Sztuka w Zielonej Górze po 1981 roku

Abstract

Art in Zielona Góra after 1981

Zielona Góra is a city in western Poland with a very strong visual art milieu that has been developing since the 1950’s. During the period of 1963–1981 there was a cyclical exhibition named ‘Złote Grono’ (‘Golden Grape’). Its originator, Marian Szpakowski (1926–1983) was an artist and curator, who put Zielona Góra on the Polish cultural map. His followers – Zenon Polus (1953–2013) and Zbigniew Szymoniak (born 1957) – created the Biennale Sztuki Nowej (New Art Biennale), which in the years 1985–1996 was one of the very few major nationwide artistic events. Thanks to the efforts of Zenon Polus and others, the Visual Art Institute was established in 1991, within today’s Uniwersytet Zielonogórski (University of Zielona Góra). Some graduates of the Institute became nationally recognised, well-known artists. The formation of the artistic school and its essential impact on the local milieu became a part of the idea of constructing the identity of the city through contemporary art. BWA, the municipal art gallery, is in that sense one of the most important contemporary art galleries in Poland, while still serving the local artistic scene at the same time. This paper gives a synthetic recapitulation of the specificity of the sphere of contemporary art presentation in Zielona Góra.