Joasia Krysa Examines Polish Art's Response to 1989 Political Transformation in ARTMargins Online

Joasia Krysa's article "Poles Apart: The Irreconcilable Conflict of Aging" analyzes how Polish artists navigated the country's dramatic political and social changes in 1989. While British artists were organizing warehouse exhibitions in response to Thatcherite policies, Polish creators faced a completely different reality shaped by economic crisis and political transformation. The year 1989 marked Poland's great economic crisis and subsequent political upheaval, eased by the success of the solidarity movement. This period witnessed the end of the Communist era and the establishment of Poland's first free parliamentary elections. The newly emerging political and social order fundamentally reshaped the Polish art scene as artists tried to come to terms with these profound changes. The article appears in the April 2001 issue of ARTMargins Online, published from the United Kingdom.