Mathilde Albouy → Fundacja Alina

Alina Foundation presents Chimera, a group exhibition taking place at Alina Szapocznikow’s 1950s Warsaw studio. Revealing across a corridor, a small kitchen, and one and a half floors, the show features works by Mathilde Albouy, Alma Berrow, Ksenia Gryckiewicz, Marie Hazard, Kingsley Ifill, Pedro Liñares, Reuben Beren James, Zoi Michailova, and Anousha Payne. Focusing on works created in the context of Szapocznikow’s art and life, the invited artists explore and reinterpret her groundbreaking pieces, such as the Tumeurs and Souvenirs series, Leg from 1962, as well as analyze intimate documents, including her love letters to Ryszard Stanisławski, and unrealised projects like the ice rink at the bottom of Vesuvius crater.

The exhibition both embraces and transcends the mytho- logical concept of the chimera—a hybrid creature composed of disparate parts. While nodding to this classical imagery, the featured works push beyond, dancing on the tightrope between the physical and the conceptual, the organic and the mechanical, all which was at the core of Szapocznikow’s oeuvre. Through their dissection and reinterpretation of her seminal works, something enigmatic emerges—an ambiguity that challenges our perceptions and invites us to reconsider the nature of form, body, and materiality in contemporary art.

As part of the programme, Gemma Janes created a library on the second floor of the space, gathering an eclectic selection of books, connected to the universe of Alina, and incollaboration with the artists.