Polish Art Archives: Neo-Avant-Garde Mail Art, Abakanowicz at Tate, and Queer Archives in Berlin
In 1975, Poland's neo-avant-garde saw mail art gain prominence, fostering international exchanges and highlighting networked art as a key practice. Magdalena Abakanowicz's textile exhibition 'Every Tangle of Thread and Rope' ran at Tate Modern's Blavatnik Building from November 17, 2022 to May 21, 2023, with critic Piotr Sarzynski praising it as a celebration of Polish art. Andrzej Szczerski's 2018 book 'Transformation: Art in East-Central Europe since 1989', translated by Sabina Potaczek-Jasionowicz, explores post-Soviet art with a chapter titled 'Communism Never Happened'. After the Law and Justice party's 2015 election victory, Polish cultural producers feared institutional upheaval, though changes were less severe than in public television. From June 20 to September 23, 2019, Berlin's Schwules Museum hosted Karol Radziszewski's Queer Archives Institute exhibition, showcasing Eastern European queer archives. These events underscore Poland's evolving art scene, from historical neo-avant-garde movements to contemporary queer activism and international exhibitions.
Key facts
- 1975 marked a watershed for mail art and networked art in Poland's neo-avant-garde.
- Magdalena Abakanowicz's solo exhibition at Tate Modern ran from November 17, 2022 to May 21, 2023.
- Piotr Sarzynski called the Abakanowicz exhibition 'a celebration of Polish art'.
- Andrzej Szczerski's book 'Transformation: Art in East-Central Europe since 1989' was published in 2018.
- The Law and Justice party won Poland's parliamentary elections in autumn 2015.
- Karol Radziszewski's Queer Archives Institute exhibition was held at Schwules Museum in Berlin from June 20 to September 23, 2019.
- Sabina Potaczek-Jasionowicz translated Szczerski's book.
- The Queer Archives Institute is among the most extensive queer archives in Central and Eastern Europe.
Entities
Artists
- Magdalena Abakanowicz
- Karol Radziszewski
- Andrzej Szczerski
- Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz
- Piotr Sarzynski
Institutions
- ARTMargins Online
- Tate Modern
- Jagiellonian University Press
- Queer Archives Institute
- Schwules Museum
- Law and Justice party
Locations
- Poland
- Berlin
- Germany
- Kraków