Harte Zeiten/Ciężkie Czasy (Hard Times)

Harte Zeiten/Ciężkie Czasy is a Polish-German project which aims to promote dialogue and cooperation through exhibitions, studio visits and a symposium. Behind it is the desire, at a time of an increasingly acute political and social climate, to highlight – as a counterbalance – common European values based on humanist traditions. Art is always a reflection of social attitudes. It also raises questions and stimulates reflection, for example on how we, both as individuals and as a society at large, can meet the challenges of the present and the future. The twenty artists taking part in the project address the theme of Harte Zeiten / Ciężkie Czasy in an extremely diverse way – from isolation, the search for identity and belonging to social groups, through homeland, Europe and environmental degradation, to the ability to navigate the world of information and progressive social change.
The artists were selected through an open call for participation. The exhibitions and accompanying events are also a great opportunity to expand contacts between institutions and artists from Bydgoszcz and Mannheim, which have been partner cities for thirty years now, and to continuously develop Polish-German cooperation.
Harte Zeiten / Ciężkie Czasy is the fruit of the collaboration between Municipal Gallery bwa in Bydgoszcz, Künstlerbund Baden-Württemberg and PORT25 – Raum für Gegenwartskunst in Mannheim. The team working on the project: Kim Behm, Simone Demandt, Agnieszka Gorzaniak, Karolina Leśnik-Patelczyk, Clemens Ottnad, Yvonne Vogel, Julia Wenz (jury), Tomasz Zieliński. The exhibitions will take place simultaneously in PORT25 – Raum für Gegenwartskunst in Mannheim and in the Municipal Gallery bwa in Bydgoszcz. The first part is planned for 30.07–12.09.2021. Then the exhibitions will swap places – the works shown in Mannheim will be presented in Bydgoszcz, and the exhibition from Bydgoszcz will go to Mannheim (24.09–07.11.2021). A total of twenty artists (ten Polish and ten German) will present their work as part of this project, with each exhibition featuring the work of five Polish and five German artists. Each presentation will be accompanied by an extensive programme including guided tours, talks with artists and workshops. In addition, there will be a performance weekend and an international symposium in September. A catalogue will also be published at the end of the project.
The project Harte Zeiten / Ciężkie Czasy takes place under the honorary patronage of the Mayor of Bydgoszcz, Rafał Bruski, and under the patronage of the Mayor of Mannheim, Dr. Peter Kurz. Honorary patronage was also taken by the Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr Jarosław Włodzimierz Kuropatwiński.

List of artists participating in the exhibitions:
Elisabeth Bereznicki (DE), Julia Braciszewska (PL), Isa Dahl (DE), Tomasz Dobiszewski (PL), Kuba Elwertowski (PL), Uwe Ernst (DE), Marta Filipiak and Łukasz Owczarzak (PL), Martina Geiger-Gerlach (DE), Piotr Grodzki (PL), Sophie Innmann (DE), Jan Jansen (DE), Ulrika Jäger (DE), Tanja Niederfeld (DE), Krzysztof Nowicki (PL), Grzegorz Pleszyński (PL), Stefanie Reling-Burns (DE), Marta Szymielewicz (PL), Dorota Ścisła (PL), Katinka Theis (DE), Sebastian Trzoska (PL)

List of artists on show in Bydgoszcz from 30.07–12.09.2021:
Bereznicki Elisabeth
Dahl Isa
Filipiak Marta & Owczarzak Łukasz
Grodzki Piotr
Jäger Ulrika
Jansen Jan
Nowicki Krzysztof
Pleszyński Grzegorz
Reling-Burns Stefanie
Szymielewicz Marta

List of artists on show in Mannheim from 30.07–12.09.2021:
Braciszewska Julia
Dobiszewski Tomasz
Elwertowski Kuba
Geiger-Gerlach Martina
Innmann Sophie
Niederfeld Tanja
Ścisła Dorota
Theis Katinka
Trzoska Sebastian
Ernst Uwe

Programme of accompanying events:

WEEKEND PERFORMANCE AT PORT 25
Saturday, September 11th, 5 p.m.–9 p.m.
Sunday, September 12th, 3 p.m.– 6 p.m.
The artists: Piotr Grygor (PL), Sophie Innmann (DE), Justyna Koeke (DE), Weronika Trojańska (PL), Helmut van der Buchholz (DE)

SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, September 25th, 4 p.m.–8 p.m.
Paulina Olszewska (Warsaw), Dr. Joanna Kiliszek (Berlin), Simone Rueß (Berlin), Prof. Dr. Schamma Schahadat (Tübingen), Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Leipzig).
The symposium will take place online, details can be found at: port25-mannheim.de / galeriabwa.bydgoszcz.pl / kuenstlerbund-bawue.de

WORKSHOP AT PORT 25
Saturday, September 4th, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. – Tomasz Dobiszewski – Ephemeral_topographies
Saturday, October 16th, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. – Piotr Grodzki – die Datensammler
Saturday – Sunday, October 30th, 31st, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. – Claudia de la Torre – No gloves please: Artists’ Books

READINGS – HARD TIMES. LITERARY CONSIDERATIONS
POLISH LIFE, PORT25
Sunday, September 19th, 5 p.m. – Emilia Smechowski | ONLINE
Sunday, October 10th, 5 p.m. – Matthias Nawrat | ONLINE
Sunday, October 24th, 5 p.m. – Bettina Franke reads Stanisław Jerzy Lec. Musical accompaniment by Laurent Leroi | HYBRYDOWO
Cooperation: Kulturamt der Stadt Mannheim i KulturQuer QuerKultur Rhein-Neckar e. V.

CONCERT IN PORT25 “ZDARZYŁO SIĘ W BYDGOSZCZY” (HAPPENED IN BYDGOSZCZ), songs from the interwar period in German, Polish and Yiddish, under the direction of Katarzyna Matuszak.
Friday, October 15th, 5.30 pm. Cooperation with the City of Bydgoszcz, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz and the German-Polish Association
in Mannheim-Ludwigshafen e. V.

GUIDED TOURS OF THE EXHIBITION IN THE MUNICIPAL GALLERY BWA
Thursday, August 19 at 6.00 pm.
Sunday, September 5 at 3.00 pm.
Thursday, September 30 at 6.00 pm.
Sunday, October 24 at 3.00 pm

Due to the threat of the spread of the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus, the rules for visiting the Gallery have been changed and are published on our website: Gallery during the pandemic