Polish collateral show unites Kantor, Jarema

Tadeusz Kantor and Maria Jarema are back in Venice almost seven decades after each appeared at the Biennale, this time in a joint collateral exhibition that places their work in direct conversation. The show, “Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990): Emballage, Cricotage and Madame Jarema,” opened on May 9 at Procuratie Vecchie on St Mark’s Square and runs through Nov. 22, according to La Biennale di Venezia. It is part of the official collateral program of the 61st International Art Exhibition, Biennale Arte 2026, which La Biennale says includes 31 collateral events. The exhibition is organized by the Warsaw-based Starak Family Foundation and curated by Ania Muszyńska, Magdalena Marczak-Cerońska and Kama Kieremkampt. ### Why are Kantor and Jarema being shown together in Venice now? Richard Unwin reported in The Art Newspaper on May 21 that the exhibition highlights the “interdisciplinary and intertwined nature” of the two artists’ work. Kantor, a painter, playwright and theater director, and Jarema, a painter, sculptor and actress, were central figures in Kraków’s postwar avant-garde and co-founded the Cricot 2 theater group in 1955, according to The Art Newspaper. (labiennale.org) La Biennale’s exhibition page says Jarema was “the only person whose judgment Kantor fully trusted,” and describes their relationship as foundational to Cricot 2. That official description frames the pairing not as a broad survey of Polish modernism, but as a focused account of artistic exchange between two collaborators whose work crossed painting, sculpture, costume and performance. (theartnewspaper.com) ### What is actually in the exhibition? The Art Newspaper said the show brings together major paintings, monotypes, sculptural works, theater props and costumes, ending in a room dedicated to Kantor’s 1975 theater piece “The Dead Class.” La Biennale’s page says that section includes a screening of the performance and the sculptural mannequins of girls and boys fixed in school desks. (labiennale.org) Culture.pl said the exhibition centers on Kantor’s paintings and follows his development from late-1950s Informel through the emballage works of the 1960s and 1970s to late series including “Further On, Nothing” and “I’m Falling Like Hell.” Its image gallery identifies works and installation views from the show, including “The Era of the Boy” (1972), “Rori” (1957) and a mannequin-on-bicycle object from “The Dead Class.” (theartnewspaper.com) ### How large is Jarema’s presence in a show led by Kantor? Ania Muszyńska told The Art Newspaper the exhibition is “first and foremost” devoted to Kantor, with more than 60 works spanning the key phases of his practice. In the same article, she said it was “essential” to present Jarema as “a figure fundamental to the formation of Kantor’s radically free and avant-garde understanding of art.” (culture.pl) La Biennale’s page says Jarema’s section includes monotypes and costumes she designed for Kantor’s early performances. Culture.pl specifies that those reconstructed costumes are tied to “The Cuttlefish” (1956) and “The Circus” (1957), while The Art Newspaper says nine monotypes from the Starak Collection are included. (theartnewspaper.com) ### Why does Venice matter for this pairing? The Art Newspaper said the exhibition arrives nearly 70 years after the artists’ earlier Biennale appearances: Jarema’s work was shown at the 1958 Venice Biennale, and Kantor appeared in the Polish pavilion in 1960. La Biennale’s own text notes that Jarema was a laureate of the F. Nullo Polish-Italian Society award during the 1958 Biennale Arte. (labiennale.org) La Biennale said Biennale Arte 2026, curated by Koyo Kouoh under the title “In Minor Keys,” is accompanied by 100 national participations and 31 collateral events. Within that structure, the Kantor-Jarema exhibition sits outside the national pavilion format but inside the official Biennale program. ### Where can visitors see it, and until when? (theartnewspaper.com) Procuratie Vecchie, at Piazza San Marco 139–153/A in Venice, is the venue listed by La Biennale for the exhibition. La Biennale says admission is free, with opening hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday through Sept. 30, then 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Oct. 1 to Nov. 22. (labiennale.org) Nov. 22, 2026 is the closing date listed by both La Biennale and Culture.pl. The Starak Family Foundation is the organizer named on the Biennale listing, and Muszyńska, Marczak-Cerońska and Kieremkampt are the curators credited there. (labiennale.org)