UpComing. Selected Degree Pieces of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw 2021

UpComing. Selected Degree Pieces of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw 2021 is a unique overview of young art. This special artistic project of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, which serves as a follow-up to ‘Coming Out’, presents the heritage of the generation of artists and designers who are entering the world of art. We present degree pieces from the latest academic year by 31 graduates from all nine faculties of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw: the Faculty of Painting, the Faculty of Graphic Arts, the Faculty of Sculpture, the Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art, the Faculty of Design, the Faculty of Interior Design, the Faculty of Media Art, the Faculty of Stage Design and the Faculty of Management of Visual Culture.

Degree pieces of 31 graduates from nine faculties of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

As during the last twelve (!) editions of ‘Coming Out’ that is so familiar to you, we present the most valuable part of what we have to offer – the degree pieces of our students who are just spreading their wings. This year's scope of interest of the authors includes, among others, post-reality / post-truth, the issue of gender discrimination in design (emancipating jewellery), reflections on identity and its formation in fashion, interpretation of the phenomena of passing and destruction, the fluidity of the artist-recipient relationship, social choreography, the afterimages of political and social transformation, a balanced design and pro-ecological approach to environment protection (in the rural architectural tissue), and… the fermentation process.

Significant role of the student community and… more awards!

UpComing will surprise you not only with a huge portion of art, but also with an extended formula created for the first time with a significant contribution from the student community. The presented degree pieces were selected not only by Programme Councils of Faculties, as has been done before, but also by the student body. In 2021, three main awards are planned in the categories: ‘Art’, ‘Design’ and ‘Science’. The main award
in each category is participation in an exhibition held by the Salon of the Academy gallery and a financial award intended for the artistic and scientific development of laureates. The Student Council will grant a special Award for the first time!

‘… For the first time, the student community has been actively included in processes determining the shape and message of this exhibition, which proves the trust placed in us by the academic community. As the Student Council, we took an active part in preparing the rules of the event and also received the honour of granting a special award. Moreover, every student was allowed to submit a vote for the degree piece they considered to be the best and worth showing as part of UpComing to the general public’, says Daria Mędrzycka, Chair of the Student Council of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

The upcoming community

For the last twelve years, Coming Out – the presentation of the best artistic, design and conservation achievements of students leaving the walls of the Academy – has been inspired by the idea of manifesting the presence of authors ‘here and now’ through art. This year we focus on what is yet to come, what should be looked at and what cannot be missed. UpComing is aimed at welcoming new artists with their particular sensitivity and, as this year’s content supervisor of the exhibition dr hab. Łukasz Ronduda noted, ‘alertness to equality and anti-violence issues, empathy towards persons undergoing various kinds of crisis, great concern about climate change and the catastrophe of human rights’ and inviting them to create the world of art together.

‘The UpComing exhibition is a welcome of the upcoming ones, but also a reversal of roles. The teachers and guides become learners and observers of the upcoming change. And the students become its leaders. A new community – an upcoming community – is taking shape. Exploring the individual subjectivity that arises in the world and shapes the upcoming reality, Giorgio Agamben notices that the word “upcoming” contains a huge potential for change. In fact, all of us are upcoming, all of us are not and will never be fully formed and will always break out of the external rules of belonging. We will always remain in the position of “upcoming ones”’ – we can read in the preface by dr hab. Łukasz Ronduda, the content supervisor of this year’s Upcoming, an art historian, a director, a curator in the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and a professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

Overview of young art

In 2021, the exhibition of works of graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw will be held not only in a new formula, but also a new place – the renovated Czapski Palace, the main seat of the Academy of Fine Arts at 5 Krakowskie Przedmieście Street in Warsaw. The unique portion of the young art of graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw will be available to the public from the 10^th to the 31^st of December 2021. We wish you a positive visual experience!

The Upcoming 2021 team

Content supervisor of the exhibition
dr hab. Łukasz Ronduda, Associate Professor

Organisation of the event and promotion
Publicity and External Relations Office:
Prof. Prot Jarnuszkiewicz Deputy Rector for Publicity and External Relations
Inga Karczewska
Ada Markowska
Michał Opiłowski
Katarzyna Trzeciak
Justyna Jabłońska
Marta Mikołajczak
Adrianna Molka

Exhibition
Project and author’s supervision:
Handsome Studio: Dorota Skalska-Stefańska, Ewa Hiller, Maciej Stefański, Jarosław Bartoszek

Catalogue and visual identification of the project
Tomasz Głowacki
Małgorzata Frąckiewicz

Photographs of graduates
Bartosz Zalewski