I'm here and I know what I have to do / Estera Mrówka, Julek Wierzchowski, Marlena Biczak, Monika Szydłowska, Paweł Krzywdziak, Witold Winek

The exhibition I am here and I know what I have to do is an attempt to tell the story of printmaking without actually talking about it. The work of the E/A Collective is characterized above all by the length of the process, a high barrier to entry, painstaking effort, perseverance, failures, constant practice, and repetition – which seems to be a rarity in the age of late capitalism, when time is accelerating exponentially: information overload, the colonization of attention, fast fashion, fast life, action, production, consumption – all operating on a 24/7 basis. This  overstimulation and dopamine rush seem to completely bypass this aspect of artistic practice. Artists working in the graphic medium likely spend the most time in a tête-à-tête relationship with their works. The title phrase “I am here and I know what I have to do” is not only a kind of rallying call, but also the essence of the activities carried out in the printmaking studio; artists attempt to step outside their technical comfort zone – which is no easy feat, since the technical process is absorbing, time-consuming, dominant, and possessive.