The House of Art exhibition is devoted to the history of Tadeusz Kantor and Maria Stangret house in Hucisko, as well as the monument of the Chair, and the artist residencies that over the past decade have been organised in Hucisko by the Tadeusz Kantor Foundation.
The idea of building a house by Maria and Tadeusz emerged gradually – beginning with the choice of location, shaped largely by bonds of friendship, and developing during a period in which Kantor was particularly focused on questions of memory and the family home. The initiative to construct their own house became, for Kantor, an opportunity to undertake artistic work in an entirely new medium. The process of creating the project was not limited to architectural design. It was preceded by a search for a visual and conceptual form for the notion of a house. In a series of sketches and drawings, the artist introduced, modified, and tested individual elements that would make up a vocabulary of the house – the shape of the courtyard, the roofline, the windows, the chimney, etc. etc. The final design, created in dialogue with architect Piotr Stępień, was completed in 1984.
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The exhibition unfolds in two layers. One comprises the works and narratives that reveal the process of the house’s creation and evolution in Hucisko, together with Kantor’s cycle Impossible Monuments, from which the concrete Chair, realised near the house, emerged in a tangible form. Drawings by Tadeusz Kantor related to both of these spheres form the core of the presentation.
Alongside the works of the hosts, Kantor and Stangret, the exhibition includes pieces by artists who have taken part in residencies at the Hucisko house in recent years. Some remain in the form of process fragments, while others are represented by final objects or publications.
The second layer of the exhibition is the house itself, both as an object and as a work of art, and everything that constitutes its interior and living. These are not only the items that Maria Stangret and Tadeusz Kantor selected (and in some cases designed themselves) for their home, but also works by artists with whom they maintained close friendships, including Jacek Stokłosa, Achille Perilli, Jadwiga Maziarska, and Robert Wilson. These pieces have long since become part of the house’s fabric.
From this perspective, it may sometimes be difficult to distinguish what belongs to the exhibition from what belongs to the house. Yet perhaps this is precisely the nature of showing art within a private space – one that gathers within it so many meanings contained in the Polish word dom – both house and home.
– Antoni Burzyński, Lech Stangret
House of Art
artists
Tadeusz Kantor
Maria Stangret
Eleni Bagaki
Krystian Truth Czaplicki
Michael Samyn & Auriea Harvey
Joshua Schwebel
curators
Antoni Burzyński, Lech Stangret
graphic design
Kaja Kusztra
8–30.11.2025
Tadeusz Kantor and Maria Stangret House in Hucisko
Dom Tadeusza Kantora i Marii Stangret w Hucisku
Hucisko 39, Gdów, Poland
The exhibition is open on the weekends (12–16) and by appointment.
Tadeusz Kantor Foundation
Fundacja im. Tadeusza Kantora
www.kantorfoundation.pl
Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the Programme of the National Centre for Cultrue Kultura – interwencje. Edycja 2025
The „Dom w Hucisku – Wystawa wraz z katalogiem” project is realised with financial Wieliczka County financial support.
