Tomasz OPANIA
THEY WERE HERE
5-7 Jezuicka Street
Gothic Tower
installation
Tomasz Opania – born in 1970 in Gliwice. He obtained his diploma in sculpture in 1994 at the State Higher School of Plastic Arts in Wrocław. Between 1994 and 1996 he studied at ÉSAV in Geneva. Since 1996, he has been employed at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, where he currently leads the graduating Studio of Art in Public Space. From 2012 to 2014, he headed the Department of Art Mediation. Since 2019, he has been the head of the postgraduate course Mediation and the Art Market.
He works in sculpture, installation, performance, public space activities and design. He builds objects and inventions, using different techniques or collaborating with professionals and craftsmen. His ‘art tools’ are often machines or instruments for active reception. They are participatory sculptures, involving the viewer and/or forcing him to adopt a projected attitude. He also realises attributes that he uses in live performances. He treats his works as a commentary on current events and the reality around him. He is interested in politics and society. He conducts workshops for young people, adults and excluded people: those with mental disorders, the disabled and/or the permanently unemployed. He has realised many solo exhibitions, such as: ‘Sculpture’ (gallery Espace Faits Divers, Geneva, 1996), ‘Personal Trainer’ (Socially Involved Art Workshop – Revirs, Cultural Centre in Lublin, 2015), ‘Tomasz Opania. Salon of Design’ ( BWA, Wrocław, 2018), ‘Entropolux’ (together with Jerzy Kosałka; Entropia Gallery, Wrocław, 2020). His works have taken part in numerous group exhibitions such as: ‘Sculpture X’ (Parc Stagni, Geneva, 1999), ‘Dialogue 2’ (ECA, Edinburgh, 2002), ‘The Third Reveal’ (Lower Silesian Zachęta collection; Arch Museum, Wrocław, 2008), ‘Silesia Art. Biennale: Outside in Inside Out’ (Jelenia Góra, 2012), ‘The Germans did not come’ (Museum Współczesne Wrocław / KUNSTHALLE Drezden, 2014), ‘Dispossession’ (Palazzo Dona Brusa, la 56 Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2015), ‘Caution: Artists! Text messeages in art’ (Kunsttempel – Kassel, Germany, 2021). Opania has also realised author projects such as ‘Wrocław – entrance from the courtyard’ and ‘Translocation’.
