Artur Żmijewski, Democracies (2009). Image courtesy of the Foskal Gallery Foundation

Dates: until 10 January 2010 | Location: Cornerhouse, Manchester

The first major UK survey of the work of Polish artist and filmmaker Artur Å»mijewski is currently underway at Manchester’s Cornerhouse gallery.  Å»mijewski’s work has been receiving increased attention over here in recent years, and this show sees the UK premiere of his recent project Democracies (2009), a record of various free, public expressions of opinion, in the form of gatherings and protests throughout Europe. Also featured are the video work Repetition (2005), in which Å»mijewski revisits the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, designating volunteers either as guards or prisoners and allowing them to play out the situation, and Them (2007), which documents representatives from the different factions that shape contemporary Poland and the ensuing exchanges between them.

There will be a screening of the artist’s earlier work at Cornerhouse on 6 January, and further chances to see the work when the show tours to Sunderland’s Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (30 July – 9 October 2010) and Glasgow’s Tramway (29 October – 19 December 2010). Å»mijewski will also be launching a major new commission in June 2010 at A Foundation, Liverpool.