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 Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska transform the lower galleries into a social club and three cinemas showing Polish amateur films made by factory workers in the Communist era. In contrast to a programme of official newsreels glorifying factory production, these films project the hopes, humour and repressed fantasies of a generation.

Since 1995, Cummings and Lewandowska’s numerous projects have explored the relationship between art and the invisible power structures that regulate our everyday lives. They have worked with museums, banks, archives, advertising agencies, places of education and department stores in London, Geneva, Copenhagen and Paris.
Enthusiasm investigates how the amateur, the enthusiast or the hobbyist works invisibly within the relentless flow of ‘official’ culture, frequently adopting a counter-cultural tone of tactical resistance and criticism. While leisure in Poland was organised through factory-sponsored associations, amateur activities became an asylum for the marginalised, for dreams of happiness, love and freedom.

A reconstructed film club interior bears witness to the social and creative history of the club members. The films themselves range from short satirical animations and experimental films to ambitious documentaries and epic romances.

Arranged into themes of Love, Labour and Longing the programmes celebrate everyday life, reflect on working environments and indulge in personal, sexual and political longing. A film archive provides a rare opportunity to explore films found but not screened, while an extraordinary collection of original posters celebrates the bold creativity at the heart of Enthusiasm.

Organised with Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Kunst-Werke, Berlin and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw.

With support from