Elmgreen & Dragset in The Beguiling Siren is Thy Crest at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw

25 March - 18 June 2017

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw opens in its new premises on the banks of the Vistula with an exhibition entitled “The Beguiling Siren is Thy Crest”. It delves into the cultural connotations of Warsaw’s symbol, and its universality in the context of creating a modern urban identity.

Those visiting the newly opened pavilion can view historic materials – works of art and artefacts – as well as creations of modern artists inspired by the mythological siren. This exhibition, the first ever of this scale to discuss the siren, aims to portray and activate her potential as a symbol. It combines different takes on hybridity, national identity and mythology.

The title of the exhibition is a quote from a poem by Cyprian Kamil Norwid (one of the great Polish romantic poets), who addresses Warsaw by means of a personal invocation (“capital of my youth…”) and formulates a reminder that the mythological siren was originally a dangerous hybrid of a human and animal (specifically a bird with a woman’s head), that lured sailors to their doom. The poet calls upon the origins of Warsaw’s coat of arms to explain his multifaceted relationship with the city. This quote proved deeply inspiring to the exhibition’s creators.

Depictions of the siren have changed so often over the centuries, that the one thing they all have in common seems to be her dualistic, hybrid nature: she is both human and animal. Appearing on Warsaw’s medieval coat of arms is – surprisingly – a half-man, half-dragon figure. The image of the fish-woman became prevalent as late as the beginning of the 18th century. The exhibition focuses on this diversity of forms. The birdlike siren is depicted (among others) in Pablo Picasso sketches, the collages of Anglo-American surrealist Penny Slinger or the paintings of Dorota Jurczak.