Syndicate: NEW VIDEO ART IN POLAND

["Ryszard W. Kluszczynski" <rwk@krysia.uni.lodz.pl>]

Ryszard W. Kluszczynski

NEW POLAND  -  NEW VIDEO
Some reflections on Polish video art since 1989


Introduction
First video works in Poland, both tapes and installations, were made in
1973. Due to various reasons [1] the main interest was aimed at qualities
of a new medium, at the possibilities of its artistic expression.
Television was also in focus, in spite of the fact that video was
recognised as a separate medium. Polish video artists claimed their
detachment from TV. This stance, maintained until the end of the eighties,
was more of ideological than artistic character. As Jozef Robakowski - the
major figure in media art in Poland - wrote in 1976: "Video art is entirely
incompatible with the utilitarian character of that institution
(television), it is the artistic movement, which through its independence,
denounces the mechanism of the manipulation of other people." [2] This is
also why numerous Polish video artists dealt with relationship between the
reality, its audiovisual representation and the spectator. They aimed to
reveal the relative character of perception, and the resulting
possibilities of manipulating the reception. 
	Analytic character of Polish video art in the seventies was extended into
the eighties. In that decade, however, the other tendency was becoming more
and more important. Artists, like Izabella Gustowska [3], Zbigniew Libera
and Jerzy Truszkowski stressed the significance of emotions and their
irrational sources, emphasised the intuitive and spontaneous character of
art activities. Polish video became thus very personal and subjective, and
video performance took the dominant position among different types of video
expression.

Beginnings of the new video - prehistory of new Poland (1987-89)
The symptoms of the new wave in Polish video art appeared for the first
time in the works made by Yach Paszkiewicz together with a group of four
other artists [4] - all together known as "Yach-Film" group - and in tapes
by Krzysztof Skarbek. All those videos were made in the end of the eighties
(1987-89). The artists graduated academies of fine arts (Torun and
Wroclaw), and this background provided their works with the special
interest in visual, pictorial qualities of a video tape. Dominance of
expression upon reflection, spontaneous game-like creation upon work with
concentration, loosing the interest in theoretical considerations on the
nature of medium, these are fundamentals for the new video in Poland.
Artists composing this new wave did not treat the medium of video in a very
purist way. Yach Paszkiewicz and his group worked on the border of film and
video. He was shooting on Super 8 film and transferring onto magnetic tape.
In his case relationship between video and music was evident. His later
career as a musical videoclip maker seems to be a consequence of the
previously made artistic decisions. Krzysztof Skarbek brought into video
art his previous film experiences, and connected video with musical
performance and concert. The space of Skarbek's activities is the world of
ritual, para-magical behaviours. Vital expression of his works is a vehicle
for his previous reflection on reality in its different aspects. The
artist's commentary to his tape Nasz prêdki beton-Aront (Our Quick
Concrete-Aront) from 1989 - a very important work for the development of
the new video art in Poland - shows his position very clearly:
"The action is laid in a 'New industrial Village'. 
People practising their rituals in masks and holy colours accept the severe
unapproachable reality they live in. They try to accustom themselves to it
by means of magic activities.
The film reveals that what effects our senses in extremities i.e.
Promethean Struggle, Rebellion, Heroism, Good Humour. CONCRETE
structures-modules are like holy statues - ALTARS or the primitive Bush.
Secular powers crash together love and prevalence here." [5]
Works of Krzysztof Skarbek and of those artists who are under his strong
influence (like Magorzata Kazimierczak) show how important role in the
development of the new wave of Polish video played Zbigniew Libera and
Jerzy Truszkowski with their video from mid-eighties.

New Institutions
The political changes, which began in Poland  in 1989, brought with them
new perspectives but also new limitations and dangers. The sphere of
culture lost its financial security guaranteed by the state in previous
decades. As usually, increase of freedom was counterpointed with decrease
of security. The position of artists became financially more and more
difficult. In such a situation a very important thing was to establish some
institutions both independent and financed by the state, which would
guarantee further development of video art.
One year before the beginning of a new political situation in Poland (in
1988) I founded, in Lodz, the Polish Video Art Data Bank, a non-profit
organisation for media culture. Since then several programs presenting
video art were organised in Poland and abroad. In 1989 the first edition of
WRO - International Sound Basis Visual Art Festival was organised in
Wroclaw (Piotr Krajewski, Violetta Krajewska, Zbigniew Kupisz). After three
annual appearances the festival is working as biennial now. In 1990 I
founded Film & Video Department in The Centre for Contemporary Art -
Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw. In the CCA, besides regular video
presentations, an annual international festival of experimental cinema and
video art is held, as well as various media art exhibitions. In 1994 the
first video festival in Lublin took place. When we add presentations of
video art traditionally organised in galleries since the seventies, we can
see that the Polish video art productions has many opportunities to be
presented. 
The audience of video increased rapidly also because of the television
programs on media art. 
I have already written in other place [6] that a change of attitude towards
television had great importance for the developement in the field of video.
Television, which was for many years considered to be a tool of propaganda
and therefore treated as the enemy, has lately gained a certain quality of
neutrality. As a result, independent artists stopped rejecting television.
On the contrary, there have appeared independent art initiatives trying to
make use of public television, trying to treat it as a medium of artistic
creation, or as a mean of distribution. Not only artists, like Jozef
Robakowski or Lodz-Kaliska Group, have an opportunity to present their
programs on TV. There are also special programs on media art (late in the
night) where the viewers can meet the newest Polish works as well as
international media art productions.
Taking all this into account we can say that Polish video makers have quite
many possibilities to have their works presented in Poland. As for
international context the efforts of mine as well as those of Piotr
Krajewski from WRO also made Polish video art quite well known in the world.

New Wave Artists
There are much more artists dealing with video now than ten years before.
Of course, some of them are very beginners, and their works are pretty
immature. They compose, however, very strong background for the future
developement of video art in Poland. Several young artists, however,  have
already gained the high quality level of art production. Jan Brzuszek,
Barbara Konopka, Miroslaw Emil Koch, Maciej Walczak, Wojciech Zamiara have
already gained international reputation [7]. Their works refer to
individual sensibility of each artist, and construct a paradigm consisting
of both scraps of personal biography and elements of the universal,
symbolic-archetype of collective memory. 
	Besides those already established artists mentioned above the youngest
generation is rising. Marek Wasilewski represents quite cool but in the
same time very sensitive, and in many cases very humoures  poetics. His
interest in theoretical aspects of video art makes his art close (but in a
very specific way) to analytic video. Piotr Wyrzykowski puts into focus the
problem of the body with its various connotations, and in the same time he
is very much occupied with the problems of interactivity. Anna Kuczynska
and Katarzyna Radkowska introduce into the Polish video problems connected
with gender and femininity. "The Lyyying Community" present deconstructive,
aggressive, dadaist-like attitude towards problems of video form,
communication and aesthetics. Jacek Szleszynski and Cezariusz Andrejczuk
develop computer animation forms. Jan Koza makes specific
folk-poetry-animation-video. The variety of genres and forms makes the
Polish video art nowadays very rich and polymorphic.

Footnotes
[1] See R. W. Kluszczynski, Avant-garde Film and Video in Poland. An
Historical Outline, [in:] The Middle Of Europe. The festival of avant-garde
films and video from Austria, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, Centre
for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, ed. R. W. Kluszczynski, Warsaw
1991, p. 52-73
[2] J. Robakowski, Video art - szansa podejscia rzeczywistosci, [in:] idem,
Wypisy ze sztuki, Lublin 1978, p. 28
[3] See R. W. Kluszczynski, With Our Falling Asleep Death is Lurking in the
Shadows. Impressions and thoughts noted after Izabella Gustowska's
exhibition "Dreams" at the State Art Gallery at Sopot, "Exit. New Art in
Poland", Quarterly No2, 1994, April-June, p. 750-753
[4] Dorota Podlaska, Bombela Kuich, Andrzej Kuich, Andrzej Wasik
[5] K. Skarbek, Przywitala mnie z ta swoja sprytnie sloneczna mina, ktora
jej sam namalowalem. Malarstwo - przedstawienie muzyczne - film video
[catalogue], BWA Gallery, Legnica1992, p. 36
[6] R. W. Kluszczynski, Advantages Of Being Independent, "New
Observations", No 91, September/October, 1992, p. 16-17
[7] See R. W. Kluszczynski, Video Art in Poland. An Historical Outline,
[in:] Ostranenie. 1. International Video Festival at the Bauhaus Dessau,
catalogue ed. by I. Arns and E. Tharandt, pp. 148-152.