The Social Potential Of the Polish Art in the Transformation Period

• Main Author: Artur Pstuszek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Society of Philosophy and Cosmology 2018-04-01
• Series: Future Human Image
• Subjects: transformation; imaginary; critical art; socially engaged art; reconfiguration
• Online Access: http://www.fhijournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Pstuszek_9.pdf

The transformation of the political system, which took place in Poland at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, was accompanied with profound changes not only in economic and political rules, but also in social life. The author assumes that the transformational potential of the artistic practice — in particular that of the Polish socially engaged art of the time, i.e. artists of the critical art movement — could be used to profile social and economic changes, especially in light of the fact that art provided a reflection of the then dominating feeling of atomisation of the political space. The present analysis refers to a specific parallel between the mechanisms of power and artistic strategies. What is also emphasised is the political power assumed by artistic practices — manipulative skills, operational efficiency and techniques used by artists to influence the audience. The question is why the transformational potential of the Polish art has not been fully exploited in the last decades.