Łódź-LA Art Exchange: A 1982 Cultural Bridge

A new publication, 'The 1982 Exchange between Łódź and Los Angeles', edited by Agnieszka Pindera, details a Cold War-era art exchange between Polish and American artists. In the early 1980s, fourteen Polish artists from Foksal Gallery sent works to the newly opened Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, while thirty-five US artists sent works to Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi. The exchange was initiated by Polish artist Henryk Stażewski in 1979, reviving his interwar avant-garde network. The public exhibition, 'Échange entre artistes 1931–1982', opened at Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in June 1982, then traveled to Belfast and Dublin. The book features eleven essays by scholars including Katarzyna Łabowicz-Dymanus, Patryk Tomaszewski, and David Crowley, covering institutional histories, artistic practices, and political contexts. Stażewski, at 86, was the oldest participant; other key figures include Pontus Hultén, Lynn Kienholz, and Anka Ptaszkowska. The volume highlights the shifting agendas under martial law in Poland and the delayed acceptance of Polish works by MOCA in 1987.