(Decalogue): Point of View

Curator Hannah Rothschild

05-31.01.2022

I ask questions about life, so we will look ourselves in the eye - Krzysztof Kieślowski

("The question is "how to live? How to live so you can look yourself in the eye in front of a mirror?")

How does one follow a director’s view? What arises when we contemplate the gray, banal environment in Warsaw, or in our own world? These questions bear significance in the context of this exhibition that presents some of the eventsthat came about as a result of “Decalogue”, a Polish television series directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941 – 1996). The exhibition tries to introduce the audience into the perspective of Kieślowski, who observed the building of the residential complex, “Inflanka”, in his country’s capital and who, through the identical concrete walls and windows, asked profound ethical questions. By taking a close look, one can see how Kieślowski saw in a simple neighborhood, theoretically gray and boring, a wealth of humanity and the complexity of the soul, and he divided this observation of his into parts, and from these he created his cinematic masterpiece. You are invited to step into the places where the series was filmed, to linger in them as if you too were acting on the set, to take part in the three-way view: the director who is looking at the world, the photographer who is filming the director, and us, who are watching their world.

The exhibition and program were made possible with the support of Instytut Polski, Tel Aviv and  Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Poland