THE IMAGE OF ART BETWEEN IDEOLOGY AND MODERNITY. ELBLĄG BIENNALES OF SPATIAL FORMS IN 1960’S POLAND

Abstract

In 1965 Gerard Kwiatkowski and Marian Bogusz organized the fi rst of the Spatial Forms Biennales in Elbląg – a city based in the so-called “Recovered Territories”. Selected artists, supported by ZAMECH mechanical plant and with the permission of the communist authorities, created several dozen huge metal sculptures known as “Spatial Forms”. This was the biggest experiment combining art and industry in Poland or even in Europe. The aim of the article is to juxtapose the role of this phenomenon, namely how the creators of the Biennales found a balance between artistic freedom and political limitations, these limitations were forced upon the artists in a way that might prompt one to recall, Foucault’s manner of “discipline” (Foucault, 1973). The author of the article also touches upon the question of the contemporary view of the Elbląg Biennale from the perspective of the avant-garde myth of social and collective participation in artistic creation.