Open Form: Oskar Hansen, Art, Architecture and Film

Open Form is a concept formulated by Oskar Hansen (1922–2005), architect, artist and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw affiliated with the Team 10. Process, interactivity, the revision of the artist-audience hierarchy as well as a desire to set individual subjectivity free are only some of the ideas hidden behind the concept of Open Form. The impact of Oskar Hansen's theory on architecture, urban planning, experimental film and visual arts in post-war Poland and Europe continues to influence artists and architects who regard their practice as a form of social experimentation. The screening and discussion presents film works both by Hansen's students and by artists of the later generations including work by Paweł Althamer, Paweł Kwiek, KwieKulik, Zbigniew Libera, Artur Żmijewski, among others.

The screening is part of the 12th KINOTEKA  Polish Film Festival (24 April – 30 May) and presented in partnership with Filmoteka Muzeum of the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw. Filmoteka Muzeum is the online film archive of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw offering free online access to more than 500 films by Polish visual artists.

Introductory presentation on Oscar Hansen by Łukasz Mojsak with extracts from:
Grupa KwieKulik, Forma Otwarta – Pracownia Hansena / Hansen’s Studio, Poland 1971, 5min

Piotr Andrejew, Po omacku /Groping One’s Way, Poland 1975, 12 min
Grupa KwieKulik, Forma Otwarta – Ulica i trybuna przed PKiN / Tribune of Honour, Poland 1971, 3 min
Artur Żmijewski, Sen Warszawy / Dream of Warsaw, Poland 2005, 3 min (edited excerpt)
Paweł Althamer, Bródno 2000, Poland 2000, 6 min
Paweł Kwiek, Linia / Line, Poland 1978, 3 min
Artur Żmijewski, Na ślepo / Blindly, Poland 2010, 19 min
Kowalnia, Obszar Wspólny, Obszar Własny – XI, Molska / Common Space, Individual Space - XI, Molska, Poland 2007, 10 min
KwieKulik Group, Forma Otwarta – gra na twarzy aktorki / Open Form – Game on an Actress’s Face, Poland 1971, 3 min

Programme Duration: 60 min

Curated by Łukasz Mojsak with George Clark, Assistant Curator, Film and Kasia Redzisz, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern

David Crowley is a professor in the School of Humanities at the Royal College of Art, London, where he runs the Critical Writing in Art & Design MA.

Karol Sienkiewicz is an art historian and art critic based in Warsaw and Vancouver.

Łukasz Mojsak, art historian, linguist, collaborator of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw dealing with research and propagation of artists’ moving image within the Filmoteka Muzeum department.