The Ultimate Song by Paweł Althamer and Artur Żmijewski presents a selection of 20 collages created between 2017 and 2019.

Both artists are graduates of Grzegorz Kowalski’s studio and have dedicated themselves to Oskar Hansen’s concept of the Open Form, debuted in the 1990s. They have been part of the canon of Polish and world art ever since. Since their graduation from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, the two have remain friends, continued working together and have co-presented numerous joint exhibitions. During their shared residency in Japan, they started a series of works on paper, using ink and stamps, and in 2017 they began to create collages together, specifically referencing works of poetry. Their poetic inspirations include Czesław and Oskar Miłosz, Paul Celan, Stanisław Grochowiak, and Rafał Wojaczek. 

The collages are made from excerpts cut out from books - starting with Taschen’s erotic and pornographic publications, through nature and anatomical albums, to historical and scientific atlases. The multi-layered, painterly-styled works have a clear texture and colour through dense composition. War, the Shoah, suffering and erotica are some of the themes that appear in the exhibition, with no particular emphasis on any single one. There is an absence of politics – a topic that audiences have grown accustomed to, following the artists in their years of strife in the field of criticism. Nor are there exhortations to rise up or eulogies of the revolution. Instead, there is a reflection on poetry and art.

Althamer and Żmijewski have selected poems to be included in the accompanying publication, which are available in two versions: Polish and in English.