The underground passage

For some years now, the Town of Neuchâtel has offered the members of the SPSAS (Society of Swiss Painters, Sculptors and Architects) the possibility to exhibit their works for three months in the underground passageway that links the square of Pury to the Hotel Beau-Rivage. It spends the sum of Swiss francs 10'000 per year on this, which is split between the four exhibitors. These have three months to paint a number of panels which, at the end of the exposition, are cleaned by the General Bill posting Company (SGA) and then put at the disposal of a new artist. These ephemeral works have the dual function of enlivening a passageway considered to be sad and bleak and of allowing the artists to show their work.
From March to May 1999, Mal´gorzata Górnisiewicz exhibited the works presented at the MEN in the passageway. Born in Krakow (Poland) in 1964, she studied engraving and painting at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts and obtained a diploma in design from the studio of Professor Jacek Gaj as well as a diploma in painting from the studio of Professor Zbyslaw Maciejewski in 1993. Her artistic activities include engraving, painting, book illustration and music. She is a member of the Society of Swiss Painters, Sculptors and Architects.

Expositions individuelles: Piwnica pod Baranami, Cracovie 1991, 1995; Art Club, Cracovie 1991; Centre Culturel Rotunda, Cracovie 1992; Galerie Oko, (Pologne) 1994; Consulat général de Pologne à Lille (France) 1995; Galerie Jatki, Nowy Targ (Pologne) 1995; Galerie Pod Lipami, Poznan (Pologne) 1995; Galerie Kanonicza 1, Cracovie 1995; Musée régional Lomza (Pologne) 1996.
Expositions collectives: Maciejewski - Ses amis et ses élèves, Galerie à Zabo, Nuremberg (Allemagne) 1991; Le Salon de Printemps, Palais des Arts, Cracovie 1994; Les plus jeunes membres de l’Union des Artistes plasticiens polonais, Galerie Pryzmat, Cracovie 1994; Triennale de l’Art graphique polonais, Katowice (Pologne) 1994, Clermont-Ferrand (France) 1994, Schwetzingen (Allemagne) 1995; Le IVe Salon des jeunes - Promotion, Legnica (Pologne) 1994; Festival d’Art, Kanagawa (Japon); Le Salon d’Automne 1997, Palais des Arts, Cracovie 1997.
Prix et distinctions: Troisième prix au concours La Gravure de l’année 1993, Cracovie.

The underground passage

For politicians, helping artists is a delicate problem, especially in the middle of a financial crisis. Therefore the policy is frequently employed called «the watering can», which allows a great number of demands to be met. The only cultural option is in this case of doing what you can for everyone. So established artists and the newcomers are treated equally. Each one is supported or confirmed. Better still, there are no longer any bad projects and the financial sprinkling ends up being considered as an act of political courage.
As far as artists are concerned, if some of them take these crumbs gratefully, others deplore both the financial levelling and insecurity that they involve, which bring about insecurity in their creative work.
To sum up, if the lack of means leads some artists to censor themselves or to drop the scale of their legitimate ambitions, others choose exile to more exposed and more receptive places to carry on their art.

Documentation: Laurence Boegli et Pascale Gazareth. 1998. L’art des questeurs: subventions et vie culturelle en Ville de Neuchâtel. Neuchâtel: Direction des Affaires culturelles, p. 113.

Ce sont les REGARDEURS qui font les tableaux. On découvre aujourd’hui le Greco; le public peint ses tableaux trois cents ans après l’auteur en titre. Je m’intéresse beaucoup à ce qui peut s’écrire à propos de «la mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même». Vous admettrez tout de même que je sois a-clérical et que la genèse du «verre» ait été extérieure à toute préoccupation religieuse ou antireligieuse.

Marcel Duchamp. 1994 [1975]. Duchamp du signe. Paris: Flammarion, p. 247.

> défense d’afficher.