About

Forty / Forty is an always open, unguarded art gallery. It is an exhibition experiment, an attempt to reconcile the independence, spontaneity and anarchy of street art with limitations enforced by an enclosed exhibition space. It is an attempt to answer the question of how to present the art of the street and not lose its authenticity. Once per year, the interior of the over 100-year-old abandoned building of czar's barracks in the Bem's Fort in Warsaw is filled with the works of a group of artists invited to the project. They are given full freedom, just as in the street. There are no formal restrictions or a specific theme. The artists can work individually or form any spontaneous collaborations. A variety of styles, techniques and approaches to art creation are represented, ranging from ephemeral installations, through sticker art, roller poster, stencil graffiti and murals, to style-writing. In fact, the artists have only one common denominator: all of them create in the street. The gallery building is unguarded and available to visitors 24 hours a day. The works of the invited artists mingle with the writings and drawings added spontaneously by 'illegal' graffitists and regular vandals. The forts thrive and constantly transform, exactly the same as the art of walls in cities transforms, erodes and is constantly reborn.