1970 was a pivotal year for her. Since the early sixties – notably as co-founder of the Foksal Gallery –, she had been an active participant of avant-garde art in Poland – at that time a communist country. Following profound theoretical conflicts, she crossed the Iron Curtain and befriended prominent figures of the French alternative scene. From Warsaw to Paris, there was no break – indeed, back-and- forth wanderings and "exchanges" have been a constant theme in a career she always conceived of as free.

In an interview, she explains: "contradictions attract me so much that the logic of my life (if there is one) becomes legible only as a pathway towards a form of deconstruc- tion." Curating an exhibition about Anka has been a challenge for us, both as researchers and friends. Daniel Buren once advised Anka not to work for but against artists – as for us, we have made our way right up against her, and sometimes, squarely against her.

We have chosen, as a backbone, a thirty-two chapters script which was written in a literary and subjective style by Anka during the 2010s, in preparation for a yet undirected film. On the occasion of the exhibition, this text will be published as an artist’s book, to guide the public across the exhibition, and to elicit interpretation. Our extensive selec- tion includes works personally important to Anka, pieces from her collection and documents culled from her archive. Sound recordings provide anthropological and sensitive depth to the setting. Other elements of the exhibition bring to light critical nodes pertaining, for instance, to Anka’s relationship with politics, power, intimacy and womanhood.

The exhibition was devised with three collaborators. Architect Olivier Goethals has set the nine rooms of the Capc’s first floor gallery into a rhythmic pattern – by means of oblique tables upon which the documents have been arranged, bringing the chapters to greater legibility. Musician and sound engineer Cengiz Hartlap has conceived a device to broadcast sound recordings in a way suggestive of the spontaneity of the situations experienced. Finally, graphic designer Lucile Billot has designed a layout for Anka’s script that turns it into a practical print, revealing its versatile nature with back-and-forths between text and images – some of which are bestowed with a ghostly quality.

With Works by : Carl Andre, Violett e a, Vincent d’Arista, Miron Białoszewski, Włodzimierz Borowski, Daniel Buren, Michel Claura, André du Colombier, Florian Fouché, François Guinochet, Dan Graham, Raymond Hains, Izabella Jagiełło, Tadeusz Kantor, Eustachy Kossakowski, Edward Krasiński, Takahiko Iimura, Maria Ewa Łunkiewicz-Rogoyska, Krzysztof Niemczyk, Rachel Poignant, Henryk Stażewski, Hiroshi Yokoyama.

Curators: Sara Martinetti and Maria Matuszkiewicz

Architecture: Olivier Goethals / Sound: Cengiz Hartlap / Graphic design of the scenario: Lucile Billot

An exhibition co-produced with the Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie [Museum of modern art, Warsaw] where the exhibition will be shown from 24 February to 23 April 2023.