Piotr Piotrowski Advocates for Eastern European Art History Recognition Through English-Language Comparative Studies
Piotr Piotrowski, a faculty member at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and the former director of the National Museum in Warsaw from 2009 to 2010, contends that the global art history narrative often overlooks Eastern Europe due to insufficient studies published in English. In a conversation with Edit András on April 4, 2012, at the Ludwig Museum in Budapest, he stressed the importance of English-language publications for achieving worldwide acknowledgment. Piotrowski, who received the Igor Zabel award in 2010 and authored "In the Shadow of Yalta" (2009) and "Art and Democracy in Post-Communist Europe" (2012), advocates for comparative studies to challenge Western dominance. He also points to projects like the Clark Research Institute's Eastern European program and addresses the political significance of art in the context of post-Cold War regional definitions.
Key facts
- Piotr Piotrowski is a professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and was director of the National Museum in Warsaw from 2009 to 2010.
- He received the Igor Zabel international award in 2010 and has authored books on Eastern European art history.
- The interview was conducted by Edit András on April 4, 2012, at the Ludwig Museum in Budapest as part of the lecture series "Theoretical and Critical Problems of the Margins Today."
- Piotrowski argues that Eastern European art history lacks global representation due to insufficient English-language comparative studies.
- He advocates using Western methodologies subversively, citing Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's idea that methods should critique the center.
- Comparative studies are emphasized as a way to provincialize the West and highlight regional diversity.
- Initiatives like the Clark Research Institute's Eastern European program and the Courtauld Institute of Art's MA project on Eastern Europe and South America are noted.
- Artists such as Artur Żmijewski, Krzysztof Wodiczko, and Tamás St.Auby are mentioned as examples of subversive traditions from the region.
Entities
Artists
- Piotr Piotrowski
- Edit András
- Jarosław Kozlowski
- Laszlo Beke
- Slavoj Žižek
- Boris Groys
- Artur Żmijewski
- Krzysztof Wodiczko
- Tamás St.Auby
- Tamás Szentjóby
- Wilhelm Sasnal
- Dorota Nieznalska
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
- Dipesh Chakrabarty
- Partha Mitter
- John Clark
- Rasheed Araeen
- Michael Hardt
- Antonio Negri
- Klara Kemp-Welch
- Charlotte Bydler
Institutions
- Adam Mickiewicz University
- National Museum in Warsaw
- Ludwig Museum
- Gallery Akumulatory 2
- Clark Research Institute
- Courtauld Institute of Art
- Foksal Gallery Foundation
- Kunstverein
- Institute of Art History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- ARTMargins Online
- Berlin Biennial
- Academy of Fine Arts
Locations
- Poznań
- Poland
- Budapest
- Hungary
- Warsaw
- Williamstown
- MA
- United States
- London
- United Kingdom
- Berlin
- Germany
- Taiwan
- Paris
- France
- Rome
- Italy
- Czech Republic
- Slovak Republic
- Romania
- Cluj
- Yugoslavia
- Gdańsk
- Scandinavia
- Balkans
- Greece
- South America
- Africa
- Asia
- China
- India