The premise of the article is that the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, among others, will highlight the shortcomings in public policies in Poland. It is also assumed that public policies include actions of the authorities towards artists. The status of artists as a target group of public policy in a democratic system is diagnosed as well as the process of creating regulations for the status of a professional artist in Poland is described. The subject of a detailed analysis are the decisions of the Polish government regarding artists in the years 2020-2021. Technical, formal, and media problems of the authorities with the distribution of aid funds for artists in Poland are related to the lack of a law definition of an artist in the Polish social security system, and more broadly, in public policies. Due to the fact that the legislative work on the artist's status has not been completed before the 5th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, problems in managing public aid for artists in Poland are expected to reoccur.
The text is an attempt at looking at the art project Brides on Tour from the perspective of the nomadic subjectivity by Rosi Braidotti. The project, in the new context lent by the death of Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, known under as Pippa Bacca, gave rise to diverse commentaries, at the same time becoming a reference point for successive artistic and social endeavours. The article analyses the strategy undertaken by "the brides" as women-artists, the cultural symbols and archetypes used by them, while as a counterweight questions are asked about the faith in unconditioned hospitality in the frames of what Jacques Derrida called "Abraham" tradition as well as about the presence of women in public space. As a result, the project seems to be an artistic performance, which demands including the specific, embodied female experience to be a subject in culture and politics. Its true value is located in the acquired experience; in the exchange that the artists initiate with people encountered on their way; in breaking the borders between art and everyday life. This is quite an alternative model of art and as such is an answer to the feminist demands of Rosi Braidotti.
This paper examines the participation of the Polish Artists' Union in the complex transformation of communist Poland in 1980–1981. It is one of the most mythologized phenomena in Polish art history. The main approach to this period assumes that before the of "Solidarity" movement uprising, the Polish Artists' Union was totally dependent on the communist authorities. Then, after August 1980, the Union was to become idealistic, anti-communist organization. The following paper recognizes this kind of historiographical narrative as an example of the 'totalitarian model'. It is a model based on a simple, binary vision of the communist system as a field of permanent struggle between "innocent" society and "oppressive", omnipotent authorities. The analysis presented here uses the perspective of social history (Sheila Fitzpatrick et al.). From this perspective, communism is viewed as a complex tangle of active, causative social actors (groups and individuals), who could be politically engaged, but may not be. One of those actors was the Polish Artists' Union. Based on various kinds of sources, I show how the Union tried to take the optimal political position after August 1980. To examine this issue I use two types of political mentality, which dominated in those days in the Party, in "Solidarity", and also in the Union. One is termed "fundamental", and treats politics in terms of morality, dignity, and so on. The other is called "pragmatic", and is focused on institutional games, while also allowing compromises or concessions. To track the dynamics of how the Union functioned from August 1980 until martial law was declared (in December 1981), I introduce a division into three phases of the Solidarity revolution: September-December 1980, January-July 1981, and September-December 1981. An analysis of the Union's documents, art magazines, and Party's documents (both official and internal), shows that after the first phase, the Polish Artists' Union was ready to join the new configuration of power, based on Solidarity and the Polish United Workers' Party agreement. According to David Ost's theory, I define this project as a "neo-corporatist" model of the state socialism in the art system. ; This paper examines the participation of the Polish Artists' Union in the complex transformation of communist Poland in 1980–1981. It is one of the most mythologized phenomena in Polish art history. The main approach to this period assumes that before the of "Solidarity" movement uprising, the Polish Artists' Union was totally dependent on the communist authorities. Then, after August 1980, the Union was to become idealistic, anti-communist organization. The following paper recognizes this kind of historiographical narrative as an example of the 'totalitarian model'. It is a model based on a simple, binary vision of the communist system as a field of permanent struggle between "innocent" society and "oppressive", omnipotent authorities. The analysis presented here uses the perspective of social history (Sheila Fitzpatrick et al.). From this perspective, communism is viewed as a complex tangle of active, causative social actors (groups and individuals), who could be politically engaged, but may not be. One of those actors was the Polish Artists' Union. Based on various kinds of sources, I show how the Union tried to take the optimal political position after August 1980. To examine this issue I use two types of political mentality, which dominated in those days in the Party, in "Solidarity", and also in the Union. One is termed "fundamental", and treats politics in terms of morality, dignity, and so on. The other is called "pragmatic", and is focused on institutional games, while also allowing compromises or concessions. To track the dynamics of how the Union functioned from August 1980 until martial law was declared (in December 1981), I introduce a division into three phases of the Solidarity revolution: September-December 1980, January-July 1981, and September-December 1981. An analysis of the Union's documents, art magazines, and Party's documents (both official and internal), shows that after the first phase, the Polish Artists' Union was ready to join the new configuration of power, based on Solidarity and the Polish United Workers' Party agreement. According to David Ost's theory, I define this project as a "neo-corporatist" model of the state socialism in the art system.
The article undertakes the problems of novel theory based on artistic solutions proposed by futurists. It analyzes the innovative prose techniques of Nowa Sztuka (New Arts) artists, clashing them with contemporary and current philosophical trends. It shows that the prose of B. Jasieński, A. Wat, A. Stern and other futurists is still an important experience of the literary and literature-scientific self-consciousness.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze public discussion on the place of the artist Nergal in Polish society (or outside of this society). This discussion has significantly expanded the present context of the tabloidization of political stage and the dimension of politicality. As indicated by Chantal Mouffe, modern politicality is played out in the "moral register". The conflict between "right and left" wing is replaced by the "struggle between good and evil". Politicians have 'used' a private individual, or the artist-celebrity - Adam Darski, to create a powerful social dichotomy, dividing society into good, religious, Catholic believers who condemn the staged artistic expression of the Behemoth band and the bad, non-religious, non-Catholic non-believers who are indifferent to how religious symbols are used. What is peculiar is the fact that this discussion took place in the opinion-forming press on the one hand and in tabloids and gossip services on the other. This undoubtedly demonstrated the tabloid-like dimension of the Polish political stage, which has been observable for some time now, although all sides were convinced they were acting as a defender of Polish democracy.
Synchronous alter-ego. Doubling and alternative in the work of Neurosis and Tribes of Neurot
This paper concerns at "doubleness" in work of Neurosis and Tribes of Neurot. The activity of both groups seems to be simultaneous: the same artists in the both bands, the same names of their albums, the same trakclists, similar cover designs suggest to treat it not as different ventures but as a significant dual artistic project. Parallel between simultaneous albums of Neurosis and Tribe of Neurot makes an impression of disturbing presence of unclear alterego in their music.
Was being the wife of Witkacy, Gombrowicz, Mrozek or Milosz a joy or a burden? Who were the women who stood alongside these charismatic creators? We know them as great artists. They got to know all shades of their personality - from the brightest to the darkest. Living in the shadow of famous husbands, they faced their weaknesses, fears and addictions every day. They endured their whims, forgave their betrayals, including homosexual ones, and cured depression. The wives of outstanding Polish writers with respect, but also the lack of political correctness characteristic of his literature, are portrayed by Slawomir Koper.
The poet who failed his best play? Speaking subject in the tracks of Nightwish in the face of the romantic paradigm
The article gives an insight into the problem of lyrical subject in songs recorded by Nightwish, along with the myth of the damned poet led by the group's leader, Tuomas Holopainen, and romantic concepts of poetry, love and nature. It raises issues of autobiography and authenticity of artists, as well as the multidisciplinary narrative in rock music led on literary, iconic and musical levels. This text focuses primarily on the early Nightwish songs, the Century Child concept album and the End of an Era concert as the last live performance of Nightwish with Tarja Turunen as the lead singer.
