DemCP Open Research Lecture - Prof. Dr. JÖRG SCHELLER (Zurich University of the Arts): Alienation-building. Counterintuitive Art Initiatives Against Culture Wars in Contemporary Poland

This lecture presents and discusses artistic and cultural projects in contemporary Poland that use unorthodox means to oppose the rampant top-down polarization between, roughly speaking, internationally oriented left-wing liberals and nationally oriented right-wing conservatives. The strategically fueled culture wars in the country often articulate themselves in diagnoses of alienation, combined with calls for a return to a supposedly authentic (national) culture, or in diagnoses that denounce tradition itself as the source of alienation and social misery. Artists such as Daniel Rycharski in Sierpc and Jana Shostak in Poznan, foundations such as the Borderland Foundation in Sejny/Krasnogruda, galleries such as the Gallery of Contemporary Sacred Art in Kielce, and urban-activists-turned-politicians such as Franciszek Sterczewski in Poznan avoid the temptation to counter polarization with even more polarization. Instead, they use counterintuitive means—such as conventional fashion shows as a stage for feminist messages or avant-garde art in remote rural areas—to overcome dualisms and create third spaces where it becomes possible to not completely resolve conflicts or overcome alienation, but to transform them creatively by combining tradition and innovation, thereby contributing to the likelihood of “positive peace” (Johan Galtung).

This DemCP Open Research Lecture is open for all members and students of the Faculty of Arts. The event is free, but please register here.