From the very beginning, fostering the ideal of generosity, by material as well as by artistic means remains the principal aim of our foundation.
Signum Foundation was established in 2002 in order to give permanent form to our spontaneous charitable and cultural work. The Foundation is a tool which allows us to increase the range and the effectiveness of our activity. In the Foundation's charter we committed ourselves to "supporting and promoting various disciplines of artistic creativity", helping people in need, in particular, "children, the young, the elderly, the ill, the disabled, and their families". To meet these obligations we're constantly striving to recognize human needs and to improve the means of supporting artistic activity. We try to encourage other people to undertake similar efforts, beginning with family members, friends, and acquaintances... The evolving, flexible, non bureaucratic structure of the Foundation makes this all possible.
Our foundation proposes and implements significant forms of social involvement as well as interdisciplinary artistic projects. The border between social and cultural activity vanishes in a beneficial and inspiring way. The yearly Encounters of Art and Social Activities and the Workshop of the Joy of Life for children encourage empathy, becoming schools of voluntary service, and experimental fields for creativity and communications skills of our beneficiaries and social workers. The collaboration with the Poznan Social Emergency Group is another example of a long term social involvement which resulted in Krzysztof Wodiczko's Poznan Projection.
We recognize an increasing interest in charity to which we try to respond according to our means. We not only offer financial help but also advisory and organizational support. We are happy to see that special therapies, rehabilitation, and medical treatments improve the health and social situation of our beneficiaries. We are also cognizant of the fact that sometimes the best result is achieved by maintaining the current psychophysical state and by avoiding regression in case of a complex disability or a chronic disease. Additionally, it is important to sustain the families and the care givers of the sick children.
As a natural result of this systematically-provided aid there is a group which remains under constant protection. We analyse the particularities of rehabilitation centres in order to improve the forms of therapy. We establish new contacts which bring further possibilities of exchange and collaboration.
It has become a tradition to distribute presents during the holidays. For the first time, in 2008, we founded a scholarship for a foreign student enabling him to complete his studies.
Organizing exhibitions and preparing catalogues falls within the broad scope of the Foundation's art promotion activities. Here are some examples:
Magia koloru. Samuel Tepler 1918-1998 (Muzeum Historii Miasta in Lodz, Muzeum Śląskie in Katowice, Muzeum Narodowe in Kielce, 2003),
Alfabet, performance by Janusz Marciniak (XVI Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatralny Malta, Poznan, 2006),
Les Avant-Gardes Polonaises, dialogues historiques depuis Malevitch (Muzeum Matisse, Le Château-Cambrésis, 2006)
Projection Hiroshima by Krzysztof Wodiczko (Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu, 2007), Krzysztof Wodiczko: pojazdy-instrumenty (Fundacja Signum, 2007),
Jarosław Kozłowski, Co nowego?(Fundacja Signum, 2008)
Daniel Buren, Hommage à Henryk Stazewski, Cabane éclatée avec tissu blanc et noir, travail situe, 1985-2009 (Muzeum Sztuki Lodz, 2009).
We produced two short films for TVP Kultura linked to the Foundation's policy: The Workshop of the Joy of Life and PainTing. The project entitled Signum Foundation for Poznan is our contribution to the Museum Nights in the city.
In 2009 with the exhibition „Awake and Dream" the Foundation inaugurated its first foreign headquarters in Palazzo Donà located in Campo San Polo in Venice. Signum Foundation Palazzo Donà is a permanent exhibition space where admission is free. Thanks to its exceptional character, we hope that the venue - uniquely adapted to the intermingling of cultures and religions - will become a site of encounters and dialogue under the auspices of art.
From the very beginning, fostering the ideal of generosity, by material as well as by artistic means remains the principal aim of our foundation.
Hanna and Jaroslaw Przyborowski