Art exhibitions at the East of Culture – Different Sounds festival

The work of Wiktor Wołkow is something more than documentation of reality. It is a story about the deep bond between human beings and nature, about an attentive gaze at the surrounding world, and about the ability to perceive beauty in its simplicity. His photographs create a unique visual archive of Podlasie: a record of the natural and cultural landscape of the region, which has undergone changes over the years.

Today, the artist’s legacy is collected and presented by the Wiktor Wołkow Museum of Photography in Turośń Kościelna – a branch of the Podlaskie Museum opened in March 2024. The museum’s patron, the most outstanding photographic artist of the Podlasie region, left behind several tens of thousands of negatives and transparencies, as well as hundreds of photographs. The museum not only preserves this extraordinary heritage but also introduces visitors to the natural and cultural richness of Podlasie, fostering sensitivity to the beauty of nature and the art of landscape photography.

The presented exhibition is an invitation to encounter the Podlasie of years past, seen through the eyes of Wiktor Wołkow – an artist who became its guardian, chronicler, and ambassador.

The exhibition was prepared in cooperation with the Wiktor Wołkow Museum of Photography in Turośń Kościelna – a branch of the Podlaskie Museum in Białystok.

About the artist

Wiktor Wołkow (born 4 April 1942 in Białystok, died 27 March 2012 in Supraśl) was one of Poland’s most outstanding nature and landscape photographers. For more than 40 years, he photographed north-eastern Poland. The valleys of the Narew and Biebrza rivers, and the Knyszyn Forest were his favourite locations, which he tirelessly explored with a camera in his hand.

He was a member of the Association of Polish Art Photographers and the Białystok Photographic Society. He was the author of around 100 exhibitions and many photographic albums. He received more than 100 national and international awards.

About the artist

Benediktas Januševičius (born 1973) – poet, prose writer, translator, photographer, and cultural animator. He has edited cultural periodicals, including “Literatūra ir menas” and “Metai”, as well as festival almanacs. He is an organiser of literary events and numerous exhibitions of visual poetry. He photographs and creates film documentation of meetings with artists and writers. In 2002, together with D. Pocevičius, he founded the portal www.tekstai.lt, and since 2014 he has run the portal www.slinktys.lt. He is a recipient of several literary awards, including the Young Yatvingian Award. His works have been translated into English, Latvian, Polish, Russian, Belarusian, Slovenian, and Spanish. Polish translations have been published in the journal “Tekstualia”. He lives in the countryside in the Anykščiai district.

Zuzanna Mrozikowa – Polish and Lithuanian studies graduate, translator, and home educator. She works at a library for children and young people. Her translations and articles have been published, among others, in “Borussia”, “Dekada Literacka”, “Kartki”, “Korespondencja z Ojcem”, “Literatura na Świecie”, “Tekstualia”, “Tygodnik Powszechny”, “Zeszyty Literackie”, and “Znad Wilii”.

In all the fields of art he practiced, Piotr Marek was a perfectionist, but above all he was a person curious about new phenomena and an open-minded observer who approached everything with a sense of distance. Thanks to this, the quality of his work has a timeless and unprecedented dimension in terms of pioneering spirit and courage. He was a rebel and a provocateur who approached the material of his expression with remarkable humility.

Despite the unfavorable conditions of life and artistic work in the People’s Republic of Poland, Piotr Marek was a very prolific artist. In 1971, he was accepted into the Association of Polish Artists and Designers (ZPAP) as the youngest member in history, even though he did not hold the required formal qualifications. His paintings were purchased by art dealers from all over Western Europe. To this day, a large portion of Piotr Marek’s paintings remain abroad in private collections.

Apart from a few small exhibitions, 40 years after his death, Piotr Marek has still not been given a major retrospective exhibition, which we aim to change in Lublin by bringing his work as widely to the public as possible. At the Gardzienice Gallery throughout July, visitors will be able to see paintings and graphic works by Piotr Marek as well as the visual legacy connected with the artistic output and activity of the band Düpą. The exhibition will also feature unique video materials, photographs, and documents from the band’s period of activity, as well as original recordings presented as sound installations.

The exhibition titled “Zemsta Hegara” is curated by Mikołaj Kownacki – a musician and visual artist, member of the band Pop Magic – the label that released the Düpą album (2025), son of Krzysztof Kownacki – a friend and collaborator of Piotr Marek.

Availability

On June 4 at 12:00-13:00 we invite you to a guided tour of the exhibition “Hegar’s Revenge” for blind and visually impaired people. During the guided tour, we will explore the exhibition not only through storytelling and audio description, but also through selected sensory elements. We will talk about Piotr Marek’s works, his imagination, experiments, rebellious gestures, and his extraordinary artistic consistency.

Admission is free. You can sign up up to three days before the event (June 1) via email: wolontariat@warsztatykultury.pl. Please provide the first and last names of the participants, your phone number, and information on whether assistance is required (in reaching the event location and/or during the guided tour). We will contact the registered participants by phone to arrange the details of the assistance. The number of participants is limited.

The event will take place in a space that is not architecturally accessible (stairs).