Mission
The Signum Foundation is an art foundation, social enterprise and an aid organisation all at the same time.
Signum’s main activities centre around providing support to the youngsters in need and promoting 20th and 21st century art internationally, with a particular focus on Polish art. The Foundation’s purpose is therefore to establish adequate educational programs, including teaching through art and creating socially engaged art projects. The Foundation operates in Poland, with it’s head office in Zeyland Factory, Poznan, as well as in two exhibition spaces; Signum Foundation Gallery in Lodz, Poland and Palazzo Dona in Venice, Italy.
A MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDERS
The Signum Foundation was formed in 2002 in order to develop our (until then only casual) charity work and cultural events organisation into something more permanent, coordinated and standardised. The Foundation has since become a magnificent tool to expand the spectrum of operations as well as improve the efficiency of our art-focused social enterprise.
In our foundation’s statute we stressed our commitment to the “support and promotion of various forms of artistic creativity” and to organising help for those in need, particularly “youngsters, but also to the sick, elderly and disabled, as well as the families of the disabled”. In accordance this pledge, we continue to recognise people’s needs in the communities we engage with. We work on perfecting our ways of supporting creativity.
We continue to encourage others to engage in similar efforts by involving our family and friends in our work. It allows us to keep the structure of our Foundation uncomplicated; that way our environment is fun, flexible and adaptable, rather than monotonous and bureaucratic.
As a Foundation, we try to put forward and develop socially engaged practices, interdisciplinary art projects and aid efforts that are most worthwhile.
The line between socially engaged practices and cultural activities is often a blurred one, which we find inspiring and incredibly fitting with what we offer. It is apparent in the events we organised in the years of 2007-09, such as “Spotkania Sztuki i Działań Społecznych” (“Art meets Social Enterprise”) “Warsztaty Radości Życia” (“The Joy of Life- a Workshop”). These events offered a lesson in empathy, stressed the value of voluntary work, as well as presented the participants with a chance to experiment with their creativity and communication skills- both for the patients and their carers. Another project of ours, “Poznan Projection”, a collaboration between the artist Krzysztof Wodiczko and Pogotowie Spoleczne (Poznan Social Aid Foundation) was similarly successful and had a far-reaching impact on the community.
The Foundation’s charitable practises comprise of offering financial, consultative and managerial support to those in need. As a result of our efforts, a permanent group of dependants emerged from the community of people we provided our help to. We are now able to offer them an extensive, long term therapy program that is specific to the needs of these individuals. It gives us great joy to see progress and health improvements among our proteges. We are conscious that some of the success we witness may seem only small- but sometimes maintaining the status quo of one’s condition is already a great step forward, especially when dealing with individuals with severe disabilities. Additionally, it is equally important for our Foundation to look after the carers, guardians and parents of the youngsters involved in our programs.
In regards to the aim of promoting contemporary art, the Foundation has both organised as well as supported the development of various exhibitions as well as producing exhibition catalogues in the recent years. This has since led us to advance the Foundation’s own original interdisciplinary practises. From 2009 the Foundation’s activities have been reaching beyond Poland.
The 2009 exhibition “Awake and Dream” in Palazzo Dona, marked the launch of the Foundation’s international outreach, allowing the palace in Campo San Polo to become Signum’s Venetian branch.
Known as Signum Foundation Palazzo Dona, the palace is a permanent exhibition space with an admission free access to the public. Thanks to the incredibly fortunate and popular location, the Palazzo has become a place of intercultural dialogue as well as multinational, cultural and artistic exchange of ideas and practises among artists and critics.
In 2015 the Foundation opened a brand new space in Lodz, where an exhibition of selected artworks from Signum’s collection is open to public.
The realisation of the concept of generosity and genuine openness to another human through financial, but most of all creative support has been the Foundation’s main objective from the very beginning.
Hanna i Jarosław Przyborowscy
Team
Founders - Foundation Council
Hanna Przyborowska
Jarosław Przyborowski
President of the Board
Grzegorz Musiał
Member of the Board
Paulina Przyborowska
BSUF Project Coordinator
Kacper Przyborowski
Zeyland Factory
The Signum Foundation’s head office is in Zeyland Factory – the only historic factory building remaining in Poznan city centre. The ground floor space is often used for temporary exhibitions and various projects organised by the Foundation. Here the Signum Foundation has hosted several exhibitions showcasing the work of artists such as Ryszard Wasko, Krzysztof Wodiczko and Jaroslav Kozlowski to name just a few.
A three-storey brick building with a basement, two slight avant-corps and visible roof turret, was erected in 1871-72 by an industrialist Jozef Zeyland. It housed Mr Zeyland’s Carpentry Factory (Fabryka Wyrobow Stolarskich Jozefa Zeylanda) until 1903. Jozef Zeyland’s internationally acclaimed woodwork became a permanent feature in many institutions as well as private homes. Some of the most well known carpentry realisations include an altar, pulpit and benches in the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ostrow Tumski, the furnishings for the so-called Kraszewski’s office (commissioned by PTPN, Poznań Society of Friends of Learning), the furnishings of the Rogalin Palace library (commissioned by a nobleman Edward Aleksander Raczynski)
Jozef Zeyland (1823- 1891)
Industrialist, social activist, one of the Industrial Bank founders, PTPN member (Poznań Society of Friends of Learning) and TMK (Youth Mercantile Society), active supporter of a local educational aid for youth. Buried in a Cemetery of the Merited Citizens of Greater Poland in Poznan (cmentarz Zasłużonych Wielkopolan na Wzgórzu św. Wojciecha w Poznaniu).
Awards
AN AWARD GRANTED BY THE MUSEUM OF ART TO MRS. HANNA PRZYBOROWSKA AND MR. JAROSLAW PRZYBOROWSKI, THE FOUNDERS OF THE SIGNUM FOUNDATION
On September 3 the Museum of Art in Łódź granted an award to the Founders of the Signum Foundation, Mrs. Hanna Przyborowska and Mr. Jarosław Przyborowski.
The Museum of Art award is “a distinction granted for exceptional support given to the Museum of Art in Łódź and for the contribution to the development of this institution”.
The award was an expression of appreciation by the Museum for the Founders of the Signum Foundation who had purchased Cabane Clare, a work by Daniel Buren for the collection of the Museum of Art in Łódź as well for their support granted to the Museum within the Social Council of the Museum of Art in Łódź.
“This award has for us a symbolic dimension. For years the Museum of Art in Łódź has been an inspiration for us” (Jarosław Przyborowski)
Signum’s art exhibition in Palazzo Dona, Venice was ranked by the magazine “Arteon” as one of the most significant artistic phenomena of the year 2009.
In January 2010, Arteon’s editorial board reviewed the exhibition “Awake and Dream” (Palazzo Dona, Venice, 2009). The exhibition placed 7th in the magazine’s ranking of the “most significant artistic phenomena” of the year 2009. It reads “The inauguration of the Signum Foundation’s international outreach remains one of the major events of last year, thus annunciating far-reaching ramifications for establishing a prominent position for Polish art globally (…)”.
FOUNDERS OF THE SIGNUM FOUNDATION AMONG THE HUNDRED OF "OBIEG" AND THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE POLISH ART WORLD
Hanna and Jaroslaw Przyborowski, founders of the Signum Foundation, were placed on the 52nd position in the top Hundred of “Obieg” (one of the most important opinion making art magazines in Poland) and “Art Bazaar” (a blog dedicated to contemporary art collecting edited by Piotr Bazylko and Krzysztof Masiewicz) among the most influential people in the Polish art world.
Justification: “Although the international collection of the Signum Foundation established by Hanna and Jaroslaw Przyborowski has been developing for years it was only in 2009 that the collection was presented to the public. And obviously it was not a case that the presentation took place at Palazzo Donà in Venice during the Biennale.”
JAREK MASZEWSKI AWARD 2009
We have the pleasure to announce that Mrs Hanna Przyborowska and Mr Jarosław Przyborowski, the founders of the Signum Foundation, have received the Jarek Maszewski Award for their “thoughtful social work with children, consistent exhibition programme, for presenting art in a public space and for exhibiting Polish art in Venice”. With these words the Jury which granted the award (Polish Association of Visual Artists, Association of Polish Architects, Association of Polish Photographers, Poznań Academy of Fine Arts and Arsenał, the Municipal Gallery) justified their decision.
CERTIFICATE OF CHARITY
Certificate was awarded to the Signum Foundation by the Foundation for Childen “Help on Time” for significant financial support for therapies and rehabilitation.
THE GOLDEN ERASMUS AWARD
The Primary School No. 7 in Poznań, whose patron is Erasmus of Rotterdam, awarded the Golden Erasmus in the category ‘Friends of School No. 7’ to Mrs Hanna Przyborowska and Mr Jarosław Przyborowski.
"SYBILLA 2003" – PRIZE BY THE MINISTER OF CULTURE
“Sybilla 2003” for the exhibition entitled “Magic of Colour. Samuel Tepler 1918-1998” as the most interesting Museum Event in 2003 in the category of exhibitions prepared entirely from foreign collections.