Herstory. Workshops around the exhibition "The Lizard Means Short-Lived Happiness" by Małgorzata Rittersschild

Herstory. Workshops around the exhibition "The Lizard Means Short-Lived Happiness" by Małgorzata Rittersschild

Herstory is a three-day workshop dedicated to Małgorzata Rittersschild, a painter associated with the new expressionist movement of the 1980s. Her work and biography remain largely unexplored and insufficiently present in Polish art history. The aim of the workshop is to restore the memory of female artists and to practice methods of documenting the works of women using oral history tools and archival material.

The starting point for our reflection is the work of Kuka Rittersschild – both the works created during her active artistic career in the 1980s and the records from over two decades of her "creative silence": sketchbooks, notes, archival materials, as well as the latest works created after her return to the profession in 2018. The workshop program includes meetings with art researchers – Dr. Marika Kuźmicz, Dr. Piotr Słodkowski, and Agnieszka Szewczyk – as well as a direct meeting with the artist herself.

As part of the workshops, participants will:
- Learn the basic principles of organizing art archives;
- Discover how to conduct interviews in the oral history approach;
- Take part in creating a documentary film material.

The project is co-financed by the City of Warsaw.
Funded by the Art Travel Hestia Foundation.
Partner: Art Travel Hestia Foundation and STU ERGO Hestia S.A.

Małgorzata Rittersschild – artist, painter. She studied in the studio of Prof. Stefan Gierowski at the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1979–1984). In the 1980s, she co-created the artistic environment of Polish new expression. She participated in the first formative exhibitions of the Gruppa group: Las, góra, a nad górą chmura (Forest, Mountain, and Above the Mountain Clouds) at the BWA in Lublin, 1983, and Tylko dzisiaj wieczorem kochanie (Only Tonight, Darling) at the BWA in Lublin, 1985. In the 1990s, she suspended her artistic activity for over two decades, working commercially as an illustrator, graphic designer, stylist, translator, editor, teacher, and art therapist. During this time, she created dozens of sketchbooks and notebooks. In 2018, she returned to her profession as an artist.

The workshops will be conducted in Polish. The number of participants is limited. To sign up, use the form: forms.gle/1mmhXXj8o9TGGKHM6