The 14th Help Thy Neighbour [Polish: Bliźniemu Swemu] Art Biennale 2015/2016 is occurring at a special moment. It will take place during the period when St Brother Albert Aid Society will be celebrating two jubilees. 1916 is the year of death of Adam Chmielowski St Brother Albert, and the second jubilee is the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the society that is named after him. St Brother Albert Aid Society was registered in December 1981 in Wroclaw; currently, its activities are carried on in 67 regional circles in Poland. The Society supports around 4,000 persons every day.
St Brother Albert Aid Society in Wroclaw
The Society in Wroclaw runs 4 centres for men and women – three in the city and one in Szczodre, Długołęka commune, as well as a municipal heating centre at ul. Gajowicka (100 places). Around 4 million PLN are needed to maintain the Society’s institutions every year. This year, the amount of 2,330,000 PLN was contributed by the city. The remaining amount is provided by sponsors and collected during fundraising events and fairs.
’We collect the money that will help to secure shelter and meals for homeless persons admitted to our Wroclaw institutions. We have 520 places at our disposal, but during the autumn-winter period we provide shelter to around 750 persons,’ says Aleksander Pindral, the president of St Brother Albert Aid Society in Wroclaw.
Help not only for the homeless
The society supports also elderly people, the poor, children and persons whose situation is particularly difficult. Providing aid on such a large scale requires the regular acquisition of funds for the most necessary daily needs: food, clothes, cleaning agents, school aids for children, current repairs and the maintenance of shelters and homes.
‘The Society’s work is supported by the Bliźniemu Swemu (Love Thy Neighbour) Foundation, which was established also for this purpose. One of the methods of raising funds for the needs of persons supported by the Society is a biannual cycle of exhibitions of works by the most outstanding Polish artists,’ says Beata Butwicka, the PR representative of the General Management Board of the Society. She adds that works have been donated for this purpose for many years by artists (or their families or heirs) such as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Mirosław Bałka, Helena Zaremba- Cybisowa, Tadeusz Dominik, Edward Dwurnik, Stanisław and Jan Młodożeniec, Roman Opałka, Stefan Gierowski, Natalia Lach-Lachowicz, Franciszek Starowieyski and many others. Adam Chmielowski, the subsequent St Brother Albert, was a painter in his youth and remains a patron of this circle.
Huge auction of works by the most outstanding Polish artists
This year, the Love Thy Neighbour Biennale started on 26 November with a vernissage in the Zachęta National Art Gallery in Warsaw. The Wroclaw vernissage will be accompanied by a concert for violin and accordion by brothers Michał and Mikołaj Krzywiecki. Both of them are students (4th and 6th form) of the Frederic Chopin General School of Music no. 2. These young artists are holders of scholarships of the Mayor of Wroclaw. The Love Thy Neighbour Biennale exhibition can be enjoyed by Wroclaw inhabitants till 20th December; later, it will be moved successively to prestigious art galleries in Katowice, Gdańsk and Rzeszów, where the final huge auction of works will take place. As usual, the income from it will be used for securing meals and shelter for persons supported by St Brother Albert Aid Society.
