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Weronika Zielińska

uitwisseling , samenwerking , Netwerk , Gender , Experimenteel , Economie , Community , Artistiek onderzoek

Weronika Zielińska-Klein (PL) is an artist-mother, researcher, and educator. In her practice, Zielińska explores different curatorial strategies in which the concepts of gift and hospitality play an essential role. In 2012 Zielińska established Upominki – a non-profit project space for art in Rotterdam. Working with Upominki (“gifts” in Polish) moved Zielińska’s research further toward the practice of exchange, while also asking about how to sustain a non-profit space. In 2019 Zielińska was appointed to lead the interdisciplinary department of Autonomous Practices at the Willem de Koning Academy in Rotterdam. Her current research explores the intersections of autonomy, critical self-organization, and mothering, all three as practices – within the larger understanding of art as a means for cultural production. Zielińska is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Humanities Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM).

Guestroom, 2011. Event: "This place would be perfect if only it had an ocean view" with Esmé Valk - Guestroom was an artist residency project that took place from January to May 2011 in a private home in Rotterdam. Six international artists living in the Netherlands were invited to spend two weeks each working in the house's guest room. Living and creating within this domestic space, each artist developed new work that responded to the context of home life, presenting their results to the public at the end of their stay. For more information about the project, see the http://welcomeintheguestroom.blogspot.com website.
Zomerkamp, 2014. Collaborative project with Marc Klein and the asylum seekers center in Venlo. - In 2014, Museum van Bommel van Dam asked to five artists and designers: "What does the museum of the future look like?" Their proposals were realized in Join in!, an exhibition that transformed the museum into a testing ground for radical new approaches to public engagement. One of the resulting projects drew inspiration from artists who create moving vehicles. In collaboration with children from the asylum seekers' center in Venlo, participants designed and built their dream vehicles during a four-day workshop. The project culminated in a celebratory parade through the surrounding neighborhood.
Deze tentoonstelling valt buiten de verantwoordelijkheid van de directie van het museum, 2016. - "This exhibition falls outside the responsibility of the director of the museum" was an exhibition project developed as part of Project Rotterdam, a group manifestation of artists and designers working in Rotterdam at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The project was inaugurated on March 5, 2016, and ran until July 2016, beginning with the installation of a wall text bearing the exhibition's title in room 24 of the museum's Van der Steur building. Over the course of these months, the exhibition underwent several iterations that referenced classical elements of exhibition-making, including the installation of a flag on the museum's tower that resembled a typical title card. Taking the history of the museum building as its starting point, the project explored a structure designed in 1935 by city architect Ad van der Steur to house the City Collection. Examining the building's evolution through several phases of expansion and renovation—including its survival of the 1940 bombing of Rotterdam—the project occupied several museum spaces that had lost their original functions over time. The exhibited works were drawn from both museum collections—Rotterdam's City Collection and the Modern and Contemporary Art Collection—and from outside sources. The exhibition was curated independently of the museum's management, yet the project took full advantage of the opportunities offered by the institutional context. The title referenced an anecdote from Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum, where local artists' associations had been permitted to exhibit their works in the "Nieuwe Vleugel" (New Wing), which opened in 1954 under director Willem Sandberg. A sign at the entrance to that wing had read: "This exhibition is beyond the responsibility of the museum director." Ultimately, this exhibition functioned as an artistic creation—a composition of spaces and works that invited visitors' own interpretation.
Beyond the Moon ~ Ger C. Bout, exhibition at Unseen Amsterdam, 2018. - In the summer of 2016, artist Ger C. Bout sought mentorship from Upominki to publicly present his photographic work. Despite a generational gap, they formed a friendship and discussed exhibition strategies and his artistic practice. Tragically, Ger passed away in May 2017 after battling cancer for a year. Supported by his wife Riitta, Upominki revisited Ger’s archives, focusing on his series "Beyond the Moon" (2013-2015), which showcased his fascination with body movement in theatre and dance through large-scale black-and-white digital photographs. This series emphasized abstract forms and challenged the viewer to see without preconceived notions, aligning with Wittgenstein’s idea that pictures gain meaning through context. "Beyond the Moon" was presented at CO-OP during Unseen Amsterdam, exploring exhibition formats that reflected Ger’s interests. This collaborative effort included selections from Ger’s archives that investigated themes of hosting and housing. The exhibition then moved to Rotterdam, where it was displayed in Upominki's space and neighboring homes, allowing the local community to engage with his work. Upominki aimed to merge the artist's vision with curatorial practices, honoring Ger’s legacy and their friendship through this project. Ger C. Bout (1950-2017) was a Dutch architect and artist known for his multidisciplinary approach, integrating architecture, furniture design, installation, performance, sculpture, and photography.
Beyond the Moon ~ Ger C. Bout, workshop with Gill Baldwin, 2018. - "Maak je eigen droomhuis" (Make your own dream house), a workshop for children aged 6-12 from Old West primary schools, developed in collaboration with the Nieuwe Gaffel and led by Rotterdam artist and architect Gill Baldwin. The workshop was inspired by Baldwin's fascination with architectural dysfunctionality, curved lines, and asymmetry.
Upominki, ongoing. - Upominki means gifts. Proverbially and in the figure of speech, Upominki functions as a gift shop. While basing its practice on the ideas of hospitality and reciprocity, Upominki wants to create an alternative to the value of exchange and the gift-giving idea, two concepts particularly developed through the capitalist economy. Upominki does not scream by means of its presence, but subtly points to the things that really matter. Through simple gestures Upominki wishes to stimulate people's awareness for new possibilities and encourage them towards a daily activity of both making and seeing art, it also aims at always creating new situations through which art and life can connect. Upominki is a non-profit project space, initiated in January 2012, by Rotterdam based artist Weronika Zielinska-Klein. On occasions Upominki is being run in collaboration with other artists and curators. Past collaborations include: Gill Baldwin, multi-disciplinary artist; Natalia Sorzano, visual and performance artist; Jesse van Oosten, curator; emilia dudziec, visual artist and producer.
WLaB (Work Life and Balance), 2019.
WLaB (Work Life and Balance), 2019. - From April 19 to May 2, 2019 Zielinska conducted a family residency and research in collaboration with the artist's children and partner. During this period, they organized several events with local communities including artists, academics, students, neighbors, activists, and Mapuche creators to learn about various feminist and other cultural practices in Santiago. This project was part of a larger curatorial research initiative by Galleria Metropolitana in Santiago, Chile, titled "Strategies to divert Neoliberalism," organized between 2018-2020.

Mapping the Mother(Artists) Initiatives and Networks

Datum:
Locatie: Boston University
In samenwerking met: IAMAS (International Association of Maternal Action + Scholarship)

Using maps as participatory tools, the workshop Mapping the Mother(Artists) Initiatives and Networks emphasized participation as empowerment, aiming to give voice to mothers without professional artistic training and make their issues and stories visible. The 2024 IAMAS conference titled Mothering and Motherhood: Past, Present, and Future, was co-hosted with Boston University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning at the College of General Studies.

https://iamas.com

THE STORIES WE (DON’T) SHARE

Datum:
Locatie: de Brakke Grond
In samenwerking met: Mirthe Berentsen

In this workshop, participants came together to share personal anecdotes that had made them reflect on their roles as artist-mothers (parents) in the current socio-political context and developed short- and long-term action items and recommendations that could be implemented in their immediate work environments: organizations, networks, and institutions.

https://brakkegrond.nl/agenda/588/motherhood-in-de-kunst

“Rhubarb crumble with footnotes (35 persons)” during anual WdKA Research Day

Datum:
Locatie: Willem de Kooning Academy
In samenwerking met: Willem de Kooning Academy

A public event on conducting research at WdKA where I shared my current research project on matricentric feminism, critical self-organization, and autonomy, and invited the audience to collectively prepare a rhubarb crumble. This crumble symbolized a memory of my home country, where we make 'baba' or 'babka', a yeast cake. The word baba or babka derives from the Proto-Slavic word for grandmother.

https://research.wdka.nl

"In this Together" performative lecture during Learning from the Pandemic: Possibilities and Challenges for Mothers and Families

Datum:
Locatie: on-line
In samenwerking met: York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, The Mothers Matter Centre and Demeter Press

This interdisciplinary conference brought together scholars, practitioners, and activists to explore the impact of the pandemic on mothers and families around the world while considering strategies for the post-COVID climb-out. Combining multidisciplinary and intersectional perspective, it examined the impact of the pandemic on mothers’ wellbeing, and care and wage labour in the context of employment, schooling, resettlement, and family relationships.

https://learningfromthepandemic.vfairs.com

Feminist Viennese Coffee House

Datum:
Locatie: on-line
In samenwerking met: Barbara Philipp

Feminist Viennese Coffee House is a series of online conversations with women artists and curators connecting Amsterdam, Paris, Maryland, Newton Kansas, Graz, Todmorden West Yorkshire, Rotterdam, Tel Aviv, and Berlin. During the #11 encounter, I gave a presentation about my current research on Matricentric feminism, critical self-organization, and autonomy (working title) and guided the conversation on motherhood studies as discourse non-existent in Dutch art education institutions.

https://barbaraphilipp.com/viennese-coffee-house/

Work Life and Balance, Strategies to divert Neoliberalism

Datum:
Locatie: Galería Metropolitana
In samenwerking met: Anamaria Saavedra and Luis Alarcón López

Galería Metropolitana is spacious and child-friendly with easy access for wheelchairs and prams. By taking my family on a residency, I wanted to deal productively with the struggle for balance between my work and my life without undermining either. By making existing precarious conditions explicit, I used them as opportunities to create new meanings. Shaped by trust and generosity rather than distant prejudice, the main goal of this project was spontaneity, not high expectations.

https://galeriametropolitana.org
CONVERSAS ROTTERDAM at UPOMINKI
Weronika Zielińska CONVERSAS ROTTERDAM at UPOMINKI