Trudna kohabitacja. Problemy ekspozycji okresu Odwilży (1955-1960)

Abstract

Exhibiting is usually shaped by different factors such as characteristic features of the exposed pieces of art, accommodation, policy of a “gallery”, designer’s (painter’s, interior designer’s, and less frequently stage designer’s) imagination. The sketch makes an attempt at analysing the most interesting cases of artistic exhibitions from three regions of southern Poland: Cracow, Zakopane and Rzeszów during the period of Thaw. At that time artists and exhibition designers, escaping the dictatorship of soc-realism doctrine, learnt how and where to expose their ideas in public. Their fundamental achievement was such a placement of exhibited objects that an interesting arrangement of the gallery interior could be reached with independence and legibility of each single item. Few such projects succeeded, mainly in Cracow. What contributed to the success was the designer’s talent, his/her creativity combined with particular physical means. It was a period during which only selected and usually young people tried to overcome bad exhibiting traditions of previous generations. For them, the kind of works did not play a major role although a new wave of abstract painting and experimental sculpture compositions during the period of Thaw was a signal to view the problem in new light. With an increasing number of exhibits and their versatility, the demand for exhibition rooms grew as well. That was why acquiring extra space for the implementation of fresh ideas had a positive impact on new designers.