Mikołaj Sobczak

Overview

Capitain Petzel is pleased to announce Mikołaj Sobczak’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, opening as part of Berlin Art Week on September 11, 2024.

Mikołaj Sobczak’s work focuses on the creation of alternative historical images, blending video and painting with performance, often in collaboration with German artist Nicholas Grafia. Sobczak’s surreal, collaged narratives feature protagonists from queer and transgender activism, as well as countercultural emancipatory movements that challenge conventional and canonic historical perspectives through marginalized voices. The exhibition draws inspiration from the cafe and bookstore in the Parisian neighborhood of Montmartre allegedly operated by Eva Kotchever, a Polish-Jewish writer, activist, and queer icon, after her deportation from the US to Europe in the early 20th century. It is dedicated to such rumored and legendary spaces – cabarets, bookstores, cafes, and hotels – where queer individuals could authentically and safely express their identities, highlighting the revolutionary nature of the spaces themselves and forming a sense of community.

The gallery will be transformed into a theatrical setting, utilizing its windows and multiple levels, featuring three scenographic rooms with puppets and furniture, seven wooden cutouts, and a selection of paintings. Central to the exhibition are Kotchever and Sylvin Rubinstein, a Polish-Jewish dancer, performer, and resistance fighter. Both historical figures are closely associated with theater and the organization of spaces for revolutionaries, resistance movements, and queer communities. To further explore these themes, the exhibition will feature a public program of talks with historians Joanna Ostrowska and Suzette Robichon, who are actively involved in reconstructing these biographies.

Eva Kotchever, also known as Eve Adams, was a notable figure in the early 20th-century queer community in New York City, where she ran Eve’s Hangout, a tea room and underground lesbian club in Greenwich Village. In 1925, she was deported from the United States back to Europe due to her radical activities and writings. Her life in Poland remains largely undocumented, but she later relocated to Paris, where rumors suggest she organized a lesbian cabaret.

Sylvin Rubinstein was renowned for his cross-dressing performances, where he performed under the stage name “Dolores”. Rubinstein used his theatrical skills as a means of survival and resistance during the Nazi occupation, often disguising himself to evade capture. In Sobczak’s dense and intensely stylized compositions, one can discern Rubinstein’s likeness in various stages of his life – from his time as a performer alongside his sister Maria in the two-person flamenco act Imperio and Dolores to his later years as an aging recluse, recounting curious and tragic memories of his youth to a few interested historians. Rubinstein’s involvement in the resistance movements and his ability to create safe spaces for queer individuals and revolutionaries are pivotal to understanding the intersection of art and activism.

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Jester | Flanders Arts Institute.