The idea of the THERE AND HERE project is dialogue young artists from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Toruń got a collection of photographs of drawings from old prints, sent to them by C. Norwid Elbląg Library. Each of the artists chose their inspirations and created a work in response. The collection of illustrations that was made available to the artists presented an extremely wide range of topics: it contains medical illustrations, illustrations of flora and fauna, of military items, astrology etc. Therefore, the works inspired by the Elbląg old prints are extremely diverse. The clash of modern techniques of illustration, painting and animation with old prints creates an interesting, reflection-inducing exhibition. As a result of this dialogue between the old times and the young generation, we can learn something new about the situation of artists in the past and what stimulates our imagination today. Clash of such contrasting elements reminds us of the great changes taking place in our culture and in ourselves over the years. We have the opportunity of direct confrontation with the works which are a testament to history, priceless cultural treasures, and with the look of young experimenting artists who often are just at the beginning of their artistic ways. In spite of this, the artistic level of works is very high and the stylistic and thematic divergence resulted in an exhibition evoking varied feelings.
Another value of the THERE AND HERE project is what the invited artists gained from it. The artists had the unique opportunity to commune with old books which are usually inaccessible due to their historic value. They used this opportunity as best as they could. Old books proved to be a very strong inspiration, touching upon a number of topics that are valid even today, and also provoked a formal search.
Magdalena Toczydłowska-Talarczyk