Hubert Czerepok’s neon sign entitled The Nation unto Itself is one example of the present day of engaged art, responding to the current political and social situation. In his work, the artist often uses text (neon signs) borrowed from popular culture and mass media, usually in a provocative manner. He establishes new contexts for catchy phrases that have functioned for years. The neon sign, The Nation unto Itself was created to coincide with the staging of Słowacki’s play Balladyna, directed by K. Garbaczewski, staged at Teatr Polski in Poznań in 2013. The neon is a repetition of the well-known inscription on the front of the building, which commemorates the fundraising drive carried out in 1875 to fund the construction of the theatre. The work asks an urgent question about whether the national “provision of recognition unto oneself” can have more of an exclusionary, rather than solidarity-driven force.

Hubert Czerepok, born in 1973 in Słubice, is a visual artist and lecturer at the Academy of Art in Szczecin, where he runs the Studio of Experimental Film. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (currently known as the UAP), where in 1999 he defended his diploma in the atelier of Prof. Izabella Gustowska and Prof. Jan Berdyszak. He also completed postgraduate studies at the School of Fine Arts (Antwerp) and the Jan van Eyck Academie (Maastricht). Between 1998 and 2001, together with Slawomir Sobczak, he ran the ON Gallery in Poznań. In 2000-2002, he was active with Zbigniew Rogalski in the duo Magisters. In 2001, he was awarded the Young Art Medal by the editors of Głos Wielkopolski. He has presented his works at numerous solo exhibitions, for example at: Labirynt Gallery in Lublin, Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, Art Stations Foundation in Poznań, La Criee Centre d'Art Contemporain in Rennes, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Skala Gallery in Poznań, as well as in group exhibitions, including the 19th Biennale of Sydney, the International Quadrennial of Sculpture in Riga, and at the Museum of Art in Łódź, the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, and the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw.