CONSTELLATION BIGOS

This is the catalogue of the eleventh show by *Bigos: artists of Polish origin.* **Bigos** was an open group of Anglo-Polish artists which had their first major exhibition in Brixton Art Gallery in August 1986. The group was open to any artist with a Polish heritage. Adverts in Artists Newsletter and Jewish Chronicle to attract artists outside our immediate London circle got a good response and the group grew from 12 to over 30 with more women than men. From then on the group itself became more important than the initial concept of a prestigious exhibition. Each artist self-selected work for the Brixton exhibition, which was then hung by Andrjez Borkowski, helped by Kasia Januszko and Krystyna Borkowska. This inclusive and self curating mode continued through our future exhibitions. We went on to tour Poland in 1989 and had a further eight shows around England. Arts Council funding was awarded for a made-to-measure touring show. Work was to be selected or made to be site specific to each venue. The made-to-measure shows were hosted by the **Watermans Art Centre** at Brentford (1990); **Cartwright Hall** in Bradford (1991); The **Huddersfield City Art Gallery** (1992); and the **Polish Cultural Institute** in Portland Place, London (1997). These shows were accompanied by performances and workshops. The self-selection mode was difficult to maintain. It seems to contradict the prevailing ethos of curatorship. Groups do not self-select they submit to the objective eye of the professional curator. However the self-selection process has its own power in being able to represent an identity group on their own terms without mediation. Collective work went on in meetings in which we not only talked and ate Polish culture but also did creative work together. The work of immigrant artists is a crucial part of the considerations of cultural assimilation, which are so necessary to all immigrant peoples. It is hard to see where else much of this thinking could happen. In spite of our high profile exhibitions it was difficult to engage a critical discourse that was capable of supporting and validating this work. Paper records are collected in the **Tate Archive**, London.