, they are the least known works in the gallery's collection and have been gradually marginalised as a genre over the last three decades.
A decision to present — once again — part of the Central Bureau's collection coincided with an academic research project which was carried out in the years 2014-2018 at the Zachqta in cooperation with the Institute of Art History at the University of Warsaw. The project titled History of Exhibitions at the Zachqta — Central Bureau for Artistic Exhibitions in 1949-1970 included the examination of selected exhibitions held at the Zachqta, grouped in thematic blocks which define the main directions of the exhibition policy of the institution [21]. The history of exhibitions organized by the gallery is closely interconnected with the profile of the Zachfta's collection. As was already mentioned, during the period of existence of the Central Bureau artworks were often bought from the exhibitions held in the
13 Kolekcje/Collections, Zachqta — National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (5.12.2016-1.01.2017), https:// zacheta.art.pl/en/wystawy/kolekcje?setlang=1 (accessed 10 December 2018).
14 Bardzo roznie i bardzo dobrze. Grafiki z kolekcji Zachgty / Very Diverse and Very Exquisite: Graphic Works from the Collection of Zachqta, Zachqta — National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (9.11.2018-20.01.2019)/ Available at: https://zacheta.art.pl/en/wystawy/bardzo-roznie-i-bardzo-dobrze-grafiki-z-kolekcji-zachety?setlang=1 (accessed 10 December 2018). See also: " Very Diverse and Very Exquisite": Graphics from the Collection of Zachqta, in: Karaszewska D.; Jurkiewicz M.; Mis M.; Pienkos J. (eds.). Zachqta: September, October, November, December 2018. Warsaw, Zachqta — National Gallery of Art Publ., 2018, pp. 44-49.
gallery. Once more, the history of the institution — which mirrors the meanders of Polish cultural policy — becomes an important point of reference for the current presentation of the Zachfta gallery's collection.
Conclusion
As concluding remarks, let us return to the 2009 exhibition To Pee in a Bun: Works from the Collection of Zach^ta — National Gallery of Art (Fig. 1-2). The most provocative of all contemporary displays of the Zach^ta's collection, the show stirred the Polish art milieu to discuss the current status and the future of the collections of contemporary art. In the course of this discussion some important questions were raised, and they are still valid for the institution's policy — as the 2016 exhibition Collections, or the 2018 exhibition Very Diverse and Very Exquisite: Graphic Works from the Collection of Zachgta clearly demonstrate.
How could we present today the official art production typical for the times of the Polish People's Republic, especially the one which does not fall within a category of the avant-gardes? How did the processes of artistic production, distribution and public presentation look like during that period — given the fact that they affected collection building? And how could these processes be represented today within a framework of a collection exhibition? How could we find a balance between the subversive strategy of "artist-as-curator" and the more traditional ways of presenting artworks from the gallery's collection, based on art historical research? How could we negotiate between the museum strategy of presenting "masterpieces from the collection" (or the "most recent acquisitions", "new works") and the current fascination with the history of exhibitions and political aspects of Zachfta's historical collections — while accepting the argument that "the history of exhibitions is a history of politics"?15 Hopefully, not only the theories of new museology, but also the gallery's exhibition practice will bring us some refreshing answers.
References
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Title. From Historic Inventory to Contemporary Display: The Collection of the Zachqta — National Gallery of Art in Warsaw
Author. Gabriela Switek — dr. habil., chair of art theory. Institute of Art History, University of Warsaw, ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28 00-927 Warsaw, Poland; director plenipotentiary for scientific affairs. Zachqta — National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, pl. Malachowskiego 3, 00-916 Warsaw, Poland. [email protected] Abstract. The history of the post-war collection of the Zachqta — National Gallery of Art in Warsaw is one of meanders of Polish cultural policy. Today gallery's function is primarily as a place of exhibition (Kunsthalle). The collection of Polish art that was amassed here prior to the II World War now constitutes a substantial element in the inventories of the National Museum in Warsaw. However, one of the statutory requirements of Zachqta nonetheless remains "the collection, inventory and storage of contemporary works of art". Zach^ta's current collection numbers 3598 works (Annual Report 2017). The works document a number of important phenomena in Polish art from the late 1940s until today, including different types of geometric abstraction, the metaphorical-expressive movement (a Polish version of surrealist tendencies), the new figurative movement, the Polish Colourist aesthetics, and the most recent tendencies, such as the so-called "critical art" of the 1990-2000s. In 1949 the Central Office for Art Exhibitions was founded and located in the Zachqta building. The collection accumulated during the Central Office for Art Exhibitions period of existence (until 1992) is not one that had a well-defined profile. Works were bought from exhibitions, competitions and sometimes simply as a form of aid to artists. The funds for purchase came from the Ministry of Culture and Art: from the Fund for the Development of the Visual Arts, or through the national ordering system of the Art Department in the Ministry. However, during the 1970s, works began to be acquired for the purposes of exhibitions and education. The most recent acquisitions are primarily of works by Polish contemporary artists exhibited at the gallery and of works co-produced by the Zachqta, whether inhouse or elsewhere (e.g. for the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale). During the 1990-2000s the Zachqta has succeeded in putting together a collection of
works by middle generation and young generation of Polish artists (such as, internationally renowned Pawel Athamer, Miroslaw Balka, Katarzyna Kozyra, Zbigniew Libera and Artur Zmijewski). Collection building is a significant part of the gallery's contemporary policy. This is made possible by funds offered by sponsors (such as the ING Polish Art Foundation), funds obtained through the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage programme Collections — Regional Collections of Contemporary Art, and also funds generated by Zach^ta specially for the purpose or donations of works by artists (crowdfunding). Works from the collection are also included in the Zach^ta's exhibition and educational programme. The focus of the paper is on the transition from the Zach^ta's historical inventories to the issues of collection's contemporary forms of display.
Keywords: Zach^ta, Polish art history, contemporary art
Название статьи. От запасников к современной выставке: коллекция Национальной галереи искусств Захента в Варшаве
Сведения об авторе. Щвитек Габриэла — dr. habil., заведующая кафедрой теории искусства. Институт истории искусства, Варшавский университет. ул. Краковские Пржедмиесщие 26/28 00-927, Варшава, Польша; начальник отдела документации. Национальная галерея искусств Захента, пл. Ма-лаховскиего 3, 00-916, Варшава, Польша. [email protected]
Аннотация. История коллекции послевоенного искусства Национальной галереи искусств За-хента отражает все перипетии культурной политики Польши. В настоящее время галерея главным образом выполняет функцию выставочного пространства. Коллекция польского искусства, собранная здесь до Второй мировой войны, сейчас занимает видное место в фондах Национального музея в Варшаве. Вместе с тем одной из прописанных в уставе обязанностей Захенты остаётся «коллекционирование, инвентаризация и хранение объектов современного искусства». По данным ежегодного отчёта Захенты (2017), её собрание насчитывает 3598 произведений. Эти работы отражают многие важные явления в польском искусстве с конца 1940-х гг. по сей день, включая различные типы геометрической абстракции, метафорико-экспрессивное движение (польская вариация сюрреалистических тенденций), новое фигуративное течение, эстетику «польских колористов», а также новейшие тренды, в том числе так называемое «критическое искусство» 1990-2000-х гг. В 1949 г. в здании Захенты было основано Центральное управление художественными выставками. Коллекция, собранная в годы работы Управления (до 1992 г.), не отличается последовательным подходом. Работы приобретались на выставках, конкурсах, а иногда и просто в качестве помощи художникам. Средства на покупку выделялись Министерством культуры и искусства Польши: из Фонда развития визуальных форм искусства или через систему госзаказов. С 1970-х гг. работы начали приобретаться для выставок с просветительскими целями. Последние покупки музея — главным образом работы современных польских художников, выставляемые в галерее, а также произведения, созданные при участии Захенты как для собственных, так и для внешних проектов (например, для Польского павильона на Венецианской биеннале). В 1990-2010 гг. Захенте удалось собрать коллекцию работ молодого и среднего поколений польских художников, включая таких всемирно признанных авторов, как П. Альтхамер, М. Балка, К. Козыра, З. Либера и А. Жмиевский. Пополнение коллекции составляет важную часть текущей политики галереи. Её осуществление стало возможным благодаря спонсорам (например, фонду ING Polish Art Foundation), финансированию от Министерства культуры и программы сохранения национального наследия «Коллекции — региональные собрания современного искусства», а также за счёт средств, собранных самой галереей, и работ, переданных в дар художниками (краудфандинг). Предметы искусства из этой коллекции тоже включены в экспозиционную и образовательную программу Захенты. В статье рассматривается история коллекционирования музея в контексте вопросов современного экспонирования.
Ключевые слова: Захента, искусство Польши, современное искусство, формирование коллекции
