Marcin Dudek
Rite of Passage, 2024
Acrylic paint, oil paint, steel, stone, plastic, aluminium, wood, cotton, medical tape
Open: 200 x 302 cm - 78 3/4 x 118 7/8 in
Closed: 200 x 150 cm - 78 3/4 x 59 in
Closed: 200 x 150 cm - 78 3/4 x 59 in
Copyright The Artist & Harlan Levey Projects
Further images
In 'Rite of Passage', Marcin Dudek constructs a manually activated kinetic installation of six aluminum panels linked by a clinking chain. One end is weighted with a red plastic fragment...
In "Rite of Passage", Marcin Dudek constructs a manually activated kinetic installation of six aluminum panels linked by a clinking chain. One end is weighted with a red plastic fragment from a Cracovia stadium bench, a place central to the artist’s youth. The other holds a stone from the Roman amphitheatre in Syracuse. This physical axis connects two sites of spectatorship, bridging contemporary football culture with ancient ritual performance. The panels, cut from the offset printing plates of Dudek’s monograph Slash & Burn, open like pages or wounds. Each reveals a distinct layer of personal and collective memory, shifting the installation with every movement. The work reflects on how identities are formed through shared spaces and repeated gestures. It also explores how mass gatherings (whether in stadiums, amphitheatres, or cities) produce forms of social abstraction, where individuals become part of a larger, symbolic and shared body. The unfolding triptych emerges as a space of memory, transformation, and ritual, where the presence of the body remains central to the spectacle.
Marcin Dudek embodies art as a strategy for living. His practice builds from autobiographical experience and expands to explore the broader phenomenon that shaped it. Dudek constructs objects, installations, painting and performance, touching upon questions of power and aggression in the context of sport and cultural spectacle. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including the Museum Ostwall (Dortmund, DE); IKOB - Museum of Contemporary Art (Eupen, BE); Kunsthal Extra-City (Antwerp, BE), Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris, FR); MNAC National Museum of Contemporary Art (Bucharest, RO); and the MWW Wrocław Contemporary Museum (PL). Dudek has participated in group exhibitions at the BPS 22 - Art Museum of the Hainaut Province (Charleroi, BE); S.M.A.K. - Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (Ghent, BE); 8th Biennial of Painting (Deinze, BE); The Warehouse (Dallas, US); the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (RU); the Salzburger Kunstverein (AT); the Arad Art Museum (RO); Bunkier Sztuki Gallery (Kraków, PL); the Goethe-Institut Ukraine (Kiev, Ukraine); and many others.
Marcin Dudek embodies art as a strategy for living. His practice builds from autobiographical experience and expands to explore the broader phenomenon that shaped it. Dudek constructs objects, installations, painting and performance, touching upon questions of power and aggression in the context of sport and cultural spectacle. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including the Museum Ostwall (Dortmund, DE); IKOB - Museum of Contemporary Art (Eupen, BE); Kunsthal Extra-City (Antwerp, BE), Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris, FR); MNAC National Museum of Contemporary Art (Bucharest, RO); and the MWW Wrocław Contemporary Museum (PL). Dudek has participated in group exhibitions at the BPS 22 - Art Museum of the Hainaut Province (Charleroi, BE); S.M.A.K. - Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (Ghent, BE); 8th Biennial of Painting (Deinze, BE); The Warehouse (Dallas, US); the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (RU); the Salzburger Kunstverein (AT); the Arad Art Museum (RO); Bunkier Sztuki Gallery (Kraków, PL); the Goethe-Institut Ukraine (Kiev, Ukraine); and many others.