"A legjobb, amit tehetek, ha nem mondok semmit"

Interjú Dima Levickij ukrán dramaturggal

Author(s): Panna Adorjáni / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2017

Panna Adorjáni spoke to Ukrainian dramaturg and theatre creator Dima Levickij about his site-specific audio-walks on Kiev’s Maidan and in Pripjaty, as well as other theatrical projects. They also talk about the financing of independent Ukrainian theatre as well as about the ways and means that enable the use of theatre as a form in order to communicate with people.

"Artyści" – serial przełomu: tekst w kontekście produkcyjnym.

Author(s): Artur Majer / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article discusses factors determining the production process of the TV series "Artists" by Monika Strzępka and Paweł Demirski. Using production culture methodology, the author of the article demonstrates how the production background can be used to understand the message of the series. The article showsthat numerous factors influence this outcome message, including decisions within the production team, structural and organizational changes in Telewizja Polska, financial limitations, artistic compromises or even political changes in the country.

"Bakelito perlai": tarpukario Lietuvos dailė ir gyvenimas

Author(s): Miglė Banytė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 2(27)/2002

"Beypazarı’nda Kilim Dokumacılığı ve Bitkisel Boyacılık

Author(s): Sinem Hürem Şanlı,Esra Bıyıklı,Ümran Kaya / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 4/2014

Weaving is one of our ancient handicrafts and fabric weaving was born due to necessities such as covering up, dressing, protection from cold. Afterwards, various techniques, motifs and compositions were developed which led to the richness of Turkish weaving today. One of the most common techniques of Turkish weaving is rug weaving. Rugs woven in Beypazarı Public Education Center and vegetables used in dyeing the wool yarns for rugs were analyzed in this research. In Beypazarı, hall rugs are woven in patterns entitled with names from the region such as Çitimel, Başaklı, Kurtağzı, Beypazarı, Avşar and Ejderha. The most used of these is the hall rug called “Çitimel”. In dyeing of the yarns used in rugs, acorn dust, yellow bush, pinar weed, walnut shell, madder and indigo are used.

"Collaboration, at its Heart, isn't about Control". Interview with Sougwen Chung

Author(s): Bojana S. Radovanović,Sougwen Chung / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

Interview with Sougwen Chung by Bojana Radovanović

"Czegoś podobnego dotychczas w Warszawie nie było". Wystawa Towarzystwa Polska Sztuka Stosowana w Zachęcie w 1908 r.

Author(s): Agata Wójcik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2019

In February and March 1908, the Zachęta Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw presented a summing-up display of the activity of the Kraków Society of Polish Applied Art (TPSS), active from 1901. According to some comments: ‘The goal of the Exhibition was to demonstrate that Polish applied art existed, that there were already a number of artists who for the last several years had been aware of their purpose, thus demonstrating that when it came to decorating dwelling interiors, particularly when cabinetmaking and wall decorating were concerned (...), they were able to take an independent and thoroughly artistic stand in the full meaning of the term’. The display filled in ten rooms, seven of them being dwelling interior arrangements. The presented designs included those by: Karol Tichy (entryway), Edward Trojanowski (Władysław Reymont’s study, Papal bedroom), Stanisław Wyspiański (the Żeleń- skis’ dining- and drawing-rooms), Ludwik Wojtyczko (the Dziewulskis’ dining-room), and Józef Czajkowski (hall in the flat of Kraków’s Mayor; the Reymonts’dining-room). Arranging Zachęta’s spaces as a line of dwelling interiors aroused much interest of the critics, while Eligiusz Niewiadomski wrote: ‘Warsaw has never seen anything like it’...

"Declaration of Immortality" – Inspirations Derived from Creative Documentaries by Wojciech Wiszniewski

Author(s): Urszula Tes / Language(s): English Issue: 24/2014

In his documentary Declaration of Immortality, Marcin Koszałka intentionally refers to the style of Wojciech Wiszniewski. Visual creativity is strongly exposed here, both in the style of filming and the presentation of the hero. The main character in the film, Piotr Korczak, reminds of the monument-like heroes from Wiszniewski’s films, like protagonist from Wanda Gościmińska. A Weaver Koszałka filmed the scenes in the Potocki Palace in Krzeszowice in the manner of Wiszniewski’s long tracking shots. Visual creativity in Koszałka’s and Wiszniewski’s films encompasses the staging, precise frame composition, and their intentional artificiality, which does not nullify the documentary their nature. Form in the works of the directors of Primer (Wiszniewski) and Declaration of Immortality (Koszałka) interacts more or less with the spirit of Stanisław Witkiewicz’s art. Koszałka, like Wiszniewski, ‘dismantles’ reality, exposing the illusion of cinema to present a guru of mountain climbing (Korczak) as a ‘hostage of immortality’. The lonely hero from Wiszniewski-like staged scenes in Declaration of Immortality is presented as an ‘outgoing star’ whose fame has passed, giving way to alienation or a sense of failure. The tension from Declaration of Immortality emerges from the contrast between the way of filming (heroic style), and the meaning of particular scenes. The cinema of Wojciech Wiszniewski includes symbols, metaphors, and allegories. Th is artistic conception goes well with Marcin Koszałka’s concept of cinema, which – since the making of Existence (2007) – has become more and more symbolic, incorporating Baroque-like formal ideas based on strong contrasts to evoke ‘cognitive discomfort’ in the viewer.

"Dubultā koda" pazīmes ortodoksālā socreālisma posma tēlotājā mākslā Latvijā

Author(s): Eduards Kļaviņš / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 26/2022

The phases of orthodox Socialist Realism art in Latvia (1940 –1941, 1945–1956) are already researched and interpreted in many publications of Latvian art historians (Ilze Konstante, Stella Pelše, Elita Ansone, Sergejs Kruks, et al.). They reveal the robust suppression of local art life by the totalitarian regime during the Soviet occupation, the force of the ideological pressure on artists and describe the considerable body of artworks named Socialist Realism. Tracing the process, an impression of irresistible dominance of this production could arise. Nevertheless, in order to be more realistic, some hidden deviations from the official art policy and canonic requirements of Socialist Realism should be indicated. They emerged already during the first year of Soviet rule as a difference between published conformity and presented artworks, as a specific duality of iconography and its connotations or as a dichotomy between required subject matter and formal style. The double codes of art life of Latvia continued after the Second World War, when artists had to adapt themselves once more to the cultural policies of the totalitarian state. In most cases the reason for it was quite pragmatic because the state institutions were the main art consumers. The prescribed themes for art production were given together with the dogma of Socialist Realism and examples to be followed. For all that, in the course of the first post-war years artists managed to escape in the realm of politically neutral genres and images; landscapes dominated exhibitions, the legitimate and desirable compositions with images of the so-called working people (labourers, farmers) were made according to the tradition of the 1930s without unquestionable features of Soviet life (paintings of Eduards Kalniņš, Ārijs Skride, Jānis Liepiņš, Ģederts Eliass). The same could be said about some graduation works of the Latvian Art Academy of the time. A historical scene “The Kauguri Rebellions” (1945, Riga, Latvian National Museum of Art, further LNMA), painted by the former prominent modernist Oto Skulme, was an ideologically required depiction of the class struggle; on the other hand, it could be read as an anticipation of the national liberation. The picturesque style of the work was far from mimetic Socialist Realism. Versions of “Entangled” (all in the LNMA) modelled by the leading sculptor Teodors Zaļkalns could tell us about artist’s dependence on the changing political powers. The ideological pressure on Latvian art increased from 1949 until the middle of the 1950s; the historical background contains brutal repression, deportations and includes individual stories of deported artists. The result of the growing engagement and conformity – many works of Latvian orthodox Socialist Realism with all the necessary elements of the current policy. The largest exhibitions of 1949 and 1950 were full of artefacts with demanded subjects; painted and sculpted images of the dictator Stalin were inevitable. The most notable examples (the works of Oto Skulme, Arnolds Pankoks, Ojārs Ābols, Semjons Gelbergs, Aleksandra Briede, Jānis Briedis and others) were already examined in Soviet times and in recent publications. Still, the hidden double-coded art life was not totally exhausted. Thematic escapism gradually recovered and already in 1953 landscapes dominated the representative exhibition of Latvian creative artists in Riga once more. In 1954 the official art critic Arturs Lapiņš “unmasked” painters who worked with “two easels” – one for commissioned Socialist Realism works and the other for individual formalism. The dichotomy of subject and form was also preserved. Some artists from the older generation (the aforementioned Eliass and Zaļkalns, graphic artist Pēteris Upītis, et al.) continued to produce works repeating their pre-Soviet style and supplying them with titles typical for Socialist Realism. The youngest generation (students of the Art Academy) acquired another double-coded concept. Painters, who composed conventional scenes with farmers’ work or with happy children, had to create the obligatory optimistic mood not only by postures and facial expressions but also by sunlight effects. Therefore, volumes were modelled using colours dependent on the light of plein air. The role of brushwork increased. Sometimes elementary narratives were reduced to the simple fixation of depicted figures and their dynamics. This development towards Impressionism resulted in a mutation of Socialist Realism and could be called “Sots Impressionism”. Historical Impressionism was rejected by the authorities of the orthodox Socialist Realism, nevertheless, its elements were integrated into some individual versions of the style, including the achievements of some leading Soviet representatives of it (Yuri Pimenov, Arkady Plastov, Tatyana Yablonskaya). The overall phenomenon has recently become a subject for art historians; Vern Swanson praised “Soviet Impressionism” in his monographs of 2001 and 2007, Eha Komissarov staged an exhibition of “Stalinist Impressionism” in Estonian art (Tallin, 2016). In Latvia two graduation works of Art Academy students Bruno Celmiņš and Zigurds Kampars are good examples of “Sots Impressionism” (both 1954, LNMA), the best was an urban plein air scene “At a Book Table” (1955, Latvian Art Academy) by Gunārs Cīlītis. The trend continued in the next years (notable the paintings of Edgars Iltners, Rita Valnere, et al.) during the so-called political “thaw” and led to further mutations of local Socialist Realism.

"En la forêt de Longue Attente"… ou six promenades dans les bois des Nabis et d’ailleurs

Author(s): Andreea Apostu / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2012

This paper aims to retrace the manifold, often contradictory meanings underlying the works of the Nabis – an almost esoteric group of French artists which emerged near the end of the 19th century. Their primary sources of inspiration were, following in Baudelaire’s footsteps, remote in both space (Japanese art) and time (Medieval art). I shall attempt to analyse the manner in which several artists of this group use the medieval ambivalence of the forest in their paintings, as well as try to determine whether any major semantic shifts ensue in their treatment of this widespread imaginary topos. The paper’s main thesis is that this ambivalence is adapted to the intrinsic modernist tension between a feeling of despair, coupled with the anxiety of being faced with the positivist, essentially rationalistic explanation of existence, and an enormous desire to transform the world, so that it no longer opposes the Self.

"Inhabit" of Janine Antoni as a metaphor of female creation

Author(s): Edyta Janiak / Language(s): English Issue: 2 (26)/2018

The article aims to present the figure of contemporary artist Janine Antoni by discussing her most important performances. The author of the article pays particular attention to Antoni’s work Inhabit, which she interprets and analyzes in the spirit of arachnology. This strategy intends to present Inhabit as a kind of metaphor of feminine creativity.

"Joannes Breutelt nobis fecit..."

Author(s): Gražina Marija Martinaitienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 2(23)/2001

In Lithuania, cast metal works such as bells and cannons came into use in the 14th century. These were imported items or moulds cast by masters sporadically visiting Lithuania. Only late in the 17th century arrived Johannes Breutelt, born in Lorrain, who seems to have worked for about more than 20 years only in Vilnius and to have made it famous as an important European centre of casting. The author analyzes the life and creative work of this master who so far is not well known. Based on the archive, unpublished sources, the author presents data on J. Breutelt's work in the capital of the Great Principality of Lithuania, specifies its dating, and tells us about his place of residence, property, family. The most significant data are related with revealing many of unknown works of the master, guns in particular. The author has compiled a list of cannons and bells, which allows to perceive the scale and character of I. Breutelt's creative work. Short characteristics of each item present the type of moulding, decorations, inscriptions, the present place of still existing works or the place where a description can be found, their fate peripetias. The paper is illustrated by photographs of J. Breutelt's casts found in Lithuania, as well as diminished copies of the ornaments and inscriptions, which have never been published before.

"Jordskott". Las zaginionych, czyli przekraczanie granic Nordic noir.

Author(s): Tomasz Adamski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The TV crime drama is one of the most popular genres for European audiencesand arguably also the most culturally sensitive and nuanced. The authorin his article analyzes one of the Swedish examples of crime drama called Jordskott. Author interprets it through the prism of the Nordic noir aesthetics whilech aracterizing this concept. In the course of analyzes, however, he notices thatthe "Jordskott" series escapes the genre framework and is located somewhere at the intersection of such film aesthetics as: "Nordic noir", ecological thriller, horror orfairy tale.

"Kairos" fotografii – moment i wartość

Author(s): Joanna Spalińska-Mazur / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2011

Since we have handed over the manufacturing process to machines, the art-photographyreaches the limit where creation is identified with cropping. The article essentially focuseson works by Georges Rousse, who can hardly be placed in the indicated paradigm and whooften declares that his painting interventions in places of different architecture result fromhis drive for sanctification of the places that may disappear or become empty. In case of thistype of activities, we are not dealing with the reflection of the actual history of the placesor a narrative that can be presented, but with the exploration of the possible time orders –not so much logical as imaginary; we are dealing with a higher register of sensations – withheterotopia. Geometric and monochromatic paintings that Rousse creates, based on simplearchitectural patterns to better modify the perception, disappear along with the places thatcontain them. The explosive moment of this art-photography, its kairos, urges the audienceto learn the mystery of the documented places; to travel in search of their original shape andenergy.

"La buona figliuola" Carla Goldoniego a "Czekina albo cnotliwa panienka" Wojciecha Bogusławskiego

Author(s): Edyta Grzywaczewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 02 (25)/2015

„La buona figliuola” („The Accomplish’d Maid”) is an opera buffa in three acts by Niccolò Piccinni and Carlo Goldoni. The librettist based his text on Samuel Richardson’s novel „Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded”. It was performed for the first time at the Teatro delle Dame, Rome on 6th February 1760 with an all male cast. It was a big success and „La buona figliuola” took Europe by storm. Every European opera house had this opera in its repertoire. The performances were in: Barcelona, Prague, Vien, Dresden, London, Berlin, Mannheim and Paris. This opera was probably performed even in Beijing by Jesuits in 1778. „La buona figliuola” was so popular in Europe that Stanisław August Poniatowski, the King of Poland, wished it for his coronation ceremony. The performance took place at the National Theatre on 7th August 1765, just five years after the world premiere. This opera was also very popular in Warsaw. People loved the story of a simple and good maid Cecchina. Seventeen years later, Wojciech Bogusławski, the director of the National Theater, translated and adapted Goldoni’s opera and named it „Czekina albo cnotliwa panienka” („Czekina or a Virtuous Maid”). He performed it in 1782 with big success. First of all, the article describes the historical context of the creation of libretto – the Carlo Goldoni’s biography. Next, it presents the story of maid Cecchina and the phenomenon of the description of the Polish theories of translation from the 18th century, the Polish version of the opera – „Czekina or a Virtuous Maid”, is presented. Finally, two versions of the libretto – the Goldoni’s and the Bogusławski’s, are compared.

"Méwilo" i "Freedom" Muriel Tramis jako pierwsze gry postkolonialne

Author(s): Filip Jankowski / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

In the chapter entitled “Muriel Tramis’ »Méwilo« and »Freedom« as the First Postcolonial Games, Filip Jankowski examines two digital games accomplished by Muriel Tramis, a game designer from Martinique. The games picture the situation of African-Caribbean slaves and their descendants in a pioneering manner in terms of the medium used. “Méwilo” (1987) and “Fredom” (1988) were created under the influence of the philosophical thought in Martinique, shaped by the pioneers of postcolonialism such as Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon, as well as their critics impersonated by Édouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau. Both games differ in terms of applied convention. “Méwilo”, which is a thorough documentary game, focuses on questioning the following inhabitants of the city of Saint-Pierre, the day before the devastating eruption of the Montagne Pelée volcano in 1902. The opposition between the black inhabitants of Martinique and their metropolitan torturers, although strongly outlined, is subject to problematization in both games. Among the main characters of the Tramis' works are black anti-heroes who imitate the French in their ambivalent attitude to the African-Caribbean community. Hence, they reflect the phenomenon of mimicry described by Homi Bhabha. All things considered, Jankowski argues both games to feature apparent postcolonial themes.

"Mr. Robot" czyli powrót paranoi.

Author(s): Magdalena Bałaga / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The aim of this paper is to show the functioning and the role of paranoid obsessions in television series Mr. "Robot" (2015) and Thomas Pynchon’s novels. Although it seems that the novels of the American writer and the screenplay havelittle in common, both use a paranoid way of thinking as a creative response tosocietal experience.

"Na melinę" – zapomniane dzieło Stanisława Różewicza.

Author(s): Jarosław Grzechowiak / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The film by Stanisław Różewicz "On the Hideout" (original title: "Na melinę") was included in the series of television films Day One, Last Day (original title: "Dzień ostatni, dzień pierwszy", 1965). For many reasons, however, it was detained by censorship, although it represented high artistic values. The article is an attempt to examine both the content of the film itself and its literary prototype, as well as the answer to the question why it has not been broadcast for over 15 years.

"Nie Zapomnimy Nigdy!" Narracje o Przeszłości Odczytywane z Drugoobiegowych Znaczków i Kart Pocztowych Rozpowszechnianych w PRL w Latach Osiemdziesiątych Dwudziestego Wieku

Author(s): Katarzyna Szychta-Mielewczyk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2021

In the 1980s, in the Polish People’s Republic, the activity of the underground publishing houses was expanding. In the samizdat, there were thousands of various prints, which were a common carrier of historical motifs. The conducted research involves over 1000 printed items including post stamps and cards, which were published to commemorate events and/or people from the past. The underground creators often refer to the Second World War – in the analysed materials, there are over 400 printed items devoted to, e.g., the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the invasion of Poland, chosen battles, especially the Battle of Monte Cassino, the Katyn Massacre, the Warsaw Uprising. Other popular events are, e.g., the decreeing of the Constitution of the 3rd May 1791 (14 items), the national uprisings (72 items), the restoration of Poland’s sovereignty (86 items). It is also worth noting that there are events that were not exposed as, e.g., the Battle of Grunwald (only one item); it can be assumed that it was not promoted by underground publishing houses as it was promoted by the communist authorities. The historic motifs are reproduced not only on postage stamps but also occasionally on, e.g., postcards and envelopes. These kinds of prints were a part of oppositionists’ visual language. The transmitting and receiving strategies were not formalized whereby quite consistent. It can be assumed that such prints could arouse social historic awareness especially in the case of events and/or people that were a ‘terra incognita’ in the politics of memory in the Polish People’s Republic.

"Palestyna leje wodę…" Sztuki wizualne a pogromy i wystąpienia antyżydowskie w latach 1914–1920

Author(s): Artur Tanikowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2019

Authors of paintings, drawings or graphics on pogrom themes, representing various generations, art schools, stylistic tendencies, political views and social status, have rarely witnessed commented events. They visualized them based on various reports in the press, comments from survivors, their own imagination, and finally iconographic formulas that have been popularized for years. If, based on known works, we were tempted to arrange a narrative coherent scenario of pogroms, it would have to start with „pogrom shouts”, presenting the ominous pre-pogrom atmosphere, justifying the events in the opinion of their author (Pobóg-Rossowski), in terms of politics, religion and society. Such images are extremely rare. The lithograph showing the perspective of would-be victims who are preparing for self-defense (Wachtel) is quite unique in this group.Much more often, the artists presented scenes of the actual pogrom – destruction of the victims’ belongings, burning their homes, hiding, murdering, and much less often rapes. Pogrom by Wojciech Weiss is an outstanding phenomenon in this group of works. Within these episodes there are scenes of escape of would-be victims trying to save themselves (some Pann’s lithographs). They should be clearly distinguished from images of post-fire exiles, because their images are already in the last, perhaps the most numerous group, which can be described as the consequences of pogroms or their effects. This iconography includes views of retinue and cemeteries.In the collection of pogrom and post-pogrom art there is a separate, important episode – Christological discourse. The introduction of the figure of the Nazarene into the pogrom landscape gave artists room for painting or graphic commentaries of the political, social and religious background. They took on a tone of accusation of perpetrators (Christians, Russians, Ukrainians, Poles), but also clear directions include the only way of ending misery for many Jews, i.e. Zionism (Rubin). Jewish Christ, confronted with Ahasver, the Wandering Jew, or even identified with him, instead of being a cause of Jewish misfortunes became a victim of the followers’ bonds, a victim with which it was easier to identify.It is impossible today to fully catalogue the artistic narratives about the Jewish pogroms of the First World War, the October Revolution and the time that followed just after both bloody conflicts, when the Polish-Ukrainian struggle over Lviv and the Polish-Bolshevik war took place. The events commented on by the artists are part of a long string of anti-Jewish repression, including the ones more than a decade earlier, to mention the pogroms in Chisinau and Gomel (1903) as well as those in Żytomierz and Odessa (1905). They found their commentators in the field of visual arts, who at the beginning of the 20th century created compositional and iconographic schemes, later inspiring their younger.

"Po co tyle hałasu". Polski komiks muzyczny

Author(s): Jadwiga Lelek,Konrad Sierzputowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 04/2019

This article is the result of research on the condition of Polish musical comics. The basis of considerations are the comics of Marcin Podolec: Smoke and Fugazi Music Club, two works of Krzysztof Owedyk: Blix and Żorżet and You will be frying in hell, as well as the worst comic of the year by Maciej Pałka and Only calmly Bartek Glazy. The text aims to show the relationships between Polish popular music and comics. Draws attention to the ways of presenting musical subcultures and individual portraits in comic culture. It also introduces the role of memory and nostalgia in the construction of illustrated musical stories in which the real order mixes with the imaginary. The article points to the common points of these works and takes into account the most important shortcomings of all six comics. It highlights the marginalization of the role of women, both in the creative process and the discussed cultural texts. Using the theories of Jacques Ranciere and Robin, James raises the question of male dominance in the Polish music comic, while shedding light on the Polish music scene.