Praesens

The Praesens group was founded on the initiative of Szymon Syrkus, and gathered a group of architects and painters. In June 1926, the group published the first issue of its magazine, of the same title Praesens. Among the members of the group were the architects Syrkus, Józef Szanajca, and Bohdan Lachert; painters and former members of Blok, Władysław Strzemiński and Henryk Stażewski; and sculptor Katarzyna Kobro. Syrkus outlined the programme of the group, “By way of experiment, the architectonic approach provides new opportunities, not only artistic as it might seem, but also social. For architecture changes the social pattern, as the social pattern changes architecture.” Similarly to the Blok group, Praesens published many articles of the international avant-garde in its journal. In 1926, the group opened its first exhibition in Warsaw. A year later, in 1927, the group co-organized the Machine Age Exposition in New York City showcasing the works of its members, Stanisław Brukalski, Józef Malinowski, Strzemiński, Syrkus, Henryk Oderfeld, Lachert, Lech Niemojewski, Stażewski, and Szanajca. Just as in the Blok group, different views regarding art were upheld by the architects and by Strzemiński and his friends, Stażewski and Kobro. Strzemiński yet again dismissed the utilitarian basis of the architects’ programme and left the group in 1929. Stażewski and Kobro followed Strzemiński and also left the Praesens.

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praesens
http://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/12755/ubc_2002-0162_fixed.pdf