Paulina Olowska (b. 1976, Gdansk, Poland) does not limit her practice to any one medium. Instead she works in painting, sculpture, neon and ceramics as well as theatrical and dance performances and 20th century-style happenings, employing each different medium as an instrument from an ever-expanding toolbox. In her work, she engages history, or better yet histories – the history of her country, Poland, in its transition away from Soviet occupation; the history of women, and women artists specifically; the history of fashion and style. In speaking about her painting practice, she has said: “I would like it to be read as a manifesto: both a manifesto of women’s independence but also a manifesto of fashion and ‘utopian optimism,’ as a way of surviving the mediocrity of things.” (in Catherine Wood “Design for Living”, Parkett 2013). Her solo projects have recently shown at Carnegie International, MoMA, Tramway, and she was featured in the Berlin, Istanbul and Venice Biennales
