Maria Pinińska-Bereś (1931–1999) is an extraordinary figure in 20th-century Polish art — her body of work spans sculpture, installation, and performance. At the heart of her poetic and political art lies an exploration of femininity, and the social challenges associated with it. As a sculptor she experimented and challenged the conventions of practice, expanding sculpture to include performance and actions in public space.
This retrospective exhibition showcases the most significant moments in Pinińska-Bereś’s artistic and emancipatory work. Her art is subtle, humorous, and erotic. It speaks to the complexity of an authoritarian system, from which within the artist forged her own path. The colour pink, a recurring element in her works, conveys her critique of society. Often misunderstood as naive or harmless, the colour pink in Pinińska-Bereś’s Œuvre stands as a counterpoint to the omnipresent red of communist Poland at the time; it represents the feminine, the domestic, and the body.
For many years Maria Pinińska-Bereś remained in the shadow of her artist husband, Jerzy Bereś, a renowned sculptor and performance artist, whose works are also represented in the Kunstmuseum Bochum’s collection. In staging this retrospective, Pinińska-Bereś is finally receiving the recognition she deserves.
Under the Pink Flag was curated by Heike Munder and Jarosław Suchan in collaboration with Julia Lerch Zajączkowska.