Out of the 181 artists who over the last thirty years have participated in one of the most prestigious residency programmes in the world – Emerging Artists in Residence at Pilchuck Glass School – curators Mika Drozdowska (BWA Wrocław), Sarah Traver (Traver Gallery) and Benjamin Wright (Pilchuck Glass School) shortlisted 25 participants in the Autonomous Zones exhibition at BWA Wrocław Główny Gallery. The exhibition shows how space, time and community – fundamental elements of the EAiR programme – influenc
“Autonomous Zones” are communities and territories whose functioning is based on alternative social and political reality. They are independent and self-governing. Their power comes from the self-actualisation of communities and individuals. They are independent of external, global mechanisms and systemic processes, says curator Mika Drozdowska. In our turbulent and polarised time, autonomous zones are mainly associated with a form of struggle and rebellion. Struggle for freedom, self-determination and re
Pilchuck Glass School is a good example, with its history of an autonomous space in both the literal and metaphorical sense. A zone isolated from the outside world. A settlement built by its founders in the foothills of the bucolic, wild Cascade Mountains. This is where an alternative community of artists has been formed for years, artists who have not only developed their power and creative potential, but also shared the same values. Pilchuck Glass School is therefore an autonomous zone, additionally offer