BWA Contemporary Art Gallery in Katowice

Samuel Beckett makes an inquiry into the meaning of life and into a man's private drama in the context of civilisation, time and place. His play Not I asks existential questions about women too. A woman's mechanical life leads her to think that she has been punished by God. Without any attempt to discover the reason, she knows that she experiences neither suffering nor enjoyment and believes there is something important that she needs to say.

A human’s life and significance depends on culture and religion, and the importance of women varies considerably depending on the locality. In the western world, the woman’s role has been well recognised. The fight for equal rights mainly relates to the problem of men deciding for women in issues such as access to equal job positions or having a child, as well as to a woman’s credibility in the career-family area.
Why has sexuality — atavistic eternal energy — become the subject of manipulation and, in recent times, why has it also come to be part of everyday scenery, especially in the media, where it is used in commercials that sway both men and women? You might think that this issue has absolutely nothing to do with you. Well, the aim of the project is to demonstrate how each of us has been entangled in this fundamental aspect of modern life, to prove that discussions about women’s myths and truths concern you, affecting your functioning in the world. There is a dream about getting rid of this whiff of taboo and thus bettering the situation of us all. How much freedom is enjoyed by women in theocracies? There are tools and means that women can use in their fight for freedom.
Female sexuality has created numerous problems — starting from the myth about Adam and Eve, to witch hunts, prostitution, sexual harassment and rape. It is the eternal factor behind most controversies; the reason for Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Paradise. It is the cause of vertigo and fuel for desire; it could be a trigger for beautiful passion or harassment. Sexuality can be manipulated, and the demand for sex leads to prostitution. It is an atavistic human need, and blocking it might result in neurasthenia. Sexuality is bound to stir intense emotions forever.
However, it is sexuality, that very much desired and hated element of female allure, that has been used by the western world’s icon — the queen of pop music — Madonna, in her protest against the aggression against Malala Yousafzai, a fourteen year old Pakistani girl who has campaigned for education for women.
Women’s access to education, freedom, political, social, religious and cultural rights is not ‘none of our business’. Shirin Neshat’s art is recognised all over the world. We can no longer say that we know nothing about the world that lies outside ‘ours’. Nowadays, in the West, we are lucky to enjoy the state of relative equality.
At the same time, the position of decision-making and respected women is not so obvious in the western world. How many outstanding women artists, counterparts of Marina Abramowić or Shirin Neshat, are there? Would Katarzyna Kobro have spared her works, had she been a man?
The project emphasises on demonstrating the problems and the consequences of gender inequality worldwide. The relative lack of taboo in the western world stands in contrast with the lack of many rights, including the right to education, elsewhere. The project addresses the myth of equal rights for men and women, the unavoidable choice between home and work, and finally, the importance of an artistic discourse about women.

Kasia Kujawska-Murphy

• Organizers