The exhibition Dróżdż. Opałka. Winiarski. Play(limit)α is a unique meeting of three outstanding Polish artists, Stanisław Drożdż, Roman Opałka and Ryszard Winiarski, that initiates a dialogue between three different approaches to conceptual art, combining reflection on time, chance and systematicity. The curator, Dr Sylwia Świsłocka-Karwot, juxtaposes works by artists considering fundamental questions about the nature of the surrounding reality and human existence.

Stanisław Dróżdż, considered one of the most important concrete poets, emphasised the form of language as a tool for conceptual experimentation. His work, focused on minimalism and spatial layouts, broke with the traditional understanding of text by transferring concepts into the realm of visual form. His best-known works objectify the space between words. It can become an area of meditation and reflection on what is invisible, yet crucial for understanding the emptiness and fullness of reality, as its complementary values. Dróżdż did not see his works as finished objects, but as “ideas”, conceptual acts, the essence of which is a reflection on language and its limitations.

Roman Opałka, known for his monumental project Details (Counted images), which involved painting consecutive numbers on canvas over several decades, took on the challenge of visually recording the passage of time. His works are both a record of time’s inevitable passing and an attempt to capture the ephemeral nature of human existence. The systematic method that Opałka used to create his paintings reflected his philosophical conviction about the inevitability of death and the impossibility of fully capturing the present moment. As the numbers became whiter and whiter, Opałka gradually led his paintings towards nothingness, emphasising that time is the only certain measure of human life.

Ryszard Winiarski explored the boundaries between order and chance, combining art with science and probability theory. His Paintings-spaces embodied the idea of randomness in art, as all decisions regarding the form of these works were made based on dice throws or other mathematical generative processes. Winiarski's works were an attempt to capture chaos within strictly defined rules, which allowed the creation of structural, geometric compositions. Winiarski posed questions about how much of our life is determined by chance and how much by systemic rules that we cannot fully comprehend.

The exhibition Play(limit)α combines these three diverse approaches to art, creating a space for reflection on the human condition. The works of Dróżdż, Opałka and Winiarski provoke fundamental questions: what is reality? What is life? What role does chance play in our fate? How do we measure the passage of time and how do we experience it? The exhibition shows that despite formal differences, the senses of the works of these three artists remain in close proximity. Their minimalism is not limited to form but gains the function of a tool for considering the complex issues of order and chaos, life and death, past and future.

In the face of contemporary anxieties about technology, progress and the further fate of humanity, the art of Dróżdż, Opałka and Winiarski encourages us to ask questions that have always accompanied man: what does it mean to live in a world governed by chance and time? What rules, if any, determine our daily existence? The exhibition is a kind of intellectual game, the rules of which the viewer may try to understand but is not sure if he will ever fully grasp them.

The exhibition is a unique opportunity to encounter the work of three giants of Polish conceptual art, redefining in their works the concept of boundaries - both in art and in life. It is a journey through time, chance and system, in which each work becomes an element of a larger reflection on the elusiveness of the truth about the world, while offering an opportunity to learn about the impossible.