Fabryka [Factory] by WaÃ…›ko, Ryszard, editor

Łódź: [self-published], 1982. Quarto (29 × 20.5 cm). Original decorative card wrappers: 73 unnumbered leaves with photographs, reproductions and original artworks and objects pasted onto the leaves or sown into binding. Very good. A rare memento of the international avant-garde of the 1970s and the Polish underground art scene, this samizdat volume was created to commemorate an international art festival "Konstrukcja w Procesie" [Construction in Process] held in Łódź in 1981. The festival, and this resulting publication included works of major contemporary international artists such as Sol Lewitt, Richard Nonas, Les Levine, Lawrence Weiner, Paul Sharits among others. Curated by the artist and critic Ryszard Waśko (b. 1947), the core of the exhibit was held at the Budrem factory, with the artists using the factory floor to make, exhibit and stage their art. The festival was supported by the local branch of the trade union Solidarnośċ [Solidarity], connecting art with political descent, with the festival using the Solidarnośċ font for their posters. The festival allowed for a curious meeting of conceptual artists from the capitalist West and Polish artists living behind the "iron curtain", with both groups wanting to free themselves from the standard artistic institutions, the capitalist profit making art institutions on the one hand and the state on the other, and bring art "unmediated" to a broader public. The publication opens with a kind of manifesto in English: "[Fabryka] Is a combined effort of artists. Its content is organized by artists. [Fabryka] Has an open form. [Fabryka] Eliminates the divisions, classifications and tendencies in art motivated by commercial, economical and political aspects. [Fabryka] Is self-governed and independent." The festival was projected to last until 1982, traveling to other Polish cities, however the introduction of Martial Law in Poland in December of 1981 prevented the spread of the festival and the publication of an actual catalog, with this commemorative publication produced clandestinely instead.<br/> <br/>This album includes original photographic prints by Erika Kiffl, photographic collages by Peter Downsborough, computer generated art by Manfred Mohr, and typographic text artwork by Lawrence Weiner. Sol Lewitt's contribution to the volume is an item of "instruction-based art" created specifically for the Construction in Process festival. Scribbled on the letterhead of Hotel Polonia (Warsaw), Lewitt provides instructions for creating wall installations with different shapes for each city that was supposed to host the festival - Wrocław, Łódź, Gdansk, Warsaw, Poznan, Lublin and Bydgoszcz. The album also includes (inkjet) prints by noted minimalists such as Richard Nonas, Peter Lowe, and (possibly original prints?) by Fred Sandback. The curator of the event, Ryszard Waśko was part of the famous Workshop of the Film Form, with this publication including works by other Workshop members such as Paweł Kweik and Antoni Mikołajczyk. Finally, the album features work by international artists working between cinema and contemporary art such as the Japanese experimental filmmaker Taka Iimura, a sketch by Paul Sharits titled "Filming non-film", and a composition titled "Project Bergfeld: filming a room while being painted" by Dora Maurer, dubbed "the legend of Hungarian Conceptualism" by curators of the Tate Modern solo exhibit on view through July 2020. In all, the album contains works by 36 artists credited on the final page of the publication, and acts as a kind of "who is who" of the Polish and international art world of the 1970s. This album is signed (to his own contribution) by the experimental filmmaker Marek Janiak. No. 80 of 200 copies published. As of August 2020, KVK and OCLC show copies at Amsterdam, Antwerp, Regensburg, British Library, Ontario, KB, the Met, and Yale.<br/><br/>Also included in the present offer is the following program for the "Construction in Process" event:<br/><br/>Solidarność ziemi Łódzkiej. Dodatek Nadzwyczajny. Konstrukcja w procesie [Łódź Solidarity. Special supplement. Construction in process]. Nr. 23 (25). Łódź: Zaklad Poligraficzny ZR NSZZ Solidarność ziemi Łódzkiej, 1981. A single leaf printed to recto and verso 29.5 × 21.5 cm. Very good.<br/><br/>A special issue of the newspaper "Łódź Solidarity" containing the program of the international arts festival "Construction in Process". The issue highlights the participation of international personalities such as the Japanese video artist Taka Iimura, the American minimalist Carl Andre, and the French conceptual artist Bernar Venet among others. The issue includes an interview with the curator of the festival Ryszard Waśko. The program lists events at a variety of locations such as: Burdem factory hall, Teatr 77, Galeria "Slad", Galeria "Na Piętrze", Lodz History Museum, Lodz Museum of Art.