Co robi łączniczka is one of the most important books in Polish culture of the past twenty-five years. It is an attempt to look at the Uprising from another point of view – a literary and artistic perspective that brings the gender and erotic themes to the foreground. The subversive, post-modern strategies seem to have worked surprisingly well in relation to one of the central topoi of Polish history. The book entered the historical debate coinciding with the foundation of the Warsaw Uprising Museum in 2004, expressing a voice that was in opposition to the official, inflated historical policy that celebrates subsequent anniversaries and reinforces a one-dimensional martyrological myth. Co robi łączniczka, which mixes a kind of appropriation art with broken up prose, refers to the legends of the Uprising as circulated verbally, describing the thanatic and erotic tension accompanying the young fighters, their passionate love affairs, and the Uprising vows. Libera – to a larger extent than Foks – not just joined the debate on the seventieth anniversary of the Uprising, but also, thanks to Co robi łączniczka, came closer to the academic circles involved in new historiography. In this regard, a book created as a work of art may be treated as a voice in the discussion over memory, post-memory, affective memory, trauma, and so on.
At first sight, the book looks inconspicuous, but was thought out in every detail. Libera's coarsely rasterized photomontages, the form of the book resembling budget polygraphy (thin offset paper), and its grey cover with the title printed in the traditional typographic technique stand out in comparison to the typical publishing style of the time. Even though Libera's photomontages, all black and white – only occasionally complemented with a simple newspaper colour referring to magazine covers – resemble analogue technique, they were edited digitally, and deliberately left distinctly pixelated. This fusion of conventions is a conscious stylization. This is not a photoreportage of the Uprising, but a collection of the most beautiful female icons, of confessive, soft-porn images assembled by teenagers and examined at night, under the covers with a torch in hand. For Libera, it is supposedly also a nostalgic return to childhood, and a critical reassessment of the clichés of the past.
photographs: Zbigniew Libera
text: Darek Foks
graphic design: Justyna Kucharczyk (cover and title pages), Zbigniew Libera
publisher: Ars Cameralis Sileslae Superioris, Katowice
year of publication: 2005
volume: 132 pages
format: 21 x 16 cm
cover: paperback, glue bound
print run: unknown
ISBN 83-922555-0-X