Artur Żmijewski: When Fear Eats the Soul

The exhibition, curated by Diego Sileo, presents a selection of historical and recent works. It includes three new works specially conceived for the PAC Milan, such as the new film inspired by the scientific cinema of the neurologist Vincenzo Neri and the photographic series “Persons”, a long black and white photographic mural from which emerge human figures that look like refugees, men and women surrounded by darkness and desolation. The reference is to the many refugees on the Polish-Belarusian border during the summer and autumn of 2021, but today they are inevitably also the image of the current refugees across Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Artur Zmijewski’s work reflects a concern with the socio-political problems of our contemporary world, and through it the artist frequently examines the mechanisms of power and oppression within the existing social order – as well as conflicts of various kinds that border on violence – while exposing the instinctive human inclination to evil. His work investigates the relationship between extreme emotions and their physical expressions, dealing with the disruption of the human body and cognitive functioning in complex situations such as illness or disability, while also analysing the mechanisms of memory and collective trauma.

Using symbolisation, Zmijewski establishes an intricate system of representation in which fear unfolds in terms of social control.