An Exhibition That Did Not Happen? Allan Kaprow in Warsaw
Filip Lipiński
filip.lipinski@amu.edu.plInstitute of Art History, Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4806-2281
Abstract
The article concerns a hitherto never discussed visit of the American artist Allan Kaprow, the pioneer of artistic happening, to Poland in April 1976. Kaprow was to stage an exhibition/activity entitled Activity-Model at the Foksal Gallery. It is not clear to what extent the planned project came to fruition other than that the American artist gave a lecture at the Dziekanka Gallery. However, the recently discovered materials and correspondence between Wiesław Borowski, Kaprow and Inge Baecker, the owner of a German gallery that represented him, shed new light on the potential course of events, which seems different from what is suggested by, for instance, Borowski’s earlier accounts. In the shadow of Kaprow’s visit there emerges an almost sensational aspect, involving a meeting between Kaprow and Tadeusz Kantor in Cracow and, above all, Baecker’s plans to acquire Kantor’s works for her gallery in Bochum. The aim of this article is therefore to attempt to put the facts in order and to reconstruct, at least in part, the American artist’s visit and to establish the motivations of all the persons involved. The case study discussed here is also intended as a contribution to the current expanding research on artistic contacts between the Eastern Bloc and the so-called West, especially the United States, during the Cold War period.
Keywords:
Allan Kaprow, happening, Foksal Gallery, Cold War, Tadeusz KantorReferences
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Authors
Filip Lipińskifilip.lipinski@amu.edu.pl
Institute of Art History, Adam Mickiewicz University Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4806-2281
Filip Lipiński PhD (habil.) is a professor of the Adam Mickiewicz University, a historian of art and a specialist in American Studies, employed at the Department of Art History of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. His research focuses on modern and contemporary art, especially American art. His books include Ameryka. Rewizje wizualnej mitologii Stanów Zjednoczonych (2021) and Hopper wirtualny. Obrazy w pamiętającym spojrzeniu (2013). He received grants from, among others, the Fulbright Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Kosciuszko Foundation. He is the deputy editor-in-chief of the “Artium Quaestiones” academic journal and a translator of scholarly texts.
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