alternative forms of education
alternative lifestyles and resistance of the everydays
avant-garde, neo-avant-garde
censorship
conscientious objectors critical science
democratic opposition
emigration/exile environmental protection
ethnic movements
film
fine arts folk culture
human rights movements
independent journalism
literature and literary criticism media arts
minority movements music national movements party dissidents
peace movements philosophical/theoretical movements
popular culture
religious activism
samizdat and tamizdat
scientific criticism social movements
student movement surveillance
survivors of persecutions under authoritarian/totalitarian regimes
theatre and performing arts
underground culture
visual arts
women's movement
youth culture
applied arts objects
artifacts
cartoons & caricatures
clothing equipment
film
furniture
graphics grey literature
legal and/or financial documentation manuscripts memorabilia
music recordings
other other artworks
paintings
photos publications
sculptures video recordings voice recordings
“Kowalnia” is the popular name of professor Grzegorz Kowalski's Studio of Audiovisual Space at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Kowalski, a creator of installations and performer, has been its leader since 1984, drawing from the modernist tradition in which he was educated, and the communal, countercultural experiences of his own artistic activity. The studio gained popularity in the 1990s as a forge of the stars of the art world and of some of the most controversial figures in Polish “critical art”. The archive, maintained by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, includes photo and video documentation of the studio's activity, as well as its manifestos, exhibition catalogues and issues of a zine published by students.
The collection of 1,476 paintings in water-colours by Kurts Fridrihsons made during his imprisonment in the Gulag in 1951-1956 is only part of the 3,500 artworks he produced during his time in the Gulag. A part of works depict Gulag camp and its environments, but the most of them reflect associations with literature and drama, and are testimony of artist's effort to dissociate himself from atmosphere of the camp and to sustain his intellectual interests.
KwieKulik is the name of an artistic duo formed by Zofia Kulik and Przemysław Kwiek. For twenty years they created performance, conceptual and process art, with politically engaged and critical undertones. Simultaneously, since the late 1960s, they regularly documented the artistic life of Poland, focusing on ephemeral phenomena. Currently the KwieKulik Archive is an enormous set of visual and film materials, publications, and works of art. By Zofia Kulik’s effort it was converted into an archive-piece, a collection which itself became a work of art.