An artist was born 14 October 1968 in Bydgoszcz. Versatile artist, using various media. She makes sculptures, photography, drawings, objects, and installations; most recently fascinated by creative activities at the interface of art and reality, projects in public space. She lives and works in Cracow.

"I will Never Be the Pope. I will Never Be Andy Warhol" 2000

Between 1987-1992 Rajkowska studied art history at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, and between 1988-1993 painting under professor Jerzy Nowosielski at the Cracow Academy of Fine Arts, graduating with a distinction. Between 1994-1995 she attended the Studio Semester Program at State University of New York.

Rajkowska versatility entails adapting the language of the artistic statement to the requirements of the message addressed at the recipient. Her work is marked by great dose of irony and a sense of distance towards the issues it tackles.

A very important problem that many of Rajkowska's works deal with is the human body and the mutual relations between man's physicality and psychology, self-knowledge in the physical sphere and the sensual one. The artist often uses her own body and its image in her art. In 1994, she put forward the theory of the "body as sculpture". Shortly thereafter she gained critical and public recognition with her sculptures - life-sized mannequins, semi-fantastic, semi-realistic. Aesthetically made, gleaming with polished epoxy-resin surfaces, they attracted the eye with pure colour, but represented maimed, deformed or mutated bodies, androgynes, hybrids, creatures of an undefined sexual identity. Rajkowska used non-standard techniques here - the figures had been made to order by mannequin manufacturers, some incorporated dead animals or insects, and some the artist's own bodily casts. The pieces opposed material aesthetics with physical degenerations that signalled disturbances of human consciousness caused, among other things, by sensual pathologies ("The Ear That Hears. The Ear That Doesn't Hear", 1996), sexual identity-related anxieties ("White Spirits Sans Odour", 1995; "The Love of a Man Called Dog", 1997/1998), or the body's function in extreme conditions ("Water Tower. Headache", 1996).

"Satisfaction Guaranteed"

In 2000, Rajkowska created "Satisfaction Guaranteed", a series of consumer products - soft drinks and cosmetics - based on her own bodily secretions.

The project's radicalism and its charge of intellectual provocation surpassed everything that Rajkowska had done before. It was one of the most eccentric and perverse artistic proposals to appear in Polish art at the time. At first sight "Satisfaction Guaranteed" (illustrations) could seem closer to a marketing operation than to art. Rajkowska manufactured the objects using industrial methods, in hundreds and thousands of copies. The "product range" included a series of canned soft drinks in six flavours, two soap varieties, vaseline, and perfume. They had all been made according to the art of marketing: they had their brand ("Satisfaction Guaranteed"), logo, carefully designed packaging. They were also usable: the drinks could be drunk, the soap washed, the perfume scented. But unlike in mass production, which is usually impersonal, anonymous, Rajkowska's products conveyed an extremely personal message. The cans, the perfume, the vaseline and the soap together a kind of intimate self-portrait, and intimate to the extreme because the raw material used for making them was Rajkowska herself, or rather her body. The drinks, besides water, carbon dioxide and preservatives, contained ingredients as unusual as DNA, grey grain matter, mammary gland extract, vagina mucus, cornea, endorphin - everything collected from the artist's body. Similarly with the cosmetics: the vaseline was made on the basis of the artist's saliva, the perfume incorporated her pheromones, and the soap - her bodily fat.

"Satisfaction Guaranteed"

Equally personal in nature were the products' "commercial" names and the packaging design. The artist used here photographs from her family album, images of her family members, and images of fragments of her own body, including those commonly regarded as intimate. The "Satisfaction Guaranteed"-series products not only had unusual chemical compositions, but also their purported effect went far beyond what we would normally expect from a soft drink or vaseline. The information on what the product should do with us was expressly stated on the packaging. The drinks refresh, enhance erotic sensations, soothe pain, but they can also produce more serious effects: relieve sense of loss and boredom, or even transform the genotype. Even more unusual consequences can result from using the cosmetics. "Family Life" soap causes "fear of family life and watching TV together", and masturbation as a possible side effect. The vaseline users will experience "instant relief", but have to take into account possible "degeneration of the reproductive instinct". A potential side effect in this case is "aversion to animals" and a sense of "constant embarrassment". The scent of the perfume "annuls blood ties and produces a sense of absolute individuality", the potential side effect being the urge to "suddenly board a bus to go somewhere and meet someone".

"Dream Diary"

The whole project was constructed according to the principles of artistic fiction, only this time it was extremely realistic fiction. The articles do exist, as do the idea of transforming a human being into consumer products and the technical possibilities of turning it into reality. Rajkowska had gathered all that was most intimate and dear to her: her childhood, her loved ones, daily life, residential address, her anxieties and experiences, and finally her body. She then processed all those things into commodities, fast-moving consumer goods.

In a 2001 project called "Dream Diary" (illustrations), Rajkowska again tackled the issue of communication between the artist and the viewer. Over the course of six days, some 300 young people slept in turns during daytime at Galeria XXI and then wrote down their dreams. "Dream Diary" was the artist's response to a growing sense of alienation and an attempt to cope with it. The experience was transposed on a randomly selected group of strangers who decided to spend time together during an activity as intimate as sleep.

"I wanted them to cut off the entire sphere of consciousness, so that contact would be based solely on tolerating a body next to you."

In 2002, following two years of preparations, Rajkowska executed an urban-space public project called "Greetings From Jerusalem Avenue" (photos). In the very heart of Warsaw, at the Rondo de Gaulle'a roundabout,

"Greetings From Jerusalem Avenue"

she placed an artificial 15-metre tall palm tree. Originally the palm was to remain in place for twelve months only, but then the city hall agreed to postpone the deadline for its removal. The idea to place an artificial palm in Warsaw originated following the artist's trip to Israel and stemmed from a desire to transfer what had been preserved in her memories to Warsaw's Aleje Jerozolimskie, whose name, in turn, referred to Jew and Israel. The idea's apparent absurdity corresponds on the conceptual level with the Polish idiom palma mu odbiła, meaning "he's gone nuts" or "he's got a screw loose". The project stirred up a lot of controversy even in its planning phases, but when finalised, it became one of Warsaw's showpieces, a symbol of the belief that the apparently impossible can be made possible after all.

In 2003, Rajkowska carried out in Berlin an action called "Artist For Rent" (photos), which took further the issue of interpersonal relationships, of being with someone on strictly defined terms. The artist for twenty five days performed simple tasks for persons who had responded to her ad: mailed letters, renovated furniture, decorated a room for a dance party, helped remove a "spell" off an apartment.

Author: Ewa Gorządek, October 2004; Updated: January 2007

The photographs and the list of exhibitions are published courtesy of the artist.
For more photos and detailed project descriptions visit www.rajkowska.com.

Selected solo exhibitions:

• 1993
  - "O przebywaniu w dwóch pomieszczeniach" (graduation project), ASP, Cracow
  - "Osiem stacji", Galeria Miejsce, Cieszyn
• 1994 - "Płyny", Galeria Zderzak, Cracow
• 1995
  - "No Sign of Dying Soon. The Past - The Physical Presence", State University of New York, New York (USA)
  - "Podrażnienie", Galeria Zderzak, Cracow
• 1996
  - "Tercet na Skórę, Głos i Szaleńca", Teatr Bückleina, Cracow
  - "Przypadłości. Nauka o chorobach wewnętrznych", Galeria Prowincjonalna, Słubice
  - "Wieża ciśnień. Ból głowy", CSW Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw
• 1997
  - "Midget House", Galeria Biała, Lublin
  - "Lobster Lovers", Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, USA
• 1998
  - "Miłość zwanego Psem", Galeria Zachęta, Warsaw
  - "To nie byłem ja", Galeria Kronika, Bytom
  - Galeria Starmach, Cracow
  - "Menu of Desires", Bunkier Sztuki Gallery, Cracow
• 1999
  - "On Saturday I Eat Sweets and I Masturbate", Galeria Otwarta, Cracow
  - "Things I Do in the Evenings", Manhattan Gallery, Łódź
• 2000 - "Satysfakcja gwarantowana / Satisfaction Guaranteed", Galeria Zewnętrzna AMS
• 2001 - Stockholm International Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2002/2003 - "Pozdrowienia z Alej Jerozolimskich / Greetings from the Jerusalem Avenue", Warsaw
• 2003 - "Formal Promise. Artist For Rent", Mullerdechiara Gallery, Berlin, Germany
• 2004 - "Tylko Miłość / Only Love" (public project), Warsaw
• 2005 - "Dwadzieścia dwa zlecenia", Galeria Program, Warsaw
• 2006
  - "Umea Volcano", Galeria Verkligheten, Umea, Sweden
  - "Zostaw to / Leave it", Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw

Selected group exhibitions:

• 1992
  - "Miejsca nie miejsca", Centrum Rzeźby Polskiej, Orońsko
  - "Being at Home", Vereinshaus-Kunsthaus, Horn, Austria
• 1994 - "Let Me Wash Your Hands", Sauce Place, New York, USA
• 1995 - "Unter Einem Dach", Podewil, Berlin, Germany
• 1996
  - "Art in Poland: New Directions", UB Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA
  - "Sensitive", Galeria Arsenał, Białystok
  - "Solvay, Blok A/D", L'Atelier, Cracow
• 1997 - "Re-Bates", The L.C.Bates Museum, Hinckley, Maine, USA
• 1999 - "Blue Fire", 3rd Biennial Prague, Young Artists from Central Europe, Prague, Czech Republic
• 2000
  - "Satysfakcja gwarantowana / Satisfaction Guaranteed", Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw
  - "In Freiheit endlich, Polnische Kunst nach 1989", Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
• 2001
  - "Irreligia", Muzeum Atelier 340, Brussels, Belgium
  - "Ostensiv", Kunstraum B/2, Leipzig, Germany
• 2002
  - "Rzeczywiście, młodzi są realistami / Really, young are realists", Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw
  - "Oder-Sprung", Kunsthalle Essen, Germany
  - "Ostensiv-Moscow", Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
  - "Photofestival", Skulpturen Hus, Stockholm, Sweden
  - "Global Priority", Jamaica Arts Center, New York (USA)
  - "Open House", Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg
• 2003
  - Stockholm International Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
  - "White Mazur", Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
  - "Logo! No Logo?", Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen, Brussels, Belgium
  - "Operacja myszy", Bunkier Sztuki, Cracow
• 2004
  - Busan Biennale, Busan, Korea
  - Passage de Retz, Paris, France
  - Łódź Biennale, Łódź
• 2005
  - "Spectator T", Art Sheffield 05, Sheffield Contemporary Art Forum, UK
  - "Egocentryczne, niemoralne, przestarzałe. Współczesne wizerunki artystów", Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, Warsaw
  - "Jakoś to będzie. Wybory A.D. 2005", Galeria Piotra Nowickiego, Warsaw
  - "Site-ations 2005", Cardiff, UK
  - "Czas Kultury", Galeria Arsenał, Poznań
  - "Horyzont zderzeń", Stara Rzeźnia, Art Poznań 2005, Poznań
  - "Jak rozmawiać o sztuce współczesnej?", Galeria Arsenał, Białystok
• 2006
  - "Paris Is Burning", Galeria Laurin, Zurich, Switzerland
  - "Architektura intymna / Architektura porzucona", Galeria Kronika, Bytom
  - "Ulica Próżna 2006 / Próżna Street 2006", Fundacja Shalom, Warsaw
  - "W Polsce czyli gdzie?", Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw
  - "Southeast Passages", PAC, Ferrara, Italy
  - "Zostaw to", CSW Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw

Awards and scholarships:

• 1992 - Kunsthaus Horn (Austria)
• 1996 - The ArtsLink Partnership, Buffalo (NY)
• 1996 - President of the City of Cracow Award
• 1997 - The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Fellowship
• 1998 - Civitella Ranieri Fellowship
• 2001 - Minister of Culture and National Heritage Fellowship
• 2006 - Minister of Culture and National Heritage Fellowship; Fellowship, IASPIS Foundation, Umea, Sweden

"Satisfaction Guaranteed" back to text

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"Dream Diary" back to text

"Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue" back to text

"Artist for Rent" back to text
	exhibition in müllerdechiara gallery in Berlin	exhibition in müllerdechiara gallery in Berlin

"Only Love"

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