Subjective Photography in Polish art 1956 – 1969

The concept of “subjective photography” in the exhibition’s title is to be understood symbolically. It was taken from the name of the exhibition from 1968, organized in Cracow by Zbigniew Dłubak and Zbigniew Łagocki. The artists used it in reference to the international movement of subjective photography created in the 50s by Otto Steinert. The movement’s goal was to place a new emphasis on an individual photographer’s creativity. The exhibition shows how artists-photographers used the properties of light and technological possibilities to gradually bridge artificially defined boundaries between the different areas of art. The presented works refer to the selected avant-garde events in art which had a significant influence on contemporary photography during the post socialist realism period in Poland. As photography explored the concepts of formal composition and structure parallel to other art-forms it became as closely tied to sculpture or painting as to film or video. Photography became an essential form of expression in modern art.

Biographical note of curator

Anna Zagrodzka

A media artist, curator, an author of the publications: “Subjective photography in Polish art 1956 – 1969” (Fotografia subiektywna w sztuce polskiej 1956 – 1969) (Labirynt Gallery, Lublin 2016); “The rhythm of common sense” (Rytm chłodnego rozsądku) in: „NOT.FOT. Władysław Hasior’s photographic notebook” (Tatra Museum, Zakopane 2017). She had apprenticeship in Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester Museum and Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw.