Vortrag: The romanticism in the context of contemporary Polish art on the Holocaust
20 November 2013 - 20 November 2013 18:00 Uhr Greifswald, Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald Martin-Luther-Straße 14
The romanticism in the context of contemporary Polish art on the
Holocaust
Some contemporary artists from Poland have shown a keen interest in issues related to recent history, especially the Second World War era, Nazi crimes, the Holocaust and anti-Semitism. Artists have been questioning the realm of collective memory, history, identity and their meaning for the present. Some of them as Mirosław Bałka, Elżbieta Janicka, Karolina Freino, Rafał Jakubowicz ask about the »scars of history « and the »ghosts of the past«.
Their works can be interpreted in the context of the Dominick LaCapra’s task of critical history. He suggested employing art in the process of mourning and preparation for a symbolic burial, treating it as inherent acts of working trough traumatic past. However some artistic interpretations of Shoah can be read as romantic. It is especially seen in works evoking memory of places and focusing on nature. They are characterized by special aura and beauty – mourning, sad, melancholic, gloomy and uncanny. These works appear as ambivalent, because they reveal kind of fascination by the Holocaust.
On the other hand such art can be seen as fulfilling a symbolic burial. Prof. Izabela Kowalczyk (Ph.D.) – an art and cultural historian, art critique and curator, a professor at The School of Humanities and Journalism in Poznań, Poland.
Some contemporary artists from Poland have shown a keen interest in issues related to recent history, especially the Second World War era, Nazi crimes, the Holocaust and anti-Semitism. Artists have been questioning the realm of collective memory, history, identity and their meaning for the present. Some of them as Mirosław Bałka, Elżbieta Janicka, Karolina Freino, Rafał Jakubowicz ask about the »scars of history « and the »ghosts of the past«.
Their works can be interpreted in the context of the Dominick LaCapra’s task of critical history. He suggested employing art in the process of mourning and preparation for a symbolic burial, treating it as inherent acts of working trough traumatic past. However some artistic interpretations of Shoah can be read as romantic. It is especially seen in works evoking memory of places and focusing on nature. They are characterized by special aura and beauty – mourning, sad, melancholic, gloomy and uncanny. These works appear as ambivalent, because they reveal kind of fascination by the Holocaust.
On the other hand such art can be seen as fulfilling a symbolic burial. Prof. Izabela Kowalczyk (Ph.D.) – an art and cultural historian, art critique and curator, a professor at The School of Humanities and Journalism in Poznań, Poland.