Artist Talk with Marcin Dudek

Join artist Marcin Dudek for a talk on his work on view at The Warehouse. Guests are invited to arrive at 10:30 AM for pastries and coffee in the library before the talk. Artist talk will begin promptly at 11:30 AM in the galleries in front of Marcin Dudek's Akumulator, part of the exhibition In Our Image: The Fragile Body in Contemporary Art. Akumulator is a one-to-one scale replica of a gym Dudek built in the 1990s, inside of the squatted basement of his Kraków social housing block. It is the first of what the artist would later describe as Memory Boxes: rooms from the artist's past in this housing block, recreated with their original dimensions and materials, spaces of both physical and psychological transformation. About Marcin Dudek Art as a strategy for living; Marcin Dudek’s practice builds from autobiographical experience and expands to explore the broader phenomenon that shaped it. These include the rituals of subculture, DIY economy and crowd dynamics – how one gets pulled into many and what control is lost as a mass gains momentum. Often working with found, salvaged or repurposed materials, Dudek constructs objects, installations, painting and performance, touching upon questions of power and aggression in the context of sport and cultural spectacle. His paintings offer insight into his overall approach, which incorporates a rather obsessive work ethic, meticulously slicing and manipulating medical tape, rubbing images into the cloth and building up a painting through collage. The level of detail and craft is manic and neurotic, meditative and thoughtful, as violence becomes an energetic aesthetic reflecting a lived experience. After leaving Poland aged 21, he studied at the Mozarteum University Salzburg (AT) and at Central Saint Martins (London, UK), graduating in 2005 and 2007 respectively. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including the Museum Ostwall (Dortmund, DE); IKOB - Museum of Contemporary Art (Eupen, BE); Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris, FR); MNAC National Museum of Contemporary Art (Bucharest, RO); and the MWW Wrocław Contemporary Museum (PL). Current Exhibition In Our Image: The Fragile Body in Contemporary Art Curated by Simone Krug September 26, 2026–January 30, 2027 Artists have long used the human figure to reflect on societal anxieties and psychological traumas. In Our Image: The Fragile Body in Contemporary Art adopts vulnerability as a throughline, posing the fragile human body as a site for storytelling. Works from the Rachofsky and the Hartland & Mackie / Labora collections, alongside private and institutional loans, draw on the human form as a window into individual identity, psychology, and consciousness. Visitor Guidelines • Talk will take place promptly at 11:30 AM. Guests can arrive as early as 10:30 AM and can stay to tour the exhibitions after the talk during Open Hours. • Due to the fragile nature of the works on view, all visitors must be 12 or older and visitors ages 12–15 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. • Please follow posted instructions and staff directions in order to ensure safety and wellbeing for all. • None of the art may be touched. Any visitor who violates this rule will be asked to leave The Warehouse immediately. • No food or drink are allowed in the gallery. • Sketching and writing are permitted in the galleries with graphite pencils only. • The Warehouse will do its best to meet the needs of visitors with accessibility challenges. Please give us as much advanced notice as possible. Registered service animals only are permitted. • All cars will be required to park inside the gate. • Guests may encounter artwork with strong language, male or female nudity, and sexual content. • There is no bag check. Large bags, backpacks, and large purses will NOT be allowed in the space. • Visitors are prohibited from bringing the following items into The Warehouse: weapons and tools including firearms, knives, cutting tools, realistic replicas of firearms, disabling chemicals like mace/pepper spray, or other potentially dangerous instruments.