Edward Krasinski: Mapping Krasinski’s Studio

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Anecdoted Topography

This intimate publication documents one of the most iconic places of the 20th century, the Warsaw apartment/studio of Henryk Stazewski (1894–1988) and Edward Krasinski (1925–2004).

Stażewski moved in this apartment in 1962 with avant-garde painter Mewa Łunkiewicz-Rogoyska and her husband, Jan Rogoyski. Together they created a lively artistic space, one of very few at the time in Warsaw, a venue for a busy social life and artistic meetings. In 1970, Krasiński moved in with Stażewski, and the two continued the venue’s tradition together. Following Stażewski’s death in 1988, Krasiński was inspired to create new works, which were largely informed by the studio’s space and history. The main feature of this site-specific bodies of work is Krasiński’s emblematic use of blue Scotch tape, which he stuck horizontally at a height of 130 cm, “everywhere and on everything.”

Referencing the landmark artist’s book An Anecdoted Topography of Chance by Daniel Spoerri (1962), this publication interweaves a very detailed photographic survey of the studio—still preserved today in exactly the same state it was after Krasinski’s death—by Polish photographer Pawel Bownik, as well as numerous short stories written by relatives, artists, critics, curators, and friends of both artists in commemoration of the importance of this location in the definition and social life of the Polish avant-garde, and in the dialogue between Western and Eastern European contemporary art scenes. Contributors include Daniel Buren, Koji Kamoji, Paulina Krasińska, Andrzej Przywara, Anka Ptaszkowska, and many others. Together they propose a sensitive mapping of an inspirational time capsule of the contemporary.

Published with Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw