XIII. Death // Dominika Olszowy
the end of something, transformation, farewell to what is old or obsolete, parting
The Death card carries the message that everything must pass away. It is associated with difficult life lessons, learning to say goodbye to what we no longer need in life. It emphasizes the value of the mourning process and celebration of the past life, transitional moments before reaching the fullness of transformation. It encourages private rituals of passage and saying goodbye. It shows the value of grief and long-term, difficult processes through which transformation takes place in us.
Dominika Olszowy (born 1988) - visual artist, author of scenographic installations and theatrical performances, co-creator of many collective artistic initiatives. Graduate of the Faculty of Intermedia at the University of Arts in Poznan (2012). Finalist of the Samsung Art Master competition, organized by the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle (2011), winner of the ING Polish Art Foundation Special Award as part of the Warsaw Gallery Weekend (2018), and the “Views” grand prize awarded by the Deutsche Bank Foundation (2019). The artist creates intermedia works using video, performance, installation, and a specific mixture of truth and confabulation. She sometimes treats her works as amulets, enchanting and taming the reality immersed in crisis. She often touches upon the themes of mourning, presence, and nostalgia. Her works are based on her personal experiences, but she transforms them into universal statements on the human condition and time, filled with subtle humor. Since 2008, she has been creating the ephemeral Sandra Gallery, which initially featured exhibitions by other UAP students. The gallery was in opposition to structured exhibition spaces and its activities were carried out collectively, outside the walls of the institution. A temporary end to Sandra's activities took place in 2015 during an exhibition in the Project Room of the CCA Ujazdowski Castle curated by Stach Szabłowski. Sandra was resuscitated in 2019 by a new group of female curators and artists from Poznan. Olszowy co-founded the radical hip-hop group Cipedrapskuad and the motorcycle gang Horsefuckers M.C. She often works with theatres, creating set designs for plays. Her work has been shown in the following solo exhibitions: Nothing Soup at Studio BWA in Wrocław (2021), Snowfake Generation at Gallery :SKALA in Poznan (2021), Yawn of a Sleepy Heart at the Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Warsaw, and Riga (2020), Spirit of the House at Raster Gallery in Warsaw (2019), Happy End at Arsenal Gallery in Białystok (2019) and Sixty Six Four Hundred at the Municipal Art Centre in Gorzów Wielkopolski (2017). She lives and works in Warsaw.
The Death card carries the message that everything must pass away. It is associated with difficult life lessons, learning to say goodbye to what we no longer need in life. It emphasizes the value of the mourning process and celebration of the past life, transitional moments before reaching the fullness of transformation. It encourages private rituals of passage and saying goodbye. It shows the value of grief and long-term, difficult processes through which transformation takes place in us.
Dominika Olszowy (born 1988) - visual artist, author of scenographic installations and theatrical performances, co-creator of many collective artistic initiatives. Graduate of the Faculty of Intermedia at the University of Arts in Poznan (2012). Finalist of the Samsung Art Master competition, organized by the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle (2011), winner of the ING Polish Art Foundation Special Award as part of the Warsaw Gallery Weekend (2018), and the “Views” grand prize awarded by the Deutsche Bank Foundation (2019). The artist creates intermedia works using video, performance, installation, and a specific mixture of truth and confabulation. She sometimes treats her works as amulets, enchanting and taming the reality immersed in crisis. She often touches upon the themes of mourning, presence, and nostalgia. Her works are based on her personal experiences, but she transforms them into universal statements on the human condition and time, filled with subtle humor. Since 2008, she has been creating the ephemeral Sandra Gallery, which initially featured exhibitions by other UAP students. The gallery was in opposition to structured exhibition spaces and its activities were carried out collectively, outside the walls of the institution. A temporary end to Sandra's activities took place in 2015 during an exhibition in the Project Room of the CCA Ujazdowski Castle curated by Stach Szabłowski. Sandra was resuscitated in 2019 by a new group of female curators and artists from Poznan. Olszowy co-founded the radical hip-hop group Cipedrapskuad and the motorcycle gang Horsefuckers M.C. She often works with theatres, creating set designs for plays. Her work has been shown in the following solo exhibitions: Nothing Soup at Studio BWA in Wrocław (2021), Snowfake Generation at Gallery :SKALA in Poznan (2021), Yawn of a Sleepy Heart at the Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Warsaw, and Riga (2020), Spirit of the House at Raster Gallery in Warsaw (2019), Happy End at Arsenal Gallery in Białystok (2019) and Sixty Six Four Hundred at the Municipal Art Centre in Gorzów Wielkopolski (2017). She lives and works in Warsaw.