No, No, I Hardly Ever Miss a Show is a project about the public, for public, that is also co-created by the public. Zachęta’s exhibition halls became a space for an exchange of ideas and thoughts, both in a ‘traditional’ way (art pieces, lectures, discussions), as well as in an interactive manner (workshops, art interventions). The exhibition reveals the mechanisms through which the gallery operates, and demonstrates the processes involved in the preparation and running of an exhibition.

No, No, I Hardly Ever Miss a Show is a quote taken from a report concerning Zachęta and its public, produced this year by students of sociology, under the supervision of Mikołaj Lewicki, on the basis of a larger study regarding art galleries and their audience. This phrase, taken out of context, can be used to describe what seems to be an ideal viewer: one who is dedicated to the gallery to such an extent that he/she attends almost every exhibition.  However, under the surface this viewer is nothing but a mere spectator, who makes no selection of what they see and does not engage in a more in-depth way in any of the art shows (this would be difficult given the number of exhibitions attended). This viewer comes to exhibitions purely for the sake of coming, always being a passive visitor and never an active participant.

This phrase also describes the situation of us, the curators who work on a full-time basis at the gallery and who therefore by definition are present at almost every exhibition in Zachęta. Thus we look at the expositions that take place here from a totally different, in-depth perspective. We would also like to know how artists, who form a peculiar group of spectators. The peculiarity of artists is based on their duality, on the one hand they are creators and active participants, on the other, they can be also considered passive viewers. This is why we announced an open call – in which we invited artists to submit their artworks and projects together with a completed questionnaire. The elements comprising the will contribute to the image of the gallery and its public. The title phrase is the starting point for asking a question: who really visits exhibitions at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art and how they do so?

Besides presenting the works themselves, the exhibition allowed also for organising a temporary space for a time bank – the e-flux time/bank started by Anton Vidokle and Julieta Aranda. Everyone can exchange their time and skills with others here, be them artists, museum staff or visitors.

Artists: Kuba Bąkowski, Tymek Borowski & Paweł Sysiak, Dorota Buczkowska, Hannah Downing, Jordi Ferreiro, Michał Grochowiak, Jeppe Hein, Igor Krenz & Tomek Saciłowski, Heike Langsdorf for radical_hope, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Daria Malicka, Daniel Malone, Aleksander Mielczyński, Joaquin Gasgonia Palencia, Amandine Quillon-Nowacki, Bianka Rolando, Jennifer Rubell, Konrad Smoleński, Dannielle Tegeder, Tina Willgren

curators: Anna Tomczak, Stanisław Welbel

sponsors of the gallery: PERI, Lidex, Netia
technological partner of the exhibition Samsung
sponsor of the exhibition Krogal
sponsors of the opening ceremony: DeLonghi, Kenwood, Blikle, Freixenet, Kinga Pienińska, Browar Konstancin
media patronage: Gazeta Wyborcza, TOK FM, The Warsaw Voice, Stolica, Art&Business, Artinfo.pl