Popped out

Artists starving for their art is nothing new. But what about art galleries starving for art exhibitions? The Andy Warhol exhibition, which opened this month at the Theater Museum at Teatr Wielki Opery Narodowej, was two years in the planning. During the first week of opening, around 10,000 visitors flowed through the museum's doors to see the works of the famous American pop artist. But despite Warhol's apparent public appeal, finding sponsorship was tricky, according to Alicja Harackiewicz from Kontakt, one of the exhibition organizers. During the long planning process - as Poland's economy worsened - almost 50% of the exhibition's sponsors disappeared. "I think the big problem is getting a guarantee ... from some companies," Harackiewicz said. And getting a sponsorship guarantee for an exhibition outside of Warsaw is an even bigger task, she said. Across town at the Center for Contemporary Art in the Ujazdowski Castle, vice director Maria Anna Potocka is struggling with similar obstacles. In the past two years, she said sponsors have been disappearing faster than a Monet at a Christie's auction. Potocka is still negotiating with sponsors to make sure the center can keep its 2002 exhibition calendar intact. "Among sponsors, we can find some equipment and materials, but Poland's recent economic situation, let's say, hasn't been producing cash," Potocka said. "It's clear that we won't be able to realize all of (this year's exhibitions)," she said. "It's still not clear which will survive and which we will have to cancel." Since Poland's public galleries had their funding cut by around 20% in the government's last budget, Potocka said all exhibitions at Ujazdowski now have to be completely funded by sponsors. It's a similar situation at the National Museum: its budget was cut from an annual zł. 20 million ($5 million) zł. to 15 million ($3.75 million). "We are highly depressed by this year's budget," said the museum's deputy director, Dorota Folga-Januszewska. "What we receive from the state only covers salaries; nothing more. In a museum like ours, the security budget is also a big expense and conservation, promotion and education budgets are big. But I must say, at the beginning of this year, we can hardly imagine how we will finish the year." Folga-Januszewska is hoping that next month's exhibition of Wedgwood ceramics and November's Picasso exhibition will be successful enough to raise funds to cover the National Museum's budget gap. And typically, because these two exhibitions involve "big" names - Wedgwood and Picasso - Folga-Januszewska said sponsors have been falling over themselves to donate their cash. According to Ujazdowski's Potocka, Poland's art gallery scene 10 years ago appeared to be much more optimistic. With the iron curtain lifted, international artists were keen to exhibit in Poland and see what their artistic colleagues had been up to during the past 45 years of communism. "Back then we were sponsored by international artists, but now we are more of a partner so sometimes special financial conditions are too high for us," Potocka explained. As for when the public art-gallery scene in Poland will pick up, Potocka makes the bleak prediction of another 10 years.