PUBLIC LECTURES WITHIN THE COURSE COUNTER-CULTURES AND POWER DURING STATE SOCIALISM, 1960-1990
Underground Art, Subcultures and the State in Late Socialist Poland
Guest:
Patryk Wasiak
This lecture aims to show how institutional actors within the power structure of the state “cultural apparatus” in late socialist Poland actively supported activities of contemporary visual art scene (conceptualism, performance, mail-art) and music subcultures (heavy-metal and punk). Such extensive support was possible because all aforementioned artistic trends and music cultures became “normalized” in the discursive model of the “participation in culture.” Youth organizations actively incorporated cultural trends of the global 1970s and 1980s and managed to show their consistency with official principles and cultural values promoted by such institutional actors which we could view as main state “transmission belts” for youth culture.
Patryk Wasiak (1978) holds MA titles in sociology and art history (Warsaw University) and PhD in cultural studies (Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities). He wrote a PhD thesis on transnational contacts of visual artists within the Soviet bloc. Further he pursued research on social aspects of computerization in state socialist Poland. Former fellow of the Volkswagen Foundation, the Center for Contemporary History Potsdam, the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Study, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Currently he works on a second book on consumer electronics and social identities of Poles during the period of system transition of year 1989.