Have you ever wondered how film and photography studios light their productions so that they look beautiful and interesting? What to do to achieve a similar result?

We will uncover those secrets during a workshop aimed at children aged 10 – 14 years old. We will reflect on what is light and its color, question what types of light there are, and what possibilities they offer. We will take a close look at photo albums of Alex Webb and Chris Niedenthal, but also at… stills from Netflix films! We will build a little portrait studio, in which participants will take pictures of each other using professional photography equipment, learning some tricks along the way! The portraits will be displayed at an exhibition and will be available for attendees to take home after the exhibition is closed. The workshop will be led by Aga and Karol Blazy.

The workshop is free and will take place on Sunday, September 22nd, 2024, at the Rzeczna Art Gallery. The workshop is a part of 21. Rybnik Foto Festival, which was co-founded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the National Centre for Culture’s program: Culture – Interventions. 2024 Edition.

For the child to take part in the workshop:

 – the child must be no younger than 10 years old, and no older than 14 years old;

 – the child’s guardian must familiarize themselves with the regulations and submit a fully completed registration form.

There is an admission limit of 15 participants. The order of sign-up is taken into consideration. Sign-up forms may be submitted to the Gallery in person or through physical mail.

EDUCATORS:

Aga Blazy – a resident of Rybnik, she’s a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and a student of the Institute of Art in Denpasar. After returning to Poland, she has been involved in art education for over 10 years. She is the founder of the Nido Foundation and co-author of the Here’s Art initiative (art workshops for children, from infants to school-age kids). She collaborates with many cultural institutions in the region (libraries, cultural centers, museums, galleries, theaters). For the past 8 years, she has been actively photographing as part of the duo – Karol and Aga.

Karol Blazy – a resident of Rybnik, experienced photographer and freelancer, constantly taking on new challenges in reportage, portrait, and commercial photography. For several years, he has been exploring film lighting techniques and successfully applying them in his projects. Driven by his passion for photography, he has worked in many extraordinary places around the world (e.g., a photography project at the Green School in Bali). He is the originator of the photography duo and marriage – Karol and Aga.

We invite you to take part in the following events:

– 5.09 and 19.09: “Hello Gallery!” – a workshop dedicated to little ones from 6 months to 2 years old, along with their caretakers;

– 14.09 and 28.09: “Here’s Art” – a workshop dedicated to children aged 3 to 6 years old and their caretakers;

– 14.09: an organizational meeting for adults interested in an illustrated note taking class – sketchnoting; 

– 17.09: training for teachers led by the Polish Academy of Sciences PAN (Food Educators project);

– 18.09: a conference of Rybnik’s City Council – Rybnik in the direction of a green future;

– 20-22.09: the events of 21.Rybnik Foto Festival – slideshow presentations, presentation of the My Fyrtel 2024 project, presentation of Urban legends, a guide of the exhibitions with audio description, a workshop for children titled Movie lighting in photography, a curator’s guide of the exhibitions with a Polish Sign Language (PJM) interpreter.

A detailed program may be found on the website:

www.festiwal.rybnik.pl

We sincerely invite you to visit our new exhibitions:

– A thirst for water – Bart Krężołek

– I like it when it’s dark – Katarzyna Szwarc

– Factory of illusions – an archive of Danuta Rago’s photogtraphy

– When you look into my eyes twice, I will part my lips or clench my fists – photography from IPN’s archive

Tickets are available to purchase at the Gallery’s register or through the biletyna.pl website.

We sincerely invite you to the Finale of the exhibition In relation | Im Verhältnis, with the attendance of select artists from Dorsten – a partner city to Rybnik: Alex Fichtner, Doris Gerhard, Frank Hesse, Tanja Nowak, Ingrid Saalfeld, Claudia Schnitzler, Slavica van der Schors, Brigitte Stüwe.

Saturday, August 24th 2024, 6 PM.

Rzeczna Art Gallery in Rybnik, free entrance.

We invite you:

– 1.08 and 22.08 to the workshops “Hello Gallery” for little ones aged 6 months old to 2 years old along with their caretakers. Additionally, during the event there will be an opportunity to talk with an expert from Rybnik’s ZUS branch about the new program for families with small children called “Active Parent”;

– 21.08 to the workshop “Here’s Art” dedicated to children aged 3 to 6 years old and their caretakers;

– 10.08 at 6 PM for the finale of the “Niedenthal” exhibition with the participation of Chris Niedenthal;

– 24.08 at 6 PM to the finale of the group exhibition “In Relation | Im Verhältnis” with the attendance of select artists from Dorsten.

We inform you that on Monday and on: August 7th, 8th, and from 13th to 31st the Gallery will be closed to visitors. During that time we will be training and changing the exhibition, which we invite you to see starting in September!

We invite you to the closing of Chris Niedenthal’s exhibition!

Rybnik is not only the first city in Silesia but also in the south of the country where the master of reportage photography – Chris Niedenthal – presented his life’s work, which is also a document of the past 50 years of Polish history. On the 9th of March, 2024, thanks to collaboration with the House of Meetings with History, the Rzeczna Art Gallery was able to open this spectacular exhibition containing over 200 works. On August 10th its finale will take place with the personal attendance of the photograph’s author.

As the exhibition curators – Anna Brzezińska and Katarzyna Puchalska – write: “Chris Niedenthal is a photographer-legend. He documented the activity of two future Nobel Peace Prize winners: Lech Wałęsa and Michaił Gorbaczow. He is the winner of World Press Photo, he worked with some of the most important world magazines. He was the only foreign reporter who immortalized the first days of the strike at the Stocznia in Gdańsk. Ever since he started taking photos, he was most interested in reportage photography. He preferred to document rather than create a new reality.

The legitimation of a foreign correspondent allowed him to take photos that few could take at the time. Starting in 1978, his partnership with “Newsweek”, and later with “Time” was a huge step in his career, also giving him unlimited access to Western colorful films of high quality. He knew the language, owned a car, had a British passport and could leave Poland anytime, but didn’t. Thanks to this decision there is an extraordinary journalist documentary of Poland and Eastern European countries in the 70s and 80s in his archive. 

He preserved it mostly on diapositives, commonly called slides. Because of this difficult to work with material, which had to be carefully irradiated, the photos were printed in colorful magazines. He would send undeveloped material to the editorial office in envelopes with detailed descriptions. The laboratory technician from the office would develop the diapositive or negative, and the photoeditor would pick the frames for printing. The effects of his work could be seen by Niedenthal only in the printed magazine issue, which was sent to him by the redaction, and sometimes due to the post office’s leisureness, he had to wait for very long.

Although he worked for prestigious world magazines, he always emphasized that he learned taking professional photos from Polish photographers, who became masters to him in the profession. ”

The ones who were on the author’s personal guided tour during Museum Night on March 10th or May 18th at the Rzeczna Art Gallery could experience the truth in words above for themselves. The Master is an extraordinarily humble, warm person. I believe that the presence of His exhibition in our city deserves great recognition, which is best to show in person. On Saturday, August 10th at 6 PM at the Rzeczna Art Gallery.

We invite you to join us!

We invite you to join us on August 10th, Saturday, 6 PM. 

Admission tickets: normal – 10 zł / reduced – 5 zł to purchase at the Gallery’s register or through the Biletyna system online.

The ideas, voice and involvement of young residents of the Rybnik Coal District are important to us. Therefore, we want to create a Youth Council as an advisory body to the Rzeczna Art Gallery team, influencing the program of our facility. We want to consult our concepts and projects with a group of high school students, listening to their needs and insights.

We invite you to fill out the survey and send it by May 1 to: galeria@tzr.rybnik.pl.

Don’t forget to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy, too; if you are under 18, read it carefully with your parents or guardians.