Renata Rara Kaminska
Who owns the public space, and how much of it is mine?
Through sculpture, installation and video, Renata Rara Kaminskas’ works examine the marks made by the individual, society and shifting power structures on public space and how they become part of a shared memory. The place of these marks within collective memory depends on political discourse’s willingness to maintain them. From her native Poland to her chosen city Berlin, Kaminska’s work negotiates what it means for these traces to occupy public space and how they transform across different social, cultural, political, economic, and linguistic contexts. Working predominantly with everyday materials found across urban landscapes, the artist calls for the discussion and disruption of capitalism-fueled globalized Western society.
Every protest movement constructs its legitimacy through the verbal or visual demonstration of the meaning of an issue, an attitude, a worldview, towards the mobilization of the masses.
In pursuit of this utopian ideal, Kaminska finds inspiration in figures throughout history who share her motivation. Notably among them is Rosa Luxembourg, the prolific martyred revolutionary democratic-socialist. Grown up in the birth town of Luxembourg (Zamość, Poland) and spending most of her life in Berlin alike, Kaminska is able to access the shifting shape of Luxembourg’s place in history. Memorialized and celebrated in Berlin and Germany, her memory is simultaneously being erased across Poland. Drawing on this tension, Kaminska’s work ‘Groupies’ reflects different protest movements of the last century, seeking a response to unfulfilled demands for equality. Based on the flag holders of the fin de siècle, those used by Luxembourg in her pacifist demos in Berlin and elsewhere, Kaminska forms the brackets from concrete, presenting them empty of their flag. She does this to draw attention to the ubiquity of calls for universal rights and freedoms, which have continued into the 21st century. As Kaminska outlined in a recent interview with Monopol magazine, the public’s access to space is a litmus test for the social freedom of the respective society. Through her works, she contrasts the protest culture within Berlin with the increasing infringements of the right to protest in her native Poland, echoing the student and worker-led rallies of the last century, which still resound today.
Text by Constance Chester
studio visit with Renata Rara Kaminska in Berlin
Biography Renata Rara Kaminska
born 1974 in Hrubieszow, Poland
Education
2002 Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany, HGB (prof. Astrid Klein)
1997 MFA Institute of Fine Arts Lublin, Poland, UMCS (prof. Mikołaj Smoczyński)
Exhibitions (selection)
2020
Capi-Colo-Cola <capitol-colonial-col(l)aps, Kunstverein Aarau, Switzerland (SOLO
2019
Phantom, Foundation of Jewish Heritage, Zamość, Poland (SOLO)
Phantom Monument, Kunstverein Rosa Luxemburg Platz, Berlin, Germany (SOLO)
Zjawa, Galeria STUDIO, PKiN, Warsaw, Poland (SOLO)
2015
Hundert Millionen, Gallery CHERT/Porcino, Berlin, Germany (SOLO)
Biennale AURORA, Dallas, USA
2013
55. Venice Biennale, Italy, Pavillon Luxemburg (with Catherine Lorent)
2012
7. Berlin Biennale, Germany (with Pawel Althamer)
9. Manifesta Biennale, Belgium
2011
RE-, rstr Gallery, Munich, Germany (SOLO)
2008
Volume, Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany (SOLO)
2004
1,8 l, GRAND TOURISME, compactspace Gallery, Berlin, Germany (SOLO)
2004
Shot, Monique Goldstrom Gallery, New York, USA (SOLO)
2002
CUSHIONED INTERIOR, Gallery Eigen&Art, Leipzig, Germany (SOLO)
Grants, Scholarships & Residencies
2021
Arbeitstipendium, Bundesstiftung Kunstfonds Bonn, Germany
Projektstipendium, Hauptstadtkulturfounds Berlin, Germany
2020
Künstlerförderung, Kuratorium Aargau, Switzerland
Künstlerförderung, IfA, Stuttgart, Germany
2017 / 2015
IAM, Ministry of Culture, Poland
2013 / 2012
Biennale Grant, IfA (Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations), Germany
2012 / 2010
Artist Grant of the Berlin Department for Cultural Affairs, Germany
Works by Renata Rara Kaminska
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Groupies (11)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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sold
First value (Grain)
2020 / Wood, grain, pure gelatine, acryl / 200 x 150 x 7.5 cm / 78.7 x 59.1 x 3.0 in (framed)
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sold
First value (Transparent)
2020 / PVC, Dollar Green Pigment PVC / 135 x 60 cm / 53.1 x 23.6 in
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Urkraut
2020 / Wood, juta, weeds, pure gelatine, acryl / 300 x 160 x 6 cm / 118.1 x 63.0 x 2.4 in
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Fabric of Stories (Weekendowa Gazeta)
2020 / Newspaper, pure gelatine / 70 x 44 x 9 cm / 27.6 x 17.3 x 3.5 in (framed)
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Fabric of Stories (Agora)
2020 / Newspaper, pure gelatine / 120 x 80 x 9 cm / 47.2 x 31.5 x 3.5 in (framed)
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Groupies (02)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (03)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (04)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (05)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (06)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (07)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (08)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (10)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (09)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (12)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (13)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (14)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (15)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (16)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Groupies (17)
2019 / Concrete, shellac / Dimensions variable
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Acacia
2021 / Old acacia furnier / 200 x 160 x 3 cm / 78.7 x 63.0 x 1.2 in
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First value (Mirror)
2020 / Soft mirror PVC, dollar green pigment PVC / 200 x 150 cm / 78.7 x 59.1 in