The Jewish Historical Institute’s latest exhibition is a selection of works by contemporary artists who embrace the problem of hate-speech as their main theme and their common enemy. The exhibition shows how art can respond to football chants, offensive graffiti and many other manifestations of the intolerance surrounding us.
Due to the recent increase of homophobic acts and attitudes in Poland – earlier this year, a Tatar mosque in Kruszyniany was spray-painted with offensive slogans, and an anti-Roma article was published in Gazeta Wrocławska - the exhibition Hate Speech – I Exclude Exclusion presented at the Jewish Historical Institute has proved to be a timely initiative. Both events occurred after the opening of the exhibition.
One of the organisers, the anti-fascist movement Never Again Association, or Stowarzyszenie Nigdy Więcej, monitors the occurrence of such racist, xenophobic and discriminatory incidents. They note such events in Brown Book, excerpts of which are published on a regular basis in Never Again's online magazine and on the association’s website. Brown Book is published in book form as well.
Hate Speech – I Exclude Exclusion logically complements the previous exhibition Alien and Unpleasant, showcasing anti-Semitic drawings from the interwar Polish Press.
Read about the exhibition.
Along with works of acclaimed artists such as Wilhelm Sasnal, Anna Baumgart, Radek Szlaga and Zuzanna Janin, works by art school students from Poland which won the contest organised by the Jewish Historical Institute and Never Again have been presented at the exhibition. Read more here.
Different approaches, different strategies
Wilhelm Sasnal, one of the most internationally acclaimed Polish painters, explained his untitled 2010 piece:
I wanted to show the impotence of the swastika, a sense of embarrassment for Nazis who identify with the idea of male strength. They are ashamed of being weak so they hide their weaknesses underneath their swastikas, explains the artist.
Kamil Kuskowski’s Antisemitism Uprooted series are white-painted walls with dark inscriptions showing through onto the surface, as if slogans on the walls were covered over. Anti-Semitic themes continue to show through the surface in spite of all efforts to dislodge them, comments the author.
One of the best known young Polish artists, Radek Szlaga, commented on his exhibited painting Race:
Race is about post-colonial issues which the West needs to tackle; it is about racism and reverse racism in declining towns and symbols which have been devalued, it is about Detroit and the flag. I’ve portrayed it from a sort of Darwinist perspective.
Another approach and another medium of expression was used by Konard Pustoła in his sound art dubbed Homies. The artist compiled bits of anti-Semitic texts, modifying them at the same time in order to completely change the final effect and the context of hate speech.
In turn, the starting point for Katarzyna Kucharska’s A Song-Book of a Real Polish Man was the case of anti-Semitic chants at Lech Poznań Stadium, which was eventually closed by the Prosecutor’s Office in Poznań.
Even though fans of Lech Poznań were screaming: “Jews get out! Go home to Auschwitz! Off to the gas!”, the prosecutor decided it was not a crime as it was being addressed to the opponent team’s fans, not Jews, explains Kucharska.
The artist analysed lyrics of actual stadium chants and gathered them in the form of a song-book. A Song-book of a Real Polish Man is placed in a transparent foil bag, like the ones used by police for securing evidence.
The jury valued the unconventional concept, revealing irony and thorough research work.