THE MARTA MAGDALENA ABAKANOWICZ-KOSMOWSKA AND JAN KOSMOWSKI FOUNDATION
Our Team
FOUNDATION COUNCIL: Stefania Zgudka,
Anna Popowicz , Magdalena Środa, Marta Kowalewska – Chairperson
FOUNDATION BOARD: Tomasz Piątkowski – President, Magdalena Grabowska – Director General
ACCOUNTANCY: Wiesława Chojnacka
HUMAN RESOURCES: Danuta Żelazko
The Foundation team currently consists of Magdalena Abakanowicz’s closest associates, as well as people who joined the Foundation after the Founders’ passing. The long-term personal experience of working with Magdalena Abakanowicz of some of the Foundation staff guarantees the realisation of its statutory objectives in the form and scope envisaged by the Artist herself.
The mission of the Magdalena Abakanowicz Foundation is to support activities that promote education, culture and the arts, as well as personal and community development, by promoting and making available the works and life story of Magdalena Abakanowicz throughout the world, with careful attention to preserving the legacy in an orderly form and making it available to the public.
The Foundation's vision is to create a concrete and visible place on the world art map, representing the Artist’s oeuvre comprehensively, globally and locally, supporting current cultural activities, and permanently positioning the Foundation within Warsaw’s cultural landscape.
History
The Foundation was established by Magdalena Abakanowicz and Jan Kosmowski in May 2007. The founders set out the aims of the Foundation in the Statutes, indicated roles for the individuals involved, and bequeathed the resources necessary to make their plans a reality.
The Foundation’s actual activities commenced after the demise of the other Founder and the acquisition of the inheritance, in accordance with the will, by virtue of which the Foundation received in particular the ownership of the collection, the copyrights, the archives and all other resources related to the life and work of Magdalena Abakanowicz.
The official operations of the Foundation began with the appointment of the new Board and Council in June 2019 and the acquisition of the Foundation’s assets.
Statutes
The Foundation Statutes established by the Founders state the Foundation purpose, indicate the assets held and describe the principles of its operation and the areas of competence of each appointed governing body. The authorities are the Board and the Council of the Foundation. The assets include works of art forming the Foundation's collection, an archive with video, audio and photo-graphic records along with the respective copyrights – a complete documentation of the Artist’s creative activity – as well as real estate, movable property and accumulated financial capital. The assets also include subsidiary rights and publications. The activities of the Foundation are intended to support continued exhibitory and culture-forming presence of the Artist’s name and work in the world of art and on the art market.
Headquarters
The Foundation’s home base, place of work and meeting place is Magdalena Abakanowicz’s private house and studio, with all the memorabilia relating to her private and artistic life, at Bzowa Street, Warsaw. The house was designed and built specially for the Artist. Currently, it also serves as an informal museum of her life and work, housing an archive, a collection of works, a conservation workshop, a gallery and a small sculpture park in the garden.
Archive
The Foundation’s resources (material inventory) provide a complete picture of the Artist with all aspects of her life. These include family histories, lifestyle represented in private spaces, travel records or the areas of interest available. This picture is also reflected in the nature and style of her communications with the world, in the effects of her artistic work as evident in her correspondence with curators and other professionals concerning her creations around the world. It is also a record of her relationships with collaborators or collectors.
Like few artists, Magdalena Abakanowicz was able, with the help of her closest associates, to create a powerful archive of written as well as audio- and photo-graphic and film content. Letters, documents, books, photographs, diapositives, films, exhibition catalogues from all over the world, publications, etc. – this sums up to an extremely valuable collection, documenting both her artistic endeavours and the way in which she worked and collaborated with those interested in her work.
It is the Foundation's task to properly secure the archival material, but also to make it available to researchers insofar as it is necessary for scientific research.
Art Collection
The Foundation’s art collection consists of the works bequeathed by the Artist, managed by the Foundation according to its statutory functions. We renovate and store the works and make them available for exhibition. The collection includes sculptures, drawings, paintings, sculptural moulds, installations, video material, and more. The Foundation also manages artworks that are migrating around the world, temporarily or permanently deposited in national and international museums, galleries and other cultural institutions.
5 Stępińska Str.
The studio at Stępińska Street is an active venue for meetings, the promotion of Magdalena Abakanowicz and a permanent exhibition of her works, as well as a place for proactive and collaborative events in its capacity as a Warsaw Historical Art Studio.
The studio, rented by Magdalena Abakanowicz from 2003, served mainly as a place for creating and storing works and preparing exhibitions. As a Historical Warsaw Artistic Workshop, the Studio is to present selected works by Magdalena Abakanowicz in the form of a publicly accessible art gallery and to cooperate with the City of Warsaw, local cultural centres and individual cultural initiatives. It is intended to welcome all those who want or need to discuss the Artist’s work with the public or among specialists, display archival materials, or hold educational classes. The studio at Stępińska Street replaces the house on Bzowa Street as a venue accessible to the general public.
The Foundation pursues two main streams of activity:
• opening of the studio for scientific and educational activities;
• occasional presence of the studio in external activities in collaboration with the municipal authorities, in particular with Mokotów’s cultural centres.
The Foundation cooperates with the University of Arts in Poznań,
which bears the name of Magdalena Abakanowicz, by providing access to archival materials for research and scholarly work, as well as to the works of art for exhibitions and presentations. It also grants copyrights for the use of the image of its collected works and resources.
Media contact:
Magdalena Grabowska
Tomasz Piątkowski
The Foundation maintains communication through its
community profile