This year marks ten years since the first and only center for contemporary art in this part of Poland was established in Szczecin. Celebrating anniversaries or jubilees is not in the spirit of TRAFO. We prefer critical reflection over historiophilic commemorations or idealizing the past in an antiquarian, monumentizing spirit (of questionable cognitive value). History validates power systems more than it teaches us anything. Besides, what particular value results from the mere fact that someone/something celebrates / is a number years old?
“Our future will be better than our history,” writes the Nigerian writer Ben Okri in a decolonial spirit. This is also the motto of the anti-birthday exhibition of TRAFO. The institution focuses on the production of knowledge and new works, or rewriting of the existing ones. It does not have its own collection, although a number of works from our exhibitions have been included in public collections in Poland and around the world. Oddly enough, TRAFO is full of artworks inscribed in the building, telling its history and the concept of the program – the spirit and body. They are numerous, frequently outstanding pieces that, in our opinion, recount the past of the place and create its palimpsest story, at the same time making reference to the present day. We have decided to create a different kind of expanding permanent exhibition of TRAFO – a post-institution of visual arts that uses the tools of recognizing the times and space in which we live and shape our tomorrow.
Over time, the “anti-collection in use” will change its character. In 2024, it will receive a guided narration in the form of an audio guide.