Action Art as a Way of Emancipation. Women's Performance Art Practices in the Context of the Totalitarian Regime Based on Communist Ideology and the Young Democracy in Poland
Action Art as a Way of Emancipation. Women's Performance Art Practices in the Context of the Totalitarian Regime Based on Communist Ideology and the Young Democracy in Poland

Summary/Abstract: I wrote this article from the perspective of an artist involved in feminism and performance art. My research method connects my theoretical background on art history studies and my practical experience as female artist in Polish social, political and artistic realities. I focus on the position of women artists and their artistic activity in the contexts of the changing political situation. I introduce Polish women artists who were active on the art scene from the seventies until today in the field of performance art. I am also trying to answer the question what the women artists of my generation have in common with their 'artistic grandmothers.' The last part of the text focuses on what has been already achieved and what still needs to be done for women's emancipation both in artistic as well socio-political life. The aim of this article is also to familiarize foreign readers with the specific status of women in the process of the changing of the political situation in Poland that took place after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. In the period of the new democracy, especially during last two decades, performance art pieces by Polish women artists became more rebellious. Since 2016, the course of Polish politics has become more populistic, conservative and democracy is in danger again, and this also badly affects women’s rights and their position in the society.

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