HISTORIA I UTOPIA MODERNIZMU W NARRACJACH WSPÓŁCZESNYCH ARTYSTÓW
THE HISTORY AND UTOPIA OF MODERNISM IN THE NARRATIVES OF CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the ambivalent legacy of socialist modernism in the work of Polishartists active after 2000. Exhibitions presented in the 2000s, such as Concrete Heritage at theUjazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, showed the unique sensitivity of young artists tothe architectural legacy of the Polish People’s Republic and the relevance of their visual experi-ments in times of sociopolitical transformation. The work of the youngest artistic generation also shows the vitality of the legacy of civilizational changes occurring in the Polish People’s Republicas the basis of a critical artistic attitude. By treating their work as a specific record of social trans-formations, we can interpret various approaches to unwanted and assimilated heritage. The multi-threaded narrative referring to the architecture of the Polish People’s Republic and various tropesof modernization has been variously interpreted in the works of artists such as Mikołaj Grospierre,Diana Lelonek, Monika Sosnowska, or Krzysztof Zieliński.An important aspect of their work is the category of place – historical and constructed, showingthe history of Polish modernism, inscribed in historical conventions, and uprooted by contemporaryinterpretations. The visual attractiveness at the same time shows an erosion of social memory; at thesame time, the presented architectural motifs become tools to describe a new utopia of aesthetic sub-limation and ecological dystopia. By reading the relationship between history and utopia anew, theyengage in a complex dialogue with the architectural space of modernism.

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