British British Polish Polish. Art from Europe's Edges in the Long 90s
The starting point of this richly illustrated catalogue was to show the unique simultaneous bloom of contemporary art in the UK as well as in Poland at the turn of the eighties and nineties, often associated with Young British Art and Polish Critical Art. Their representatives, in a direct manner, undertook basic human questions – life and death, sex and violence, ethics and politics – thereby provoking lively and important discussions in their countries, and also involving the media, which helped to transform contemporary art in the UK and Poland from a niche field – arousing interest only for the privy as it would seem – into the broader popular culture. This process was taking place during rapid economic and social changes in both countries: in Britain it was the Big Bang, caused by the sudden deregulation of financial markets in 1986; in Poland, there was the turbulent process of the political transformation after the fall of communism in 1989.
→ Polish version of the catalogue is also available.
