The talk will focus on Polish photography today. The marginalisation of traditional associations, crisis and change in the definition of festivals, and even the creation of new models of photographic institutions are all part of the new institutional landscape of Polish photography. The rapid changes that began in the 2010s were accelerated by the Covid epidemic and the war in Ukraine. The speech will be an attempt to describe the changes in the field of cultural production, changes affecting museum workers, curators, collectors, academic lecturers and photographers themselves. It’s a look at the institutional landscape from the perspective of the manager of an informal photo club, a private micro-institution with an interesting library and growing ambitions. To avoid boredom, during the speech I will show the latest achievements of living masters, such as Tadeusz Rolke, Wojciech Plewinski and Józef Robakowski, as well as acomplished artists of the middle generation, such as Rafał Milach, Joanna Piotrowska, Aneta Grzeszykowska and Weronika Gęsicka. The AI experiments of Nicolas Grospierre, Robert Kuśmirowski, Igor Pisuk and Szymon Rogiński will be contrasted with the return to analogue of Aga Sejud and Sophie Thun, the activism of Diana Lelonek and Tytus Szabelski, and the activities of commercial stars Sonia Szostak and Zuza Krajewska. The talk as a whole will allow you to form an opinion on the condition of Polish photography and potential prospects for the future.

Adam Mazur (PL) is an art historian, curator, and assistant professor at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznań. Author of multiple articles and books on the history of Polish and Central European photography. In 2019, the Krakow-based Universitas publishing house published his "Mutilated World. Histories of Photography in Central Europe 1838-2018". In 2023 together with Vilma Samulionyte and Natalia Zak curated an exhibition "Litwa. Two Centuries of Photography" at the International Centre of Culture in Krakow. In 2024 curated „Images Falling From the Sky –Helsinki School of photography” at the State Gallery in Sopot. Currently running a venue in Lodz (Hilary Majewski House), where he curated, among others, "Botanizerka" by Dovile Dagiene and „Good Grief” by Przemek Dzienis (both 2024).



Participant: Adam Mazur (PL)
Language: English
Image: Piotr Uklański (PL), "Untitled (Chopin’s Grief)", 2018