Unrecognized, 2002
Poznań, Cytadela Park
To mark the 750th anniversary of Poznań’s founding, Magdalena Abakanowicz’s largest outdoor installation was unveiled in Cytadela Park. The event inaugurated the Poznań City of Art project initiated by the Wielkopolska Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, aimed at enriching Poznań’s public space with works by leading contemporary Polish artists.
Unrecognized consists of 112 cast-iron figures, each more than two meters tall. Anthropomorphic, headless, and armless, the figures appear to wander aimlessly in different directions. They were produced at the Iron Foundry in Śrem.
The inspiration behind Abakanowicz’s installation came from her vivid memories of childhood and the communist era in Poland — a time deeply marked by the experience of the crowd. The work reflects states of waiting, exhaustion, and desperation, feelings often borne by anonymous individuals, alone among others.
The work was created in cooperation with the Wielkopolska Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts.