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Abstract
Abakans emerged in the 1960s in the Eastern Bloc and made Magdalena Abakanowicz famous beyond the Iron Curtain. The purpose of this article is to present a contemporary art framework for reassessing and reviving the revolutionary capacities of Abakans. To do that, the article asks what makes Abakans revolutionary art? What makes them groundbreakers and what makes them path-makers? What blueprint have we (contemporary artists) inherited (knowingly or unknowingly) from Abakans for responding to the revolutionary new phase of the planet’s cycle, the Anthropocene? In response to these questions, the article is divided into three sections based on the past, present, and future through which the author’s personal reflections entwine with artistic, theoretical, cultural, economic, ecological, spiritual, and socio-political contexts. What arises is that Abakans are one of the most original radical bodies of work of the twentieth century that offer forward-looking strategies for recuperating the damaged planet.
Notes
1. Conversation with Diana Wood Conroy via email in late October 2017.
2. Most likely my family heard about it on Radio Free Europe (RFE), a US government-funded broadcasting organization that, unlike local censored programs, transmitted information about anti-communist insurgent movements and protests.
3. Writer William Grimes writes “it was an unhappy time. Socialist Realism, the only approved style, ran counter to her experimental tendencies” (Grimes Citation2017).
4. Abakans also shifted away from the Russian inspired avant-garde art form of Constructivist geometric abstraction underpinned by utopian visions of ideal life and harmonious society, which was popular amongst leading Polish avant-garde artists. Clearly, Abakans were a far cry from any of their well-established predecessors.
5. Artnet News: 10 of Our Favorite Living Revolutionary Artists in Honor of Bastille Day. These artists are changing the conversation. https://news.artnet.com/market/10-revolutionary-artists-storming-art-world-bastille-day-316822
6. Abakanowicz told The New York Times in 1992 “In Poland it was almost forbidden to talk about mystery, I did.” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/arts/design/magdalena-abakanowicz-sculptor-of-brooding-forms-dies-at-86.html
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Agnieszka Golda
Agnieszka Golda is an artist and Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Arts at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She holds a PhD (Creative Practice), MVA (Research) and BA in Textile Design. Her research explores the intersection of installation art, slow textiles, material science, and ecology. In 2017, she undertook a research fellowship at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney. Golda collaborates with artist Martin Johnson to produce installation projects that draw from their research in Poland and Japan.