Goshka Macuga, born in 1967 in Warsaw, Poland, is one of the most acclaimed contemporary visual artists. Her work is characterised by reflections on history, politics, art and the role of the artist/artist in society. Macuga's childhood and youth fell during the communist era, which must have had a significant impact on her social sensitivity and her interest in themes of political oppression, censorship and the role of ideology in shaping culture. As she herself admitted in an interview, her upbringing in communist Poland shaped her view of art as a tool for social change and of the artist as a 'soul engineer', which was part of the communist narrative.

In 1989, shortly before the fall of communism in Poland, Goshka Macuga moved to London, where she began her studies at prestigious art colleges - first at Central Saint Martins School of Art and then at Goldsmiths College, both of which were centres of progressive artistic activity at the time. Goldsmiths, renowned for training artists associated with conceptual movements and socially engaged art, played a key role in forming her artistic approach. Macuga developed her interest in working with archives and documentation there, which became the foundation for her later artistic projects.

The 1990s were a time of intense artistic exploration for Macuga. In her early works, she often combined different media such as sculpture, photography and installation. Her work often deals with themes of political and social history and explores the boundaries between art and reality. At the end of the 1990s, another important element appears in her work - the works of other artists. It is with them that she will undertake multithreaded games. However, it was not so much that she sought new meanings or interpretations for them, but rather, by breaking them out of the accepted conventions of, for example, the method of display, she undertook a kind of game in which they became a kind of prop, leading us, the viewers, to reflect on the mechanisms of our visual habits - whether by incorporating them into a wallpaper or placing them in a staging of a country house. It seems to deconstruct the mechanisms of the power of images - which we construct ourselves and which is also reinforced by institutions, themselves drawing on this power. A certain order of art, which becomes unobvious in the spaces it shapes, revealing a kind of illusion in place of the extraordinary to which the images and their creators aspire. In subsequent projects, moreover, it is the space that takes on a particular significance, and her actions become increasingly elaborate.

In 2007, a new thread emerges in one of her most interesting works, What's in a Name, in which Macuga enters a world of esotericism and mystery, exploring the stories of Helena Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, and the 18th-century composer Giuseppe Tartini, who claimed to be haunted by Satan. This installation combines archival photographs, sculptures and objects, exploring the phenomenon of sleep as a metaphor for the creative process and inspiration. In this work, Macuga demonstrates her interest in both mysticism and the exploratory research that becomes the basis of her work.

One of the key moments in Goshka Macuga's career was her nomination for the prestigious Turner Prize in 2008, making her the first Polish woman in the history of this award. The Turner Prize is one of the UK's most important honours in the visual arts, awarded to artists under the age of 50 who stand out for their innovative approach to contemporary art. Macuga was nominated for her exhibition at Tate Britain, where she presented an installation using Tate archives and the work of other artists to create a new narrative around the relationship between nature and culture.

In 2009, her work The Nature of the Beast, one of her most recognisable installations, is created, in which the artist explores the relationship between art and politics. The centrepiece of this work is a tapestry depicting Pablo Picasso's famous 'Guernica', a reproduction of which hung at the United Nations in New York. In 2003, the tapestry was covered during a speech by Colin Powell in which he argued for the invasion of Iraq. In this work, Macuga combines political events with an aesthetic form, drawing attention to the power of art in the context of global political decisions.

The 2019 installation I Am Become Death, presented at Kunsthalle Basel, explores the impact of war and neo-colonialism on contemporary politics. Macuga juxtaposes photographs of Hopi Indians by Aby Warburg with those of an American veteran of the Vietnam War. The work also features sculpture inspired by the work of Robert Morris. Although her work is rooted in the past, in reconstruction, it nevertheless relates more to the present, and relevant to the workings of social mechanisms. In many of her works, she also touches on the political impact of art - reflecting on violence, power and colonial relations that influence today's conflicts.

Despite living and working in London for many years, Macuga has never lost touch with Poland. She often returns both personally and artistically with projects related to Polish history and heritage. Her work is deeply rooted in the Polish political experience, including contemporary ones - such as her 2018 work 'Women's Strike', where she re-embedes the famous logo in the 18th century tradition of silhouette portraiture, superimposing it on a graphic representation of a bust medallion monument, placing it in the tradition of the struggle for freedom. Earlier, in 2011, during a solo exhibition inZachta, she used archival materials to show the censorship mechanisms that continued to affect artistic freedom in Poland despite the fall of communism.

Goshka Macuga is committed to archival and social research, which is reflected in her interdisciplinary projects. Her work often balances the boundaries of art, history and sociology, and she takes on a variety of roles in her work - from artist to curator to history researcher. Macuga is also known for her openness to collaboration with other artists, architects and academics.

After 2011, Goshka Macuga's career has developed rapidly and her work has gained increasing recognition , at the same time becoming more and more political and making increasingly explicit references to the present. Through a combination of historical research, political commentary and interdisciplinary artistic techniques. Macuga continued her archival research, creating narratives that challenged traditional historical interpretations.

Today, Goshka Macuga is recognised as one of the most important contemporary artists, whose work is exhibited in major galleries and museums around the world such as the Tate Britain in London, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Smart Museum of Art in Chicago, among others. Her artistic path exemplifies a consistent and thoughtful career that draws on both personal experiences and global historical and political narratives.

In 2012, Macuga was invited to participate in dOCUMENTA (13), where her installations were presented in both Kassel (Germany) and Kabul (Afghanistan). Her work 'Of what is, that it is; of what is not, that it is not' is a monumental tapestry combining political and historical themes, reflecting her ongoing interest in the impact of political ideologies on cultural memory, a theme that recurs in her later works. Another important exhibition took place in 2014 at the Berlin Biennale, where Macuga presented Preparatory Notes, continuing her research into the role of performance and demonstration in society. In this work, the artist also explores the role of demonstrations in the formation of national and political identity. This process continued with her solo exhibition 'Time as Fabric' at the New Museum in New York in 2016. The exhibition showcased her ability to weave different historical moments and figures into a single narrative whole, drawing on archives, history and personal memories. Also in 2016, at the Fondazione Prada in Milan, Macuga presented To the Son of Man Who Ate the Scroll. In this work, Macuga explores the relationship between man, history and technology. At the centre is an android who delivers speeches about the end of humanity, taken from religious, philosophical and literary texts. The exhibition explores the development of technology and its impact on the future of humanity, while referencing past narratives and prophecies. The use of the android as a medium forces the viewer to reflect on the contemporary threats posed by the development of artificial intelligence and automation.

In recent years, Goshka Macuga has continued to work extensively as an artist, creating works that refer to current social, political and environmental issues, while being deeply rooted in history. Among others, she has exhibited her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2019) and created the project GONOGO (2021), which explored post-COVID fears and the recurring question of the future of humanity in a virtual space. In the same year, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, an acknowledgement of her significant impact on contemporary art

"From Gondwana to Endangered, Who is the Devil Now?" (2020) - is a monumental tapestry that addresses the catastrophic wildfires in Australia and California. The work, made from wool, cotton and synthetic fibres, depicts a forest in flames, surrounded by protesters dressed as animals. Using the symbolism of animals, Macuga points to the complexity of human nature, while also addressing environmental movements and climate change issues. Macuga's mastery of combining traditional weaving techniques with modern subject matter is also evident in this work. Macuga draws attention to the use of animals as symbols of human character traits, while alluding to contemporary environmental issues. This tapestry was woven in Flanders, a region with a rich tradition of weaving, further emphasising the link between history and modernity in art.

In contrast, 2024 created 'Born From Stone' (Bloomberg SPACE, London), where Macuga created the immersive space of a prehistoric cave, filling the gallery with stalagmites and stalactites. The project was inspired by the discovery of the Roman temple of Mithras in London, which led the artist to explore the cave as a place of refuge and safety. The exhibition is enhanced by three paintings from the Imperial War Museum, depicting the destruction of London during the Second World War, creating a contrast between the safety of the cave and the destruction of war, between destruction and creation.

Both projects highlight Macuga's ability to combine contemporary themes with historical references, often using traditional techniques such as weaving to create new narratives and make viewers reflect on current world issues.

Many of her works are in international collections, such is the case with 'Death of Marxism, Women of All Lands Unite' from 2013 from The Broad Museum in Los Angeles. In it, Goshka Macuga combines both aesthetic and political elements. She uses the traditional medium of fabric to tell a contemporary story, full of symbolism related to Marxism, feminism and the reinterpretation of history. This tapestry depicts Karl Marx's tomb in London, surrounded by women, which immediately references the famous slogan 'Proletarians of all countries, unite', which in this work Macuga changes to 'Women of all countries, unite', shifting the focus from class struggle to feminist struggle.

The centrepiece of the work is the tombstone of Karl Marx, an icon of Marxist thought and a symbol of the struggle for workers' rights. The women gathered around the tomb are depicted in a variety of poses, from clothed to partially undressed, suggesting the diversity of women's experiences and roles in society. Each figure may symbolise a different form of female emancipation - from physical freedom to ideological and social liberation. Changing the slogan to 'Women of all Lands Unite' is an important part of the critique of Marxism, which, despite its emancipatory rhetoric, did not actually change the situation of women in society. Macuga uses this lack to point to the need for a broader revolution that, instead of a class revolution, becomes a gender revolution.

Tapestry is a form that Macuga is keen to use in her work because of its roots in European tradition and art history. Tapestries have historically been used to tell stories of the triumphs of royal families or historical events, and by using this medium, Macuga not only alludes to tradition but also deconstructs it. Her works, such as Death of Marxism, Women of All Lands Unite, challenge these traditional narratives and ask questions about who is telling history and how.

It is also worth noting that tapestries were an art form often associated with the aristocracy and the elite, which introduces a certain ironic contrast to the depiction of Marx's tomb on a tapestry - the founder of anti-capitalist theory. By using such material, Macuga highlights a certain contradiction between the opulent, luxurious form and the content, which criticises systems of exploitation and marginalisation.

The work is undoubtedly ambiguous and ironic. On the one hand, it can be understood as a critique of Marxism for omitting the struggle for women's rights from its demands. On the other hand, it represents a kind of revision and extension of Marxist ideas, pointing out that the class struggle cannot be separated from the struggle for gender equality. And, more broadly, Macuga seems to pose the question: is social revolution in its traditional form dead, can it be of any use and at all possible today, or do we need a new kind of revolution that also includes the struggle for the rights of women and other marginalised groups? In this way, 'Death of Marxism, Women of All Lands Unite' becomes both a critical commentary and an invitation to reflect on contemporary forms of resistance and struggle.

Another aspect is the very attitude of the women depicted in the tapestry, otherwise taken from Miroslav Tichý's iconic photographs. Some of them make gestures that could be interpreted as acts of tenderness towards the tombstone - one of the women, for example, cleans the monument. These gestures may suggest mourning, but they also somehow 'purify' Marx's story, processing his ideas in a new, more inclusive context.

Macuga often weaves humour and irony into his work, and 'Death of Marxism, Women of All Lands Unite' is no exception. The very fact that women are depicted from clothed to nude, and the setting of a picnic near Marx's grave, creates a certain surreal and humorous effect. But it is humour with a message - critical of rigid ideologies and ready-made solutions that often overlook more complex issues such as gender and identity.

Goshka Macuga, 'Death of Marxism, Women of All Lands Unite', 2013, inv. no. F-MACU-2014.016, tapestry, 558.8 x 288.6 cm, The Broad Museum, Los Angeles