Opened officially at the Wroclaw Airport on the 31th of May, the unusual pop-art installation was designed by the well-known Wroclaw artist Jerzy Kosałka. He invented a genre scene in which the main roles are played by the “actors” that always evoke good associations (also with Wroclaw): storks and dwarves.
What does the author say about his project?
Five dwarves on five storks are bursting into the airport and trying to land in its centre. This peculiar Invasion (the name of the installation) is not a threat to anybody. The dwarves, including the Writer, the Painter and the Actor, are flying on storks’ backs to announce that Wroclaw will soon become the cultural centre of Europe for the entire year 2016. And the items held by the dwarves unite representatives of various arts in this event and refer to achievements of Wroclaw authors (e.g., from the Luxus Group, which is represented by Kosałka himself).
Jerzy Kosałka at the time of installing the Invasion, photo: Alicja Kielan
Each sculpture of the Invasion weighs slightly less than 100 kg. Their author – Maciej Albrzykowski – used resin and metal for his work. Producing the king size effect, figures of the dwarves are carried by storks with a 4-metre span of wings, and the entire sculpture is around 2 metres high. All sculptures are suspended on ropes between roof supports and have “access to electricity” - torches held by the dwarves flicker with warm red light.
Maciej Albrzykowski and a 2-metre long stork wing created by him, photo: Alicja Kielan
The Invasion is made in the fairy tale convention and looks amusing, but also slightly haunting – the dwarves seem to have a slightly “peremptory” appearance... Holding their heads up, some children asked their parents: “they won’t fall down?”. Well, nothing of the kind – a cultural Wroclaw stork cannot fall down! We believe that it will fly far – high and in style!
The act of fitting the installation in the hall of the Wroclaw airport, photo: Alicja Kielan
The Invasion – an installation presented in the hall of the Wroclaw Airport, the 31st of May – the 2nd of August 2015. Design: Jerzy Kosałka, creation: Maciej Albrzykowski.
