Palace, solo show, Museum of Warsaw, Warszawa, Poland, 9.12.2021-31.07.2022

curator: Jarosław Trybuś

Museums show the public a small fraction of their collections. It is estimated to be three to five percent of what they have accumulated. The collection of the Museum of Warsaw is over 300,000. objects, mostly hidden from visitors in warehouses. The artist’s gaze was caught by cardboard boxes full of broken dishes, floor tiles and stucco, food scraps, fish bones and animal bones. Although they do not look like palace treasures, they are remnants of life that took place at different times in the place where the Saxon Palace stood. In 2006 and 2008, archaeological research was carried out in this area, as a result of which 29,000 objects were excavated. All of them, cleaned and labeled, numbered and packed in cardboard boxes, are under the care of the Museum of Warsaw. They are no longer governed by any hierarchy – the chicken bone turns out to be as important as the porcelain fragment.

„I was working on the exhibition at the time when decisions were made to implement the grand plan to rebuild the Palace. I was interested in the contrast between the narrative surrounding the Palace and the modesty and ordinariness of these authentic remains. I wanted to show these items just as they are in their common, peaceful existence in an archaeological warehouse” – says Lelonek.

fragment of curatorial text by Jarosław Trybuś