Gallery ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin

Gallery ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin
Gallery ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin

I rescued myself by running into the gallery twenty minutes before my appointment: the late summer sun in Berlin had been transformed into a violent storm with an oncoming wall of threatening clouds. I needed a few moments to realise that I had landed in another age. There were no staff to be seen. Only in the background could I make out a voice on the telephone. I walked up to the heavy counter and looked into the 1930s office. The style of the furniture, the typography and the posters were clearly recognisable. Had I been really transported back into the time of the Nazis, I could have booked a flight with Deutsche Luft Hansa AG immediately. On the visitors' desk, stuck in an old-fashioned newspaper holder, lay a news sheet dated 1932. The title picture showed a bearded pilot wearing a Lufthansa cap. 

But everything is fake. All the pictures in the newspaper carry the same caption: “Pilot Robert Kuśmirowski sprawdzający maszynę przed odlotem”/“The pilot Robert Kuśmirowski controls the plane before take-off”. The newspaper is simultaneously the gallery's spring edition. In several places there is an interview with the Slovenian architect, Miloš Kosec and a dummy page containing a report on the Polish artist Ryszard Wasko, whom the gallery represents. The pilot on the title picture is in reality the artist responsible for the whole installation: Robert Kuśmirowski was born in Łódź in 1973 and now lives in Lublin. He is known for his construction of imaginary time capsules and fake photos, counterfeits and perfectly constructed replicas of historic objects, often from the Nazi era, which undermine and throw into question our collective memories. This time the artist had chosen a photograph of the Lufthansa office – it was situated in a building in Lindenstaße 35 between 1928 and 1938 –  as a starting point for his current installation. “Take a seat”, says Monika Branicka, one of the two people who run the gallery, “you can use this installation.”

The art critic and historian arrived in Berlin from Kraków in 2007. Here she set up her own first-ever gallery. Acquaintances informed her that the artist Asia Żak, who also comes from Kraków, had also set up a gallery in the centre of the city. They made friends with each other and three months later decided to merge their galleries. In 2008 the young gallery, ŻAK | BRANICKA presented nine partly simultaneous exhibitions, and in the same year took part in a consortium for gallery owners in Berlin, abc art berlin contemporary, (it holds an annual meeting every year in mid-September), where Monika Branicka now has a seat on the advisory board.

Media library
  • Magdalena Abakanowicz, Bambini, 1998

    Magdalena Abakanowicz, Bambini, 1998. Ausstellungsansicht in der St. Elisabeth-Kirche, Berlin, Gallery Weekend 2015, Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin
  • Hubert Czerepok, MADNESS IS LIKE GRAVITY, 2011

    Hubert Czerepok, MADNESS IS LIKE GRAVITY, 2011. Neon, 200 x 190 cm
  • Hubert Czerepok, Lux Aeterna, 2011

    Hubert Czerepok, Lux Aeterna, 2011. HD-Video, 29:00 min
  • Stanisław Dróżdż, Untitled (Uncertainty-Hesitation-Certainty), 1967

    Stanisław Dróżdż, Untitled (Uncertainty-Hesitation-Certainty), 1967, from the series A4. Typoscript auf Papier, 30 x 21 cm
  • Stanisław Dróżdż, Untitled (Vergessen), 1967

    Stanisław Dróżdż, Untitled (Vergessen), 1967. Schwarzes Acryl auf Wand
  • Szymon Kobylarz, Showcase Museum, 2013

    Szymon Kobylarz, Showcase Museum, 2013, from the series Art for Art's Sake. Acryl auf Holz, 125 x 166 cm
  • Szymon Kobylarz, Artificial Rainbow, 2013

    Szymon Kobylarz, Artificial Rainbow, 2013, from the series Art for Art's Sake. Acryl auf Holz, 77 x 103 cm
  • Szymon Kobylarz, Fractal, 2013

    Szymon Kobylarz, Fractal, 2013, from the series Art for Art's Sake. Acryl auf Holz, 125 x 166 cm
  • Katarzyna Kozyra, Women are Waiting 03, 1998

    Katarzyna Kozyra, Women are Waiting 03, 1998. C-Print, 150 x 200 cm
  • Paweł Książek, Silent Utopia 15, 2013

    Paweł Książek, Silent Utopia 15, 2013, from the series Silent Utopia. Öl auf Leinwand, 160 x 120 cm
  • Paweł Książek, Figure 1, 2013

    Paweł Książek, Figure 1, 2013, from the series Figures. Öl auf Leinwand und Plexiglas, 32 x 42 x 6 cm
  • Marlena Kudlicka, I lost a minute but gained a day, 2012

    Marlena Kudlicka, I lost a minute but gained a day, 2012. Ausstellungsansicht, CGAC Santiago de Compostela, Spanien
  • Marlena Kudlicka, the weight of 8, 2013

    Marlena Kudlicka, the weight of 8, 2013, from the series the weight of 8. Installation, Größe variabel
  • Zofia Kulik, The Splendour of Myself V, 2007

    Zofia Kulik, The Splendour of Myself V, 2007. Silbergelatine-Druck, 250 x 180 cm
  • Ausstellung Zofia Kulik „Instead of Sculpture - Sequences 1968-71”, 2014

    Ausstellung Zofia Kulik „Instead of Sculpture - Sequences 1968-71”, Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA 2014, Berlin
  • Dominik Lejman, Portrait of a Philosopher (Warren Niesluchowski Front), 2012

    Dominik Lejman, Portrait of a Philosopher (Warren Niesluchowski Front), 2012. Acryl auf Leinwand und Projektion, 130 x 150 cm
  • Dominik Lejman, Bubblewrap, 2014

    Dominik Lejman, Bubblewrap, 2014. Acryl auf Leinwand und Projektion
  • Agnieszka Polska, Haroun, 2012

    Agnieszka Polska, Haroun, 2012. C-Print, 60 x 60 cm
  • Joanna Rajkowska, Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue (Holga) 02, 2010

    Joanna Rajkowska, Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue (Holga) 02, 2010. C-Print, 30 x 30 cm
  • Józef Robakowski, Multiple Portrait, 1998

    Józef Robakowski, Multiple Portrait, 1998, from the series Without series. Video-Installation
  • Józef Robakowski, From My Window 1978-1999, 2000

    Józef Robakowski, From My Window 1978-1999, 2000, from the series Without series. 16 mm-Video, 20 min
  • Natalia Stachon, Blinding 03, 2011

    Natalia Stachon, Blinding 03, 2011. 15 Kupferprofile, Rollwagen (Holz, Rollen, Farbe), 300 x 60 x 33 cm
  • VALIE EXPORT, Fragmente der Bilder einer Berührung [Obrazy kontaktu (fragmenty)], 1994

    VALIE EXPORT, Fragmente der Bilder einer Berührung [Obrazy kontaktu (fragmenty)], 1994, widok instalacji, 2013, ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin
  • Ryszard Waśko, The Accident (a police record), 1971

    Ryszard Waśko, The Accident (a police record), 1971. Silbergelatine-Druck, 64 x 97 cm
  • Ryszard Waśko, Self portrait in motion 10, 1972

    Ryszard Waśko, Self portrait in motion 10, 1972. Fotografie
  • Ryszard Waśko, A Corner 2, 1976

    Ryszard Waśko, A Corner 2, 1976. Silbergelatine-Druck, je 27 x 18 cm, Satz von 2 Fotografien
  • Katalog Hubert Czerepok: Haunebu, 2008

    Katalog Hubert Czerepok: Haunebu, 2008. Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin, 14.6.-30.8.2008
  • Katalog Jarosław Fliciński: No Matter Where it Happens, 2008

    Katalog Jarosław Fliciński: No Matter Where it Happens, 2008. Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin, 5.9.-25.10.2008
  • Katalog Katarzyna Kozyra: In Art Dreams Come True, 2008

    Katalog Katarzyna Kozyra: In Art Dreams Come True, 2008. Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin, 31.10.-10.12.2008
  • Katalog Paweł Książek: Silent Utopia, 2009

    Katalog Paweł Książek: Silent Utopia, 2009, Art Basel Statements, Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA, 10.6.-14.6.2009
  • Katalog Marlena Kudlicka: the weight of 8, 2013

    Katalog Marlena Kudlicka: the weight of 8, 2013. Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin, 21.6.-14.9.2013
  • Katalog Natalia Stachon: The Problem of the Calm, 2013

    Katalog Natalia Stachon: The Problem of the Calm, 2013. Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin, 1.11.2013-11.1.2014
  • Katalog Ryszard Wasko: Time Sculptures, 2015

    Katalog Ryszard Wasko: Time Sculptures, 2015. Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA, Berlin, 17.9.-7.11.2015
  • Galerie ŻAK | BRANICKA - Hörspiel von "COSMO Radio po polsku" auf Deutsch

    In Zusammenarbeit mit "COSMO Radio po polsku" präsentieren wir Hörspiele zu ausgewählten Themen unseres Portals.