Key in the Castle

Key in the Castle

Anna Baumgart The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting 6 May – 9 June 2025

The shiny satin of the royal bedding, a fake canary in a golden cage, paintings depicting biblical heroines – the interiors of historical museums exude a sense of family relaxation. Time has erased all the sadness and joy from the inanimate objects that sweetened the lives of the former residents. In today’s stressful world, these peaceful places become an oasis of relaxation for visitors, but of course, in every castle you can encounter a ghost or apparition.

Weronika AP by Anna Baumgart stands by the empty bed. The figure covers her face with a bandage, running away from something. Its monochromatic silhouette and restless dynamics of the sculptural body are completely out of place in the Royal Apartments. The woman did not appear in the dream of the ruler who once slept here. She is a witness to the 2005 London Underground bombings and an ambassador for victims of violence, armed terror and rape. “Cut out” from a press photograph, she is strangely realistic in the context of a museum space filled with gold.

A little further on, in the Crown Horse Guard Hall, another work by the artist may evoke a feeling of unease. The Wall is a black-and-white photograph from 1961, recreated in three dimensions by Baumgart. It depicts residents of East Berlin leaving their homes before the Berlin Wall was

closed. The silhouettes of the fugitives bend under the weight of suitcases and bundles packed in a hurry. From a marble half-column, the bust of Alexander the Great gazes down at them with a cool eye. The metaphorical juxtaposition of the figure of the ruler and the nameless victims of history is a recurring, heartless pattern in many political processes and transformations.

What do Anna Baumgart’s objects become in the royal residence? Created by the artist in 2008 under the collective title The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting, are they a provocation or a curatorial ploy? Are they shocking, or perhaps supportive? Visualisations of fears are not always frightening. In the process of psychotherapy, they can also stimulate action.

Anna Baumgart, Weronika AP [The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting], The Royal Bedroom; The Wall [The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting], Crown Horse Guard Hall, 6 May – 9 June 2025

Anna Baumgart (b. in 1966) – post-conceptual artist, director and stage designer. Doctor of Arts. Multiple scholarship holder of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Her film, performance and sculpture works have been presented at numerous exhibitions, including at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Jewish Museum in New York, the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein in Berlin, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem, the Casino Luxembourg in Luxembourg, the CCA in Moscow, Riga, Tallinn, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art and the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the Polin Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Warsaw, and at video and documentary art festivals, including Videobrasil in São Paulo, Videonale in Bonn, Monstrainvideo in Milan, European Media Art Festival Osnabrück, New Horizons, Watch Docs. The project “Conquerors of the Sun” (2012) was invited to Manifesta 10, but due to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the artist rejected the invitation in protest. The film “Fresh Cherries” (2010) received the audience award for best video film at the Loop festival in Barcelona. Her works are included in numerous Polish and international collections, including Hauser & Wirth, FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, European Parliament in Strasbourg, National Museum in Warsaw, NOMUS New Art Museum in Gdańsk, Arsenal Gallery in Białystok. From 2000 to 2006, she ran the Baumgart café at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, which was an artistic and activist project and a cult venue on the Warsaw map at the time.