Curator of the exhibition: Eleni Eirini Xenaki

The exhibition “Before the Word” presents painting as a ritual act and a pre-linguistic form of experience. The works draw from archaic ways of engaging with the world, in which gesture, repetition, and chromatic intensity serve to order experience and build tension. The exposition references two cultural circles: Slavic traditions related to the cycle of nature, the earth, and rites of passage, and Crete, perceived as a space of trance, dionysiac energy, movement, and light. Both of these orders function in parallel, intersecting through form, color, and painterly gesture.

The exhibition layout is non-linear and encourages an intuitive, bodily mode of reception, leading the viewer toward an experience that unfolds before the birth of the word.

The artist writes about the creative process as follows: „The artistic process for me is a reflection on the present based on a fascination with what we do not understand, what terrifies us, and yet attracts us. Drawing from Slavic mythology and rituals – such as the Kupala Night, celebrating fire, water, and human grounding in the cycle of nature – I explore contemporary fears and universal questions about the condition of today’s world.”

Honorary Patronage: Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Athens

This exhibition was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union and implemented by the Goethe-Institut. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.

Bio

Filip Wierzbicki‑Nowak (born 1985 in Poznań, Poland) is a visual artist and professor at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts in Poznań. He completed his Master’s degree at the Faculty of Painting under the supervision of Prof. Dominik Lejman at the University of the Arts in Poznań. In 2018, he defended his doctoral dissertation at his alma mater, and in 2024 he obtained the degree of habilitated doctor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In his work, he combines painting, drawing, printmaking, film, installation, and site‑specific projects, exploring the relationships between nature, memory, and image. He has presented his work in 23 solo and over 90 group exhibitions in Poland and abroad.