Wave

Technique: wooden installation

Material: wood, steel

Dimensions: 3.4 m and 2.56 m (height of object a), 2.75 m and 3.20 m (height of object b), 2.5 m (height of object c)

Object: Agnieszka Wach’s Wave installation forms part of the Gdańsk Open-Air Sculpture Gallery. It was created as part of the “Crossroads of Freedom” Festival of Spatial Forms, inspired by the idea of freedom in Gdańsk. The event took place from 2009 to 2019 and included an international spatial form and artistic installation competition, an international wood sculpture plein-air, a seminar on art in public space and numerous accompanying events. Freedom, the main idea of the festival, was also the theme of the annual competition. It was understood not only in terms of the subject matter, but also form of execution and freedom of artistic expression.

Wave won first prize in the spatial form category of the festival competition and was consequently erected in the Ronald Reagan Park. The installation consists of three elements arranged in three parts of a wooden platform. In the ideological layer, the artist referred to the revitalization of former allotment gardens on which the Park was established, seeing the restoration of common, open and recreational areas to the residents as an example of liberation and freedom. The location of the work was chosen by the artist herself – she was designing for a specific space, which was reflected in the installation. In a way, she added three elements to the three ends of the platform, blocking the way at the entry to, and exit from, the platform. The elements of the installation were made of the same material as the platform, i.e. wood, with steel structures. When choosing the material, Agnieszka Wach foresaw that the added elements would become patinated in the same way as the existing platform, thus becoming its integral part. The elements of the installation were given the shape of waves, not ideal and exact, but rather symbolic. However, the objects can certainly be interpreted as waves, especially given the title of the work. Each of them has a slightly different shape, and the tricky approach to the subject of freedom – putting up barriers – provokes the desire to try to face and overcome them. This brings to mind the mythical search for the “perfect wave”, which is none other than the pursuit of freedom and the need to overcome something uncontrollable.

Place: The Gdańsk Open-Air Sculpture Gallery, established as part of the “Crossroads of Freedom” Festival of Spatial Forms, is located in the park named after President Ronald Reagan, an honorary citizen of Gdańsk. The gallery may be found in the part of the park situated in the Brzeźno neighbourhood. The 85 ha park stretches along the coastal belt of Gdańsk, encompassing the districts of Przymorze Wielkie, the western part of Brzeźno and the eastern part of the Żabianka-Wejhera-Jelitkowo-Tysiąclecia quarter. This area used to be occupied by temporary allotment gardens and wasteland. The plan to develop the seaside area for recreational purposes was drawn up in 2001 and implemented in stages until 2014. In addition to areas where one can relax, engage in physical activity or make a bonfire, the park was diversified with outflow ponds with living shorelines and nesting islands for waterbirds. In 2008, the Ronald Reagan Park in Gdańsk received a distinction from the Society of Polish Town Planners (TUP), which recognized it as the best managed green space in Poland.

Information about the author: Agnieszka Wach (b. 1987 in Czeladź, Dąbrowa Basin) is an artist whose work spans sculpture and architecture. She is interested in the subject of memory and its functioning in the real space. Wach is the author and co-author of many competition projects for public space objects, including several designs for metonymical monuments. She designed Second Life of an Object, a work serving as the architecture of the Reconstruction Disputes exhibition presented as part of the Warsaw Under Construction 7 festival and the I Am Calm project showcased at 3one33 Studio, the former atelier of Alina Szapocznikow and Zofia Wolska.

Condition of the object: no remarks

Owner/guardian: Gdańsk Community Foundation

Author of the entry: Dorota Kucharczyk