Niewidzialna Sztuka. Niezależne Działania Artystyczne w Koszalinie w Latach Osiemdziesiątych Dwudziestego Wieku i Ich Konsekwencje
Invisible Art. Independent Artistic Activities in Koszalin in the 1980s and Their Implications

Summary/Abstract: The text presents selected artistic events, related to the so called “independent movement” in the 1980s, in the former Koszalin Voivodeship. The author, quoting Jerzy Busza, emphasizes that the adopted artistic attitudes at that time constituted “a great triumph of normality over the abnormalities and burdensome inconveniences of everyday life,” in the period of Martial Law and after it. After Janusz Zagrodzki, the creator of the term ‘Private Art’ [Sztuka Prywatna], the author draws attention to the aspect of the functioning of ‘Pitch-in Culture’ [Kultura Zrzuty] in the private and unofficial zones, and following the thesis of Józef Robakowski, to the sense of an individual and independent attitude as a superior element for the creation of art. The first independent initiative of artists from the Koszalin area was a three-day event After a Year [Po Roku], organized cyclically from 1982 to 1988 in mid-December, led by Andrzej Ciesielski and Andrzej Słowik. Artists invited from all over the country were to present their current achievements. Artistic Carol, Without a Slogan [Kolęda Artystyczna, Bez Hasła], organized on February 10-12 in Koszalin, 1984, was a response to the invitation of Koszalin artists to the Lodz’s Pilgrimage organized a year earlier. It was the largest manifestation of the independent art movement in the region. The organizers were people participating in the Łodz event: Ewa Kowalska, Grażyna Bogusz Wolska, Andrzej Ciesielski and Stanisław Wolski. In all, 85 people from all over the country were invited, besides, many uninvited people came to the event on their own initiative, connected, among others, with the Pitch-in Culture [Kultura Zrzuty] movement. For the Koszalin community, the openair activity was also important, which was still related to the tradition of the Plein-Airs in Osieki organized since 1963, and ended after the introduction of Martial Law in 1981. This situation was to be changed by a series of open-air workshops organized under the slogan ‘We invite you to work’ in 1987-1989 in Karlino, and in 1990 in Darłowo. The initiators and first artistic commissioners were Andrzej Słowik and Maria Idziak, who in 1989 handed over this function to Wojciech Zamiara, and in 1990 to Andrzej Ciesielski. The gallery At The Rectory [Na Plebanii] by Andrzej Ciesielski was also important for the functioning of the Koszalin community in the national artistic community. In the years 1986-1990, 34 meetings were held as part of its activities. He continued his work at the next My Archive Gallery [Galeria Moje Archiwum], operating in the years 1993-2001. These initiatives, as well as many others undertaken in the 1980s, combined the extraordinary energy and unconventional courage of the participants. However, they did not result only from the confrontation with the political situation then, but, as in previous decades, from the immense value that permeates the spirit of art - the need for freedom.

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