LOOTED
(a collaborative video installation)
Looted is a multi-channel video projection installation that invites viewers to reflect on the historical and persisting reality of art-pillaging across Poland. This project is led by Polish artist Dorota Mytych, with international painters Jessica Houston (Canada), Marcia Teusink (UK), and Tracy Grubbs (USA) to participate. The project takes its title from Poland’s Division of Looted Art—a comprehensive database of stolen Polish artworks from World War II. The work features a grid of hundreds of videos showing the artists’ hands as they repaint looted paintings from the archive. Each video captures the evolution of a painting from a blank canvas to a fully-realized copy of the artwork, then to be wiped away, leaving only a ghost image.
Like the missing paintings, which exist today only as black and white archival photographs, these recreated works endure solely in the sepia-toned videos. The installation highlights the continuous cycle of erasure and recreation, simultaneously acknowledging loss and celebrating the creative process. Looted breathes new life into lost artworks, bringing them again into a symbolic yet ephemeral circulation of cultural heritage commemorating their loss.
Each video begins with a blank canvas, and an artist’s hand enters the frame to repaint a lost artwork from those documented in Poland’s Division of Looted Art. An initial mark begins the journey of the painting process. Queens, mothers, mountains, boats, kings, and roses are all painted live and captured on video. The videos are staggered by 20 seconds, creating a sea of images that simultaneously show varying stages of the painting — from the initial abstract marks to the finished image. Once complete, the artist erases the painting with a rag, leaving only its trace behind. The transformative cycle then repeats, with the artists continuously creating and erasing additional works. A soundtrack of brushes working on canvas, palette knives mixing on glass, and other studio noises accompanies the videos, adding to the ambiance in the hosting gallery.
The first incarnation of LOOTED (UTRACONE) took place at Galeria Podbrzezie, Pedagogical University, Krakow, Poland in May 2023.
The US premiere of the project is taking place at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA, from September 5, 2024 - July 27, 2025. Read/download the press release here
Visited the LOOTED website
