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International research symposium on Jan Buck

The international symposium „Serbołużycki malarz Jan Buck – wrocławskie konteksty” will be held at the Saxon Office, Wrocław on 29-30.11.2023. The opening of the proceedings on 30.11.2023 at 9.30 a.m. will be held with the participation of the University of Wrocław’s Vice-rector for finance and development, prof. dr. hab. Stefan Kiedroń. Research support for the symposium is provided by, among others, dr Sylwia Świsłocka-Karwot from the Institute of Art History of the University of Wrocław and Contemporary Museum in Wrocław.

Ladies and gentlemen, fans of the art and history of Wrocław, Friends of Saxony and Sorbian, dear artists, events like this are rare. That is why it is especially worth attending! The international interdisciplinary symposium „Serbołużycki malarz Jan Buck – wrocławskie konteksty” is a unique opportunity to take a condensed look at the history and contemporaneity of art in the Polish Western Territories and the traditions of the Wroclaw’s Academy of Art and Design, and in the course of a multi-voice discourse to better understand the dynamics of Polish-Lusian and Polish-Saxon cultural relations. It could only be possible as a result of the joint efforts of a multi-generational team of experts and artists from Wrocław (and Lower Silesia), Zielona Góra and Łużyce (Lusatia), as well as many years of cooperation between numerous scientific and cultural institutions from Poland and Germany.

The symposium is realised as part of the project „Hommage à Jan Buck” (2022-2025) under the scientific direction of dr Lidia Głuchowska, initiated by Instytut Sztuk Wizualnych (Institute of Visual Arts) at the University of Zielona Góra. As the third symposium after those in Łużyce (Lusatia) – in Budziszyn/Bautzen and Chociebuż/Cottbus – it is being held in Wrocław in cooperation with Academy of Art and Design, which is particularly justified. One of the first students of the academy after the World War II was Jan Buk/Buck, who is regarded as the most important Sorbian artist of the 20th century, as he led his nation’s visual arts out of the narrow sphere of traditional folklore and pointed out a new direction in their development – an opening towards European modernism. He became fascinated with it during his studies in the capital of Lower Silesia. His achievements are a symbol of the efforts of the indigenous Slavic inhabitants of present-day East Germany within the administrative borders of Saxony and Brandenburg to preserve their own identity.

In accordance with Jan Buk/Buck’s pre-death wish on the occasion of his 100th birthday, a retrospective exhibition of his work is currently being held at the City Museum of Wrocław, which the city where his artistic education began. It also features works by his Wrocław professors – the doyens of the local Academy – and his colleagues – the first graduates of the Academy, as well as his Sorbian pupils, as well as his Sorbian female students. The guided tour will take place on the eve of the proceedings at the Saxon Office in Wrocław. Because part of the former Sorbian lands are now located in the present-day Lower Silesian and Lubuskie Voivodeships, the symposium will start with the opening of an exhibition of contact photographs by Tomasz Mielech, showing the devastation and disappearance of traditional Sorbian architecture in Lower Silesia – entire villages seized by mines… It corresponds with the exhibition „Hommage à Jan Buck (II): po węglu… – Twarze i krajobrazy Łużyc”, which was previously organised in Chociebuż/Cottbus. and with the subtitle of the Jan Buck retrospective exhibition series „Wszystko jest pejzażem”. The proceedings with the participation of art historians, anthropologists, ethnologists, historians and cultural scientists will be complemented by a panel discussion featuring Jan Buck’s son Pětr/Peter, the last surviving colleagues of the artist from the Wrocław Academy, and experts of the younger generation explaining the Wrocław context of his achievements. The symposium will conclude in the City Arsenal with a meeting with the artists – participants in the exhibition ” Hommage à Jan Buck (III): Oswojeni” from the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław and Institute of Visual Arts of the University of Zielona Góra.

Patrons of the event include:

Prime Minister of the Free State of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer
Prime Minister of the Land Brandenburg, dr Dietmar Woidke
Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Wrocław, Martin Kremer
Lower Silesian Voivodship Marshal, Cezary Przybylski
former Lubuskie Voivodship Marshal, Elżbieta Anna Polak
Rector of the University of Zielona Góra, dr. hab. Wojciech Strzyżewski
Rector of the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art. and Design in Wrocław, prof. Wojciech Pukocz

You are most welcome!

You can still register for the guided tour of the Jan Buck exhibition at the Royal Palace and for the second part of the proceedings: the podium and the meeting with the artists/creators of the exhibition 'Hommage à Jan Buck (IV): Oswojeni” at Arsenal. We kindly ask you to confirm your participation in the event by e-mail at: anna.leniart@pl.sachsen.de.

International research symposium „Serbołużycki malarz Jan Buck – wrocławskie konteksty”
November 29-30th, 2023

Organisers and Partners:
Saxony Office in Wrocław
University of Zielona Góra’s Institute of Visual Arts
The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław
Sorbian Museum in Budziszyn
The City Museum of Wrocław

Research leadership:
dr Lidia Głuchowska, University of Zielona Góra’s Institute of Visual Arts

Research collaboration:
dr Anita Wincencjusz-Patyna, the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław
dr Sylwia Świsłocka-Karwot, Institute of Art History, University of Wrocław/ Contemporary Museum in Wrocław

November 29th, 2023 – 16:30
The City Museum of Wrocław)/the Royal Palace, ul. Kazimierza Wielkiego 35, 50-077 Wrocław
Guided tour of the exhibition „Wszystko jest pejzażem. Serbołużycki malarz Jan Buck”
Magdalena Szmida-Półbratek, The City Museum of Wrocław
Christina Boguszowa/Bogusz, Sorbian Museum in Budziszyn
dr Lidia Głuchowska, University of Zielona Góra’s Institute of Visual Arts

November 30th, 2023 – 9:30-16:30
Saxony Office in Wrocław, pl. Wolności 4/1, 50-071 Wrocław

9:30 Welcoming remarks
•          Director of Saxony Office in Wrocław, Anna Leniart
•          Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Wrocław, Martin Kremer
•          Rector of the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław, prof. Wojciech Pukocz
•          The University of Wrocław’s Vice-rector for finance and development, prof. dr. hab. Stefan Kiedroń
•          Director of the University of Zielona Góra’s Institute of Visual Arts, prof. Paulina Komorowska-Birger
•          Director of the Sorbian Museum in Budziszyn, Christina Boguszowa/Bogusz

10:00 Opening of Tomasz Mielech’s photo exhibition
„Śladami pamięci – serbołużycka spuścizna kulturalna na Dolnym Śląsku”
Curator: dr Lidia Głuchowska

10:30 Beginning of proceedings

10:30 dr Lidia Głuchowska, Instytut Sztuk Wizualnych Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego (Institute of Visual Arts, University of Zielona Góra)
„Hommage à Jan Buck” – Idea and realisation (film presentation with commentary)

11:00 dr Robert Lorenc/Lorenz, Instytut Serbołużycki w Budziszynie (Sorbian Institute in Budziszyn)
„Wszystko jest pejzażem” – o historii „serbołużyckiego spojrzenia” na krajobraz „Łużyce” („Everything is a landscape” – on the history of the „Sorbian view” of the „Lusatia” landscape)

11:30 Jędrzej Soliński, Muzeum Serbołużyckie w Budziszynie (the Sorbian Museum in Budziszyn)
Jan Buck w Polsce. Próba rekonstrukcji jego wystaw we Wrocławiu w latach 1978 i 1982 (Jan Buck in Poland. An attempt to reconstruct his exhibitions in Wrocław in 1978 and 1982)

12:00 Coffee break

12.30 Silke Wagler, Dresden State Art Collection, Kunstfonds – manager
Sztuka monumentalna Jana Bucka na Łużycach (Jan Buck’s monumental art in Łużyce/Lusatia)

13:00 dr Marek Śnieciński, the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław
Wrocławskie malarstwo powojenne – w poszukiwanu artystycznej tożsamości (Wrocław’s post-war painting – in search of artistic identity)

13:30 dr Tomasz Mikolajczak, the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław
„Studium głowy i aktu”, czyli o początkach działalności pracowni rzeźbiarskich we wrocławskiej PWSSP („Study of the head and the nude”, or the beginnings of the sculpture workshop at the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław)

13:30-15:00 Lunch break

15:00-16:30 Round table / Podium
•          Pětr Buk/Peter Buck – the artist’s son
•          prof. Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska
•          prof. Michał Jędrzejewski, Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław
•          dr hab. Katarzyna Majbroda, professor of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Wrocław, Vice President of Polish Ethnological Society
•          dr Małgorzata Mieczkowska, Institute of Political Science and Security, University of Szczecin

17:00 City Arsenal, ul. Cieszyńskiego 9, 50-136 Wrocław
•          Meeting at the exhibition „Hommage à Jan Buck (III): Oswojeni”
•          Introduction: dr Lidia Głuchowska, dr hab. Radosław Czarkowski, prof. UZ, Patrycja Sikora, ASP Wr.
•          Interviews with Artists from Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław and Institute of Visual Arts, University of Zielona Góra
•          Refreshments

Translated by Martyna Mielczarek (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.