Lada Nakonechna & Alicja Pakosz
A Deal
IN A DEAL, LADA NAKONECHNA AND ALICJA PAKOSZ EXPLORE THE FRAGILE NEGOTIATIONS THAT ARISE WITHIN CONDITIONS OF VIOLENCE AND VULNERABILITY. THEY EXAMINE PACTS FORGED NOT THROUGH MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING, BUT THROUGH NECESSITY AND FORCE.
THIS FIRST DUO SHOW IN OUR PROGRAM MARKS OUR EXPANSION INTO THE POLISH ART SCENE—WITH ALICJA PAKOSZ AS THE FIRST POLISH ARTIST FEATURED AT TBA.
16/05–21/06 2025
TUE–SAT, 12–7 PM
Opening Reception
16/05, 5–8 PM
Piękna 64A
Warsaw, Poland
Photo
Kuba Rodziewicz
What does one relinquish to be seen, to be heard, to be protected? And can a pact, shaped in the shadows of violence, ever be just? This question lies at the trembling heart of A Deal, a duo-show by Lada Nakonechna and Alicja Pakosz, who trace the outlines of accord through image, material, and memory. The exhibition moves through the weight of concession—its disfigurements, its delicate, momentary openings.
To consent is not always to choose. Some terms are set by force, not by mutual recognition. In these quiet exchanges between power and powerlessness, what is given speaks less than what is lost. A concession is never just an answer, it is also a question: What remains unspoken? What cannot be reclaimed?
Here, agreement appears not as resolution, but as a condition of survival. It is not a strategy, but a reflex—one honed by generations under shifting borders, broken treaties, interrupted time. Nakonechna and Pakosz resist the conclusion. They treat understanding not as a verdict, but as a process—an unfolding rehearsal where nothing is fixed and everything is at stake.
There is no balance in these arrangements. Each image bears the weight of imbalance, and within that imbalance: an opening. To negotiate, even within the confines of violence, is to insist on the possibility of transformation. To speak, even when unheard, is to believe in a future that still listens.
The works in A Deal do not offer an exit. They remain inside the conditions they depict. Compromise, here, is not a tactic but a consequence. Not a way forward, but a mark left behind.
Alicja Pakosz
A Closer Look, 2025
Acrylic on canvas
99 × 140 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Studium des Menschen (3), 2022
Steel, papier-mâché
203 × 112 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Studium des Menschen (4), 2022
Steel, marble, papier-mâché
152 × 22 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Studium des Menschen (5), 2022
Steel, marble, papier-mâché
22 × 203 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Below Ground Level 2.13, 2024
Inkjet print on photo paper, cut-out, graphite
60 × 40 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Below Ground Level 1.5, 2024
Inkjet print on photo paper, cut-out, graphite
60 × 40 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Below Ground Level 1.6, 2024
Inkjet print on photo paper, cut-out, graphite
60 × 40 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Below Ground Level 2.3, 2024
Inkjet print on photo paper, cut-out, graphite
60 × 40 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Below Ground Level 1.3, 2024
Inkjet print on photo paper, cut-out, graphite
60 × 40 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Below Ground Level 1.2, 2024
Inkjet print on photo paper
60 × 40 cm
Alicja Pakosz
Trust the Evidence, 2025
Acrylic on paper
21 × 30 cm
Alicja Pakosz
Joyride (Infographic), 2024
Acrylic on paper
30 × 21 cm
Alicja Pakosz
House Work, 2025
Acrylic on paper
30 × 21 cm
Alicja Pakosz
Distressed, 2024
Acrylic on paper
30 × 21 cm
Alicja Pakosz
The Biggest Deal, 2024
Acrylic on paper
30 × 21 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Cup, 2025
Papier-mâché, rulers
25 × 28 cm
Lada Nakonechna
Ukrainian artist and researcher whose work critically examines the role of art in shaping perception and power structures. She is a member of the R.E.P. artists' collective (since 2005) and the curatorial and activist union Hudrada (since 2008). In 2015 she co-founded the Method Fund to support contemporary art in Ukraine by initiating scientific, educational and exhibition projects.
Her work has been exhibited at institutions including the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Albertinum in Dresden, Haus der Kunst in Munich, and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, and is held in collections such as Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Deutsche Bank Collection, and Le Centre Pompidou. She is a laureate of the Malevich Award (2014) and the PinchukArtCentre Special Prize (2013).
Alicja Pakosz
Polish artist based in Kraków, working across painting, installation, and diorama. Her practice explores the politics of memory and national identity, often rooted in her Upper Silesian heritage. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg; she is currently pursuing a PhD at the Doctoral School of the Pedagogical University of Krakow.
Her work has been exhibited at galleries and institutions including Galeria Raster in Warsaw, Office Baroque in Antwerp, ADA in Rome, Gdańska Galeria Miejska in Gdańsk, and Galeria Arsenał in Białystok, and she has participated in group exhibitions at Podium in Hong Kong, Her Clique in Lisbon, and Piana in Kraków. In April 2025, she took part in a residency at the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko.