ART AT HIGH NOON! WORKSHOPS FOR SENIORS
Subject: Curious cases of three social posters from 1981 and 1989
Presented by: Jerzy Brukwicki

The lecture addresses the role and importance of art in social life. Timed to coincide with the anniversary of the free, democratic elections of 4 June 1989 and the exhibition “Włocławki” presented at the Municipal Gallery bwa in Bydgoszcz, it recalls the unique events associated with three posters: two from 1981, the third published eight years later. The first – designed by Cezary Zuber, an outstanding glass artist – metaphorically depicts the situation in the People’s Republic of Poland after many years of communist rule at the threshold of the social and political changes brought about by the workers’ strikes in August 1980 and the establishment of the Solidarity Trade Union. It became an object of political manipulation by the propaganda of the time. The second, by Katarzyna Dobrowolska, an artist from Gdańsk – printed on the occasion of the 1st National Congress of Delegates of the Solidarity Trade Union – was also manipulated and distorted by ‘unknown’ perpetrators. The third, ‘At High Noon on June 4th 1989,’ by Tomasz Sarnecki, a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, became a symbol of the success of Polish society in the long struggle of the democratic opposition for political and systemic change, a new social and economic order in the country. The poster includes a very interesting Sarnecki family story. In 1999, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum recognised Tomasz Sarnecki’s work as one of the 100 most important posters of the 20th century.

Jerzy Brukwicki (1945) – art critic, curator of exhibitions, journalist. Long-standing head of the “Pokaz” Critics’ Gallery in Warsaw. In the 1980s, author of several dozen independent exhibitions, including “Polska Pieta”, “Czas smutku, czas nadziei”, “Obecność”, “Przeciw złu, przeciw przemocy”, “Rocznice”, Solidarność posters; editor and publisher of the independent culture magazine Wybór, editor of the underground social weekly Przegląd Wiadomosci Agencyjnych (PWA), co-worker of the publishers NOWA, Przedświt, Pokolenie. He has organized many exhibitions of contemporary Polish art in Polish and foreign museums and galleries. Author of texts on art and artistic events (e.g. “Exit,” “LOT Kaleidoscope,” “Pokaz,” “Kunstmarkt,” “Polish Culture,” “Reklama,” “Rondo Europa,” “Spotkania z Warszawą,” “Warszawski Informator Kulturalny,” “culture.pl,” portalmini.eu.)
Admission free

Art in the High Noon
A series of meetings devoted to art and culture in a broad sense, addressed to people aged 60+.

03.06.2024, 12:00
Gdańska 20