Piotr Piotrowski Discusses Global Art History and Critical Museums in Final Interview

On January 29, 2015, an interview with Piotr Piotrowski, a professor at Adam Mickiewicz University and the former director of the National Museum in Warsaw, was published posthumously. This followed the 'East European Art Seen from Global Perspectives: Past and Present' conference held in Lublin, Poland, from October 24-27, 2014. Piotrowski challenged conventional center-periphery models in art history, advocating for the 'provincializing centers' approach and emphasizing the importance of contextualizing art. He made a distinction between the globalization of the art market and global art history, referencing the 1922 Bauhaus exhibition in Calcutta and Jonas Staar's New World Summit at the 2012 Berlin Biennale. His concept of a 'critical museum' aimed to foster democratic engagement. Additionally, he planned a project titled 'Globalizing Eastern Europe' to compare post-war art discussions in Eastern Europe and India. The interview was conducted by Richard Kosinsky, Jan Elantkowski, and Barbara Dudás for ARTMargins Online.