Bad News

A collection of texts accompanying the exhibition organised by Magdalena Ujma and Joanna Zielińska in consequence of the reflection on the status of beauty. As the curators write in the introductory text: "Contemporary beauty has turned out to be allied if not with evil, then at least with melancholy, depression and nostalgia. Images of bad events and catastrophes turned out to be the places of its occurrence. They emphasise the aestheticisation of the image of bad events, characteristic of mass culture, the disappearance of truth in favour of aesthetics and politics, a protest against the violence of the media image.

The exhibition aimed to trigger discussion about the complex relationship between politics and art. The organisers were accused of insulting religious feelings after exhibiting the Rubber Guar Group's work You are all faggots, which depicts Benedict XVI holding the severed, bleeding head of Elton John. A criminal notice has been filed with the prosecutor's office, launching right-wing media attacks on the Chronicle. The Bad News exhibition was a reminder that art not only meets politics, but can face threats of sanctions because of it. In her text We are all victims, Lidia Krawczyk outlines definitions of the mass media based on the tumultuous commotion that surrounded the exhibition.

The catalogue includes a brief discussion of the work of individual artists and interviews conducted with them by: the exgirls group, Sebastian Cichocki, Jire Ptacek, Marta Tychmanowicz and Bogna Świątkowska.


Editors: Sebastian Cichocki, Izabela Jasinska | Texts: Sebastian Cichocki, Lidia Krawczyk, Ewa Majewska, Marek Wasilewski, Jiři Ptaček, Stanisław Ruksza, Sean Snyder, Bogna Świątkowska, Marta Tychmanowicz, Magdalena Ujma & Joanna Zielińska | Translation: Katarzyna Wrzyciel, Wioletta Stolarska | Graphic design, typesetting: Hakobo.art.pl | CSW Kronika, Bytom 2006

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