The Practice of Irony

Irony, one of the artistic strategies shared by both Zofia Kulik's individual practice and her work within the KwieKulik duo, is the main focus of the exhibition. Through absurdity, repetition, and formal exaggeration, the artist exposes mechanisms of power, propaganda, and social control, referring to the experience of the Polish People's Republic, the political transformation after 1989, and the role of the Catholic Church in Poland. Kulik transforms political and religious symbols into complex visual structures that simultaneously evoke the aesthetics of propaganda while undermining its authority. The exhibition traces the evolution of Kulik's practice from the ephemeral performative actions realized together with Przemysław Kwiek to photographic self-portraits constructed from multiple exposures, employing ornament and repetition while placing the artist at the center of the composition. The exhibition proposes reading irony not as satire, but as a tool for critical reflection on the history of Central and Eastern Europe, while simultaneously revealing the artist's path toward emancipation and creative liberation.