What Does a Photograph Do?

The main exhibition of the Museum of Photography in Kraków, prepared by the MuFo curatorial team under the leadership of Dominik Kuryłek, is the first exhibition of its kind in Poland. It presents a cross-section of the history of photography, its present and its future. The title “What Does a Photograph Do?” perfectly captures the multidimensional approach to photography adopted by the Museum’s curatorial team. By asking “what does it do” – that is, “how does it work”, but also, in the colloquial sense, “what does it make” or “what is it made of” – the curators draw on a range of topics related to the process of photographing, the ways photographs are used and the cultural meaning of photography.

Divided into five parts, the exhibition introduces visitors to the world of different photographic techniques, allowing them to understand not only how contemporary photographic prints are made, but also to learn which methods were used earlier to record images on paper. Visitors have the opportunity to become acquainted with the most important Polish photographers, whose works are held in the Kraków collections: from the Museum’s patron, Walery Rzewuski, and the author of the “Limanowa treasure”, amateur photographer Klementyna Zubrzycka-Bączkowska, through Jerzy Lewczyński and Zofia Rydet, to contemporary artists such as Zbigniew Libera, Zofia Kulik, Robert Kuśmirowski and Małgorzata Markiewicz.

Visitors can look not only at the figures of the artists, but also at the themes addressed over nearly two hundred years, such as the documentation of family life, landscape, images of clouds or cars. An important thread of the exhibition is also the cultural meaning of photography – how it was used to convey knowledge about the world, but also to influence public opinion. The whole will conclude with a section on the future of photography, that is, on contemporary imaging techniques that use photographs, and on how artists react to the changes in the world (and in technology).

“What Does a Photograph Do?” consists of around 1000 museum objects from the collections of the Museum of Photography in Kraków – photographic prints and albums, glass plates, negatives and photographic equipment. The diversity of the objects presented not only reflects the richness of the Museum’s collections, but above all is evidence of a broad view of photography. The permanent exhibition looks at photography broadly, presenting it as a technology that changes the world, an intimate way of recording, and at once a companion and a tool of endless global transformations.

Chief curator of the exhibition: Dr Dominik Kuryłek Curatorial team: Marek Janczyk, Monika Kozień, Marek Maszczak, Marta Miskowiec, Andrzej Rybicki Exhibition coordinator: Bartosz Flak Exhibition designers: Jaz+Architekci Żmijewski Jaworski Massé s.c. Exhibition contractor: Trias Avi sp. z o.o. Technical supervision: Andrzej Potaczała Stradom Collaboration: Wojciech Adamczyk, Malwina Antoniszczak, Dr Janusz Czop, Natalia Fyderek, Maria Masternak, Anna Lewandowska, Dariusz Lis, Dr Agnieszka Olszewska, Wojciech Piotrowski, Magdalena Regulska, Magdalena Skrejko Supervision of exhibition realisation: Adrianna Gębala-Pietras Proofreading and editing of texts: Anna Szczepańska, Janusz Krasoń Translation of texts and captions into English: Agnieszka Pokojska Conservation and preparation of objects: Zbigniew Chadaj, Krzysztof Dudek, Michał Misztal, Lucyna Król, Kinga Olesiejuk, Aneta Prorok Collaboration: Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie Contractor of tactile tour elements: Serenissima sp. z o.o. Application developer: Openform s.c. Magdalena Klejdysz-Matras, Rafał Matras, Tomasz Marszałek

The project is financed from funds of the City of Kraków.

Co-financed from funds of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, from the Culture Promotion Fund.

What Does a Photograph Do? – Main Exhibition

The new main exhibition of the Museum of Photography in Kraków, prepared by the MuFo curatorial team under the leadership of Dominik Kuryłek, is the first exhibition of its kind presented in Poland, fully presenting the history of photography, its present and its future. The title…