PAULINA OLOWSKA

Staged on the gallery’s seventh floor, which Olowska will transform into an immersive theatrical set, this presentation is a bold reinterpretation of Polish artist, playwright, and theorist Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz’s 1924 play The Mother (Matka).

Witkiewicz’s surrealist masterpiece challenged conventions of Polish theater and art, and, in the century since its debut, his play has continued to captivate audiences—the playwright Jerzy Jarocki famously staged the performance at Kraków’s Stary Theatre in 1964 and 1972, and Olowska presented a critically acclaimed adaptation of the work at London’s Tate Modern in 2015.Olowska’s latest interpretation of this iconic play will offer a poetic, defiant exploration of maternal archetypes, artistic legacy, and the haunting specter of cultural mythologies. Drawing inspiration from actress Ewa Lassek’s performance as the titular character in Jarocki’s legendary staging in Kraków, Olowska brings a modern, feminist perspective to her upcoming production. Set on the seventh floor of Pace in New York, which features floor-to- ceiling windows overlooking the Chelsea skyline, her performance will showcase three actresses embodying different archetypal roles: Nora Kryst as The Witch, Myfanwy MacLeod as The Artist, and Monika Jac Jagaciak as The Mother. Each day of the exhibition, visitors will encounter a live performance woven into a mise-en-scène that blurs the boundaries between reality and hallucination.

Large-scale portraits of The Mother, inspired by Olowska’s muse Anja Rubik—the Polish model and activist featured on the cover of Art Vogue Polska in November 2018, with artistic direction by Olowska—will frame the set. Informed by photographs by Kacper Kasprzyk, these paintings radiate energy, capturing the layered contradictions of motherhood: strength and fragility, beauty and decay.

The performances at Pace will be accompanied by a printed pamphlet that sheds light on the legacy of Formism, formerly known as Polish Expressionism; Witkiewicz’s radical ideas; and Olowska’s reinterpretation of this historical material through a feminist lens. This pamphlet, produced by Olowska, will serve as both a guide to and an extension of the show, connecting historical contexts to the contemporary concerns that animate the artist’s practice.

The performance schedule for The Mother: An Unsavoury Monologue follows below:

Nora Kryst (as The Witch): February 13–15Myfanwy MacLeod (as The Artist): February 18–22Monika Jac Jagaciak (as The Mother): February 25–March 1