Ujazdowski CCA Director Alters Artists' Protest Sign to Push Antiabortion Agenda

Piotr Bernatowicz, the director of Ujazdowski CCA in Warsaw, faces allegations of co-opting a protest by local artists to promote an anti-abortion agenda. In a display of solidarity against a proposed law by Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, which aims to prohibit abortion in cases of fetal abnormalities, artists Karolina Grzywnowicz, Dani Ploeger, Kuba Rudziński, and Ivan Svitlychnyi erected a sign that read 'Piekło kobiet' ('Women's hell') outside the museum. Bernatowicz shared a video on his personal Facebook, altering the sign to say 'Abortion = Women's hell.' The artists expressed their concerns in a Facebook post, referencing lawyer Jerzy Kwaśniewski from the Ordo Iuris Institute, who claimed Bernatowicz's actions were not copyright violations. Appointed in 2019 without a competitive process, Bernatowicz's tenure reflects the government's strategy to install right-wing leaders in cultural roles, which has been met with resistance from Poland's predominantly liberal arts sector.