Exhibition organized in coordination with the Polish Modern Art Foundation.

An attempt to present Zuzanna Ginczanka (1917-1944) – a Polish poet of Jewish origin, one of the most talented, yet underrated female writers in the interwar period.

As a poet she published bold lyric poetry on the first pages of „Wiadomości Literackie”, malicious satire in „Szpilki”, and showed her masterful work in the only published volume of her poetry – „O Centaurach” („On Centaurs”).

As a woman – young, brave and beautiful – she was a star of pre-war Warsaw. A friend of Gombrowicz, a favourite of Tuwim. She frequented the liveliest cafes and dance clubs of Warsaw in the ’30s.

As a Jew – on the run after the outbreak of World War II, with one suitcase in hand, hiding, moving from city to city, from house to house. Scared, arrested, humiliated and shot. She was 27 years old.

We present the extraordinary life and work of Zuzanna Ginczanka with the use archival material from the collection of the Museum of Literature in Warsaw – manuscripts and photos from private albums of Ginczanka, as well as with contemporary art, with which in a metaphorical way artists refer to both her life and poetry. The exhibition is an attempt to extract traces of her thoughts and art and to juxtapose them with works of contemporary artists. Artists that contributed to the exhibition: Hubert Czerepok, Alex Czetwertyński, Martha Deskur, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Maja Gordon, Dominic Jałowiński, Angelika Markul, Maldoror, Magdalena Moscow, Krystyna Piotrowska, Slavs and Tatars, and others. Works shown at the exhibition are an attempt bring Ginczanka closer, to talk about her extraordinary creativity, imagination, memories, femininity and tragic biography.

The exhibition catalog texts were prepared by: Agata Araszkiewicz, Izolda Kiec, Jarosław Mikołajewski, Marek Bieńczyk, Maria Janion, Magdalena Sroda, Irena Grudzińska-Gross, et al.