Gender Check - ERSTE Stiftung

Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe 

Gender Check is an impressive 

research project of fundamental 

importance. Carried out by 

a research team led by the 

exhibition’s curator, Bojana Pejić, 

a review of the art of twenty four 

European countries transforming 

from communism has produced 

material that is sensational 

in many respects. The curator 

examines the way the image of 

the man and the woman has 

evolved in the art of this part of 

Europe — both the way the body 

is represented as well as the 

perception of the roles men and 

women have in life and of gender 

relations. But the very attempt to 

simply describe reality revealed 

a number of complications. First, 

the choice of the exhibition’s title. 

The curators in Vienna adopted 

an English phrase, Gender Check, 

with the subtitle ‘Femininity and 

Masculinity in the Art of Eastern 

Europe’. Translating the term 

‘gender’ into Polish remains a difficult 

task, as evidenced by the 

fact that in Poland the academic 

discipline that deals with the 

subject of gender continues to 

be denoted by the English term 

‘gender studies’ rather than any 

Polish-language equivalent. Using 

the term płeć kulturowa (which is 

the nearest translation of ‘gender’ 

into Polish) would require an 

explanatory comment longer than 

the subtitle itself, which is why 

we decided to use a ‘battle-cry’ 

formula: Gender? Check! We hope 

that the emotive title inspires 

and stimulates a debate about the 

issues we are trying to signal here. 

But that was only the beginning 

of trouble, because already the 

Gender Check 

20 III – 13 VI 2010 

subtitle presented another hurdle, 

which was agreeing on the name 

of the geographical region that 

the exhibition covers: east-central 

and southern Europe. Then came 

the complex job of standardising 

the spelling of last names in the 

region’s different alphabets, and 

finally the work of establishing 

a chronology of the last 50 years’ 

turning points, differently defined 

in each country. All that proved 

a daunting task, but, nonetheless, 

a fascinating and important one. 

Gender Check is an exhibition 

about people towards other 

people in the context of politics, 

at the intersection of tradition, 

doctrine and irrepressible individualism. 

It is an important step 

on the road towards self-knowledge 

and self-definition in culture. 

That is why, despite financial and 

organisational difficulties, we 

decided that it was very important 

for the Zachęta National Gallery 

of Art to show it. 

The exhibition was originally 

commissioned by ERSTE Foundation, 

an institution par excellence 

Western, and its first presentation 

took place at the Museum 

Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig 

Wien in Vienna. During the threeday 

conference accompanying the 

exhibition, many speakers raised 

the issue of the identity and 

self-definition of artists from the 

former Eastern bloc and societies 

that have been through communism 

and the equally unique 

experience of post-communist 

transformation. Is applying 

theories and measures created for 

the modern and postmodern art 

of the West to the art of this area 

methodologically justified and 

ethically right? Is this not a form 

of colonisation? In Warsaw, the 

exhibition will gain a somewhat 

different context, which does 

not mean that the names of the 

participating artists and their 

works will be better known to 

Polish viewers than to those in 

Austria. Doubtless, however, they 

will be perceived differently and 

filtered through a different kind of 

experiences. 

The Zachęta is in itself a gendered 

place: I am the third consecutive 

woman director running the institution, 

the entire curatorial team 

of which is comprised by women. 

In its exhibition programme, the 

Zachęta pays a lot of attention 

to gender issues and as a policy, 

puts emphasis on discovering, 

bringing back from oblivion and 

showing in new light the art made 

by women. It is at the Zachęta 

that the unique exhibition took 

place of a forgotten star of the 

1960s and 1970s, Alina Ślesińska, 

whose art, once widely known 

and officially propagated, had to 

be reconstructed from reproductions 

and scraps of newsreel; 

the exhibitions of sculptor 

Barbara Zbrożyna, painter Wanda 

Paklikowska-Winnicka, installation 

artist Ewa Kuryluk, and the 

earlier major presentations of 

Katarzyna Kobro, Alina Szapocznikow, 

and Maria Jarema. Besides 

monographic shows of Polish 

women artists, we also presented 

major exhibitions of foreign ones: 

Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, 

Niki de Saint Phalle, and soon, 

Annette Messager. Different works 

by many artists featured in Gender 

Check have already been presented 

at the Zachęta on various 

occasions. 

The issues of gender performativity 

and transgression are central 

to the work of Katarzyna Kozyra, 

an artist that Zachęta has closely 

collaborated with for many years 

and whose retrospective we 

are currently preparing. Aldona, 

a project by Piotr Wysocki, shown 

at the Zachęta a couple of years 

ago, was a courageous penetration 

of those areas of life where the 

problems of gender transgression, 

usually associated with the 

colourful bohemia and Pedro 

Almodovar films, are grappled 

with by ordinary people. Gender 

issues are present in most group 

exhibitions shown at the Zachęta, 

demonstrating their continued 

importance for artists from 

various parts of the world. Never, 

however, has a thematic show 

of this size and prepared by an 

international team of specialists 

been presented in Poland before. 

Due to the project’s unique nature 

and the important issues it deals 

with, we have done our very 

best to prepare a comprehensive 

educational programme to 

accompany the exhibition. It will 

include numerous film screenings, 

discussion panels and meetings 

with artists. We are interested 

in creating a platform for a free 

exchange of views and a meeting 

point for various communities 

interested in art and its role in 

creating an open, tolerant and 

better world. I am very happy 

that our invitation to participate 

in this programme has met with 

a sympathetic response from 

the representatives of various 

communities and different 

generations. 

I thank Mr Edelbert Köb, director 

of the Museum Moderner Kunst 

Stiftung Ludwig in Vienna, for the 

possibility to participate in this 

project. On this occasion, I wish 

to warmly thank our infallible 

friend, Dr Rainer Fuchs, who has 

for a number of years now sat 

on the Zachęta Programming 

Committee and works with us 

on creating and evaluating our 

institution’s plans. I thank the 

project’s initiator, ERSTE Foundation, 

for an outstanding idea and 

making it happen in Vienna, as 

well as for supporting the show 

in Warsaw. Thanks are due in 

particular to Mr Andreas Treichl, 

chairman of the board of ERSTE 

Foundation, and Ms Christine 

Böhler, director of Programme 

Culture, ERSTE Foundation. 

I thank the team responsible for 

preparing the exhibition and its 

catalogue, and especially Bojana 

Pejić, whose professionalism and 

talent I honestly admire. We owe 

her a particular debt of gratitude 

for enthusiastically taking up the 

task of arranging the exhibition 

in the Zachęta space. I thank the 

Ministry of Culture and National 

Heritage which, in recognition of 

its importance, agreed to financially 

support the project. 

Agnieszka Morawińska 

Director, 

Z a c h ę t a N a t i o n a l 

Gallery of Art 

V l a d o M a r t e k _ I D o n ’ t W a n t I t _ 1 9 7 9 _ o b j e c t , h e i g h t 2 9 c m _ c o u r t e s y o f C o l l e z i o n e Z a t t o n i 

Introduction 

_ 1

artists 

2_ 

Artists 

• 

• 

• Abakanowicz Magdalena (Poland) born 1930 in Falenty, lives and works in Warsaw 

• Abramović Marina (Serbia) born 1946 in Belgrade, lives and works in Amsterdam and New York 

• Agolli Rovena (Albania) born 1976 in Tirana, lives and works in Monterey, USA 

• Anđelić-Galić Gordana (Bosnia and Herzegovina) born 1949 in Mostar, lives and works in Sarajevo 

• Antoshina Tatyana (Russia) born 1959 in Krasnoyarsk, lives and works in Moscow 

• Arakelyan Anita (Armenia) born 1964 in Yerevan, lives and works in Yerevan 

• Arevshatyan Arevik (Armenia) born 1957 in Yerevan, lives and works in Yerevan 

• Baba Corneliu (Romania) 1906–1997. Born in Craiova, Romania, lived and worked in Bucharest 

• Bajević Maja (Bosnia and Herzegovina) born 1967 in Sarajevo, lives and works in Sarajevo, Berlin 

and Paris 

• Balčus Arnis (Latvia) born 1978 in Riga, lives and works in Riga and London 

• Baranovici Ana (Moldova) 1906–2001. Born in Tighina, lived and worked in Chişinãu 

• Bartuszová Mária (Slovakia) 1936–1996. Born in Prague, lived and worked in Prague 

• Vika Begalska (Ukraina) born 1975 w Dnepropietrowsk, lives and works in Moscow 

• Benczúr Emese (Hungary) born 1969 in Budapest, lives and works in Budapest 

• Beqiri Sokol (Kosovo) born 1964 in Pejë, lives and works in Pejë 

• Bereś Jerzy (Poland) born 1930 in Nowy Sącz, lives and works in Cracow 

• Berhidi Mária (Hungary) born 1953 in Budapest, lives and works in Budapest 

• Bočkayová Klára (Slovakia) born 1948 in Martin, lives and works in Bratislava and Stupava 

• Brǎtescu Geta (Romania) born 1926 in Ploieşti, lives and works in Bucharest 

• Brendel Micha (Germany) born 1959 in Weida / Thüringen, lives and works in Berlin 

• Brković Ozana (Montenegro) born 1975 in Podgorica, lives and works in Podgorica 

• Bromová Veronika (Czech Republic) born 1966 in Prague, lives and works in Prague 

• Bubelytė Violeta (Lithuania) born 1956 in Vilnius, lives and works in Vilnius 

• Čapovska Violeta (Macedonia) born 1967 in Skopje, lives and works in Melbourne 

• Chernysheva Olga (Russia) born 1962 in Moscow, lives and works in Moscow 

• Chisa Anetta Mona (Slovakia) born 1975 in Nadlak, Romania, lives and works in Bratislava and Prague 

• Chkadua Eteri (Georgia) born 1965 in Tbilisi, lives and works in New York; Kingston, Jamaica 

and Tbilisi 

• Chogoshvili Levan (Georgia) born 1953 in Tbilisi, lives and works in Tbilisi 

• Croitoru Alexandra (Romania) born 1975 in Bucharest, lives and works in Bucharest 

• C.U.K.T (Poland) Robert Mikołaj Jurkowski, Maciej Sienkiewicz, Rafał Ewertowski, Jacek Niegoda, 

Piotr Wyrzykowski, Artur Kozdrowski (established in 1995, acts in Gdańsk) 

• Daučíková Anna (Slovakia) born 1950 in Bratislava, lives and works in Bratislava 

• Delimar Vlasta (Croatia) born 1956 in Zagreb, lives and works in Zagreb 

• Dér András (Hungary) born 1954 in Budapest, lives and works in Budapest 

• Dopitová Milena (Czech Republic) born 1963 in Sternberk, lives and works in Prague 

• Drozdik Orshi (Hungary) born 1946 in Abda, lives and works in Budapest and New York 

• Dzividzinska Zenta (Latvia) born 1944 in the district of Code, lives and works in Riga 

• Eperjesi Ágnes (Hungary) born 1964 in Budapest, lives and works in Budapest 

• Falender Barbara (Poland) born 1947 in Wrocław, lives and works in Warsaw 

• Fangor Wojciech (Poland) born 1922 in Warsaw, lives and works in Warsaw 

• Filová Eva (Slovakia) born 1968 in Bratislava, lives and works in Bratislava 

• Fischer Vera (Croatia) 1925–2009. Born in Zagreb, lived and worked in Zagreb 

• Gábor Imre (Hungary) born 1960 in Dunaújváros, lives and works in Budapest 

• Gabriel Else (Germany) born 1962 in Halberstadt, lives and works in Berlin 

• Galántai György (Hungary) born 1941 in Bikacs, lives and works in Budapest 

• Gelguda Ugnius (Lithuania) born 1977 in Vilnius, lives and works in Vilnius 

• Gerlovina Rimma (Russia) born 1951 in Moscow, lives and works in New York 

• Gerlovin Valery (Russia) born 1945 in Moscow, lives and works in New York 

• Georgieva Alla (Bulgaria) born 1957 in Kharkov, Ukraine, lives and works in Sofia 

• Gorlova Lyudmila (Russia) born 1968 in Moscow, lives and works in Moscow 

• Górna Katarzyna (Poland) born 1968 in Warsaw, lives and works in Warsaw 

• Gotovac Tomislav (Croatia) born 1937 in Sombor, Serbia, lives and works in Zagreb 

• Grigorescu Ion (Romania) born 1945 in Bucharest, lives and works in Bucharest 

• Grīnbergs Andris (Latvia) born 1946 in Riga, lives and works in Riga 

• Group F.F.F.F. (Estonia) Kaire Rannik, Kristi Paap, Berit Teeäär, Ketli Tiitsar, Maria Valdma 

1996–2005, members of the group live and work in Tallinn 

• Grubić Igor (Croatia) born 1969 in Zagreb, lives and works in Zagreb 

• Gržinić Marina (Slovenia) born 1958 in Rijeka, Croatia, lives and works in Ljubljana and Vienna 

• Gustowska Izabella (Poland) born 1948 in Poznań, lives and works in Poznań 

• Gyenis Tibor (Hungary) born 1970 in Pécs, lives and works in Budapest 

• Hadžifejzović Jusuf (Bosnia and Herzegovina) born 1956 in Prijepolje, Serbia, lives and works in 

Sarajevo and Antwerp 

• Hajas Tibor (Hungary) 1946–1980. Born in Budapest, lived and worked in Budapest 

• Hampel Angela (Germany) born 1956 in Räckelwitz, lives and works in Dresden 

• Harxhi-Koci Merita (Kosovo) born 1969 in Pejë, lives and works in Prishtina 

• Heinrihsone Helēna (Latvia) born 1948 in Riga, lives and works in Riga 

• Iltnere Ieva (Latvia) born 1957 in Riga, lives and works in Riga 

• Iveković Sanja (Croatia) born 1949 in Zagreb, lives and works in Zagreb 

• Jabłońska Elżbieta (Poland) born 1970 in Olsztyn, lives and works in Bydgoszcz 

• Kalentz Armine (Armenia) 1920–2007, lived and worked in Yerevan, Aleppo, Syria and Beirut, Lebanon 

• Kaljo Kai (Estonia) born 1959 in Tallinn, lives and works in Tallinn 

• Kamerić Šejla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) born 1976 in Sarajevo, lives and works in Sarajevo 

and Berlin 

• Keserü Ilona (Hungary) born 1933 in Pécs, lives and works in Pécs 

• Khomenko Olesya (Ukraine) born 1980 in Kiev, lives and works in Kiev 

• Kobro Katarzyna (Poland) 1898–1951. Born in Moscow, lived and worked in Łódź 

• Kobzdej Aleksander (Poland) 1920–1972. Born in Olesko, Ukraine, lived and worked in Warsaw 

• Kolářová Běla (Czech Republic) born 1923 in Terezin, lives and works in Prague and Paris 

• Korņetskis Mihails (Latvia) 1926–2005, lived and worked in Riga 

• Korolkiewicz Łukasz (Poland) born 1948 in Warsaw, lives and works in Warsaw 

• Kovshar Anna (Belarus) born 1977 in Minsk, lives and works in Minsk and Prague 

• Kovylina Elena (Russia) born 1971 in Moscow, lives and works in Moscow 

• Kozyra Katarzyna (Poland) born 1963 in Warsaw, lives in Warsaw and Berlin 

• Krasauskas Stasys (Lithuania) 1929–1977. Born in Kaunas, lived and worked in Vilnius 

• Krašovec Metka (Slovenia) born 1941 in Ljubljana, lives and works in Ljubljana 

• Kulik Zofia (Poland) born 1947 in Wrocław, lives and works in Łomianki 

• Kuryluk Ewa (Poland) born 1946 in Krakow, lives and works in Paris 

• Ladik Katalin (Serbia) born 1942 in Novi Sad, lives and works in Budapest 

• Lahovsky Stjepan (Croatia) 1902–1989. Born in Donji Miholjac, lived and worked in Zagreb 

• Lapin Leonhard (Estonia) born 1947 in Räpina, lives and works in Tallinn 

• Lehocká Denisa (Slovakia) born 1971 in Trenčín, lives and works in Bratislava 

• Liankevich Andrei (Belarus) born 1981 in Grodno, lives and works in Minsk 

• Libera Zbigniew (Poland) born 1959 in Pabianice, lives and works in Prague and Warsaw 

• LN Women’s League (Latvia) LN sieviešu līga (Latvian National Women’s League Project) was founded 

in 1997. Curator of the Project: Inga Šteimane. Members: Ingrīda Zābere, Ilze 

Breidaka, Kristīne Keire, Izolda Cēsniece, Silja Pogule 

• Logar Lojze (Slovenia) born 1944 in Mežica, lives and works in Ljubljana 

• Logina Zenta (Latvia) 1908–1983. Born in Riga, lived and worked in Riga 

• Makhukov Oleksandr (Ukraine) 1911–1996. Born in Lugansk, lived and worked in Lugansk 

• Māliņa Sarmīte (Latvia) born 1960 in Anīkste, lives and works in Riga 

• Maliqi Dren (Kosovo) born 1981 in Prishtina, lives and works in Prishtina 

• Mamyshev-Monroe Vladislav (Russia) born 1969 in Leningrad, lives and works in Moscow 

• Mamzeta Monika (Poland) born 1972 in Warsaw, lives and works in Warsaw 

• Margit Anna (Hungary) 1913–1991. Born in Budapest, lived and worked in Budapest 

• Martek Vlado (Croatia) born 1951 in Zagreb, lives and works in Zagreb 

• Marušič Živko (Slovenia) born 1945 in Colorno, Italy, lives and works in Koper 

• Matić Goranka (Serbia) born 1949 in Maribor, Slovenia, lives and works in Belgrade 

• Mattheuer Wolfgang (Germany) 1927–2004. Born in Reichenbach / Vogtland, lived and worked in Leipzig 

• Maurer Dóra (Hungary) born 1937 in Budapest, lives and works in Budapest and Vienna 

• Michelkevičiūtė Snieguolė (Lithuania) born 1953 in Kaunas, lives and works in Kaunas 

• Mikhailov Boris (Ukraine) born 1938 in Kharkov, lives and works in Berlin and Kharkov 

• Mlčoch Jan (Czech Republic) born 1953 in Prague, lives and works in Prague 

• Modzelewski Jarosław (Poland) born 1955 in Warsaw, lives and works in Warsaw 

• Mozūraitė-Klemkienė Jadvyga (Lithuania) born 1923 in Kaunas, lives and works in Kaunas 

• Mulliqi Muslim (Kosovo) 1934–1998. Born in Gjakova, lived and worked in Prishtina 

• Mujezinović Ismet (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 1907–1984. Born in Tuzla, lived and worked in Tuzla 

• Mutsu Marju (Estonia) 1941–1980. Born in Tallinn, lived and worked in Tallinn 

• Natalia LL (Lach Lachowicz) (Poland) born 1937 in Żywiec, lives and works in Wrocław 

• Nagy Kriszta (Hungary) born 1972 in Szolnok, lives and works in Budapest 

• Neagu Paul (Romania) 1938–2004. Born in Bucharest, lived and worked in London 

• Németh Hajnal (Hungary) born 1972 in Szony, lives and works in Berlin 

• Németh Ilona (Slovakia) born 1963 in Dunajská Streda, lives and works in Dunajská Streda 

• Nerkararyan Arax (Armenia) born 1960 in Gyumri, lives and works in Gyumri/Yerevan 

• Niesiołowski Tymon (Poland) 1882–1965. Born in Lwow, Ukraine, lived and worked in Vilnius and Thorn 

• Nikšić Damir (Bosnia and Herzegovina) born 1970 in Sarajevo, lives and works in Stockholm 

• OHO Group (Slovenia) David Nez, Milenko Matanovič, Drago Dellabernardina, 1966–1971, acted 

in Ljubljana 

• Ostojić Tanja (Serbia) born 1972 in Užice, lives and works in Berlin 

• Pągowska Teresa (Poland) 1926–2007. Born in Warsaw, lived and worked in Warsaw 

• Paripović Neša (Serbia) born 1942 in Belgrade, lives and works in Belgrade 

• Partum Ewa (Poland) born 1945 in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, lives and works in Berlin 

• Pauer Gyula (Hungary) born 1941 in Budapest, lives and works in Budapest 

• Pauļuka Felicita (Latvia) born 1925 in Riga, lives and works in Riga 

• Pavićević Milija (Montenegro) born 1950 in Cetinje, lives and works in Cetinje 

• Perjovschi Lia (Romania) born 1961 in Sibiu, lives and works in Bucharest 

• Petrović Zora (Serbia) 1894–1962. Born in Dobrica, lived and worked in Belgrade 

• Petrova Galina (Lithuania) born 1927 in Astrakhan, Russia, lives and works in Vilnius 

• Pinińska-Bereś Maria (Poland) 1931–1999. Born in Poznań, lived and worked in Kraków 

• Põder Anu (Estonia) born 1947 in Kanepi, lives and works in Tallinn 

• Pogačar Tadej (Slovenia) born 1960 in Ljubljana, lives and works in Ljubljana 

• Preda Sânc Marilena (Romania) born 1955 in Bucharest, lives and works in Bucharest 

• Prvulović Nadežda (Serbia) born 1930 in Dubrovnik, Croatia, lives and works in Richmond and 

New York 

• Qehaja Nurhan (Kosovo) born 1981 in Prishtina, lives and works in Prishtina 

• Radić Jelena (Serbia) born 1978 in Pančevo, lives and works in Belgrade 

• Raidpere Mark (Estonia) born 1975 in Tallinn, lives and works in Tallinn 

• Rakauskaitė Eglė (Lithuania) born 1967 in Vilnius, lives and works in Vilnius 

• RASSIM (Bulgaria) born 1972 in Orehovitsa, lives and works in Sofia 

• Rosenstein Erna (Poland) 1913–2004. Born in Lwow lived and worked in Kraków and Warsaw 

• Rossa Boryana (Bulgaria) born 1972 in Sofia, lives and works in Sofia and Troy, USA 

• Rousseva Lilyana (Bulgaria) 1932–2009. Born in Ruse, lived and worked in Sofia 

• Roussev Svetlin (Bulgaria) born 1933 in Pleven, lives and works in Sofia 

• Rožanskaitė Marija Teresė (Lithuania) 1933–2007. Born in Linkuva, lived and worked in Vilnius 

• Runge Sirje (Estonia) born 1950, lives and works in Tallinn 

• Rusu-Ciobanu Valentina (Moldova) born 1920 in Chişinãu, lives and works in Chişinãu 

• Sadovskaia Varvara (Moldova) born 1922 in Suhaya Greblya, Ukraine, lives and works in Chişinãu 

and St. Petersburg 

• Ságlová Zorka (Czech Republic) 1942–2003. Born in Humpolec, lived and worked in Prague 

• Sakulowski Horst (Germany) born 1943 in Saalfeld, lives and works in Weida 

• Sala Anri (Albania) born 1974 in Tirana, lives and works in Paris and Berlin 

• Šaltenis Arvydas (Lithuania) born 1944 in Klevėnai, lives and works in Vilnius 

• Sambolec Duba (Slovenia) born 1949 in Ljubljana, lives and works in Trondheim, Norway 

• Sauka Šarūnas (Lithuania) born 1958 in Vilnius, lives and works in Dusetos, Lithuania 

• Schlegel Christine (Germany) born 1950 in Crossen, lives and works in Dresden 

• Schleime Cornelia (Germany) born 1953 in Berlin (East), lives and works in Berlin 

• Shkololli Erzen (Kosovo) born 1976 in Pejë, lives and works in Prishtina and Berlin 

• Šimotová Adriena (Czech Republic) born 1926 in Prague, lives and works in Prague 

• Sinkó Károly (Hungary) 1910–1967. Born in Budapest, lived and worked in Budapest 

• Skade Fritz (Germany) 1898–1971. Born in Döhlen near Dresden, lived and worked in Dresden 

• Skudutis Mindaugas (Lithuania) born 1948 in Antagavė, lives and works in Vilnius 

• Skulme Džemma (Latvia) born 1925 in Riga, lives and works in Riga 

• Šmid Aina (Slovenia) born 1957 in Ljubljana, lives and works in Ljubljana 

• Sobczyk Marek (Poland) born 1955 in Warsaw, lives and works in Warsaw 

• Šonta Virginijus (Lithuania) 1952–1992. Born in Panevėžys, lived and worked in Kaunas and Vilnius 

• Stančič Zora (Slovenia) born 1956 in Štrbe, Bosnia and Hercegovina, lives and works in Ljubljana 

• Stilinović Sven (Croatia) born 1956 in Zagreb, lives and works in Rijeka 

• Stötzer Gabriele (Germany) born 1953 in Emleben, lives and works in Erfurt and Utrecht 

• Stupica Gabrijel (Slovenia) 1913–1990. Born in Dražgoše, lived and worked in Ljubljana 

• Szabó Ágnes (Hungary) born 1969 in Győr, lives and works in Budapest 

• Szapocznikow Alina (Poland) 1926–1973. Born in Kalisz, lived and worked in Paris 

• Szenes Zsuzsa (Hungary) 1931–2001. Born in Budapest, lived and worked in Budapest 

• Szépfalvi Ágnes (Hungary) born 1965 in Budapest, lives and works in Budapest 

• Szilas Győző (Hungary) 1921–1998. Born in Újpest, lived and worked in Budapest 

• The Factory of Found Clothes (Russia) Gluklya — Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya born 1968 in Leningrad, 

Tsaplya — Olga Egorova born 1968 in Khabarovsk, founded in 1996 by Gluklya. 

They live and work in St. Petersburg 

• Tihemets Evi (Estonia) born 1932 in Tapa, lives and works in Tallinn 

• Tkáčová Lucia (Slovakia) born 1977 in Banská Štiavnica, lives and works in Bratislava 

• Todosijević Raša (Serbia) born 1945 in Belgrade, lives and works in Belgrade 

• Tolj Slaven (Croatia) born 1964 in Dubrovnik, lives and works in Dubrovnik 

• Tomašević Jelena (Montenegro) born 1974 in Podgorica, lives and works in Podgorica 

• Tomić Milica (Serbia) born 1960 in Belgrade, lives and works in Belgrade 

• Tralla Mare (Estonia) born 1967 in Tallinn, lives and works in Tallinn and London 

• Ujj Zsuzsi (Hungary) born 1959 in Veszprém, lives and works in Budapest 

• Urbonas Gediminas (Lithuania) born 1966 in Vilnius, lives and works in Vilnius; Trondheim, Norway 

and Boston 

• Urbonas Nomeda (Lithuania) born 1968 in Kaunas, lives and works in Vilnius; Trondheim, Norway 

and Boston 

• Vainstein Moysey (Ukraine) 1940–1981 born in Donetsk region, lived and worked in Kiev 

• Vangeli Žaneta (Macedonia) born 1963 in Bitola, lives and works in Skopje 

• Varl Petra (Slovenia) born 1965 in Ljubljana, lives and works in Ljubljana and Maribor 

• Vashkevich Ruslan (Belarus) born 1966 in Minsk, lives and works in Minsk 

• Válová Jitka (Czech Republic) born 1922 in Kladno, lives and works in Kladno 

• Veiverytė Sofija (Lithuania) 1926–2009. Born in Naujatrobiai, lived and worked in Vilnius 

• Vesović Mio (Croatia) born 1953 in Gornja Dobrinja, lives and works in Zagreb 

• Woisnitza Karla (Germany) born 1952 in Rüdersdorf, lives and works in Berlin 

• Wójcik Julita (Poland) born 1971 in Gdańsk, lives and works in Gdańsk 

• Womacka Walter (Germany) born 1925 in Obergeorgenthal, Czech Republic, lives and works in Berlin 

• Yudin Oleksandr (Ukraine) born 1934 in Moscow, Russia, lives and works in Kiev 

• Zaretzky Viktor (Ukraine) 1925–1990. Born in Sumy region, lived and worked in Kiev 

• Zariņa Aija (Latvia) born 1954 in Saukas of Jēkabpils, district, lives and works in Riga 

• Zariņš Indulis (Latvia) 1929–1997. Born in Riga, lived and worked in Riga 

• Żebrowska Alicja (Poland) born 1956 in Zakopane, lives and works in Kraków 

• Želibská Jana (Slovakia) born 1941 in Olomouc, Czech Republic, lives and works in Bratislava 

• Ziegler Doris (Germany) born 1949 in Weimar, lives and works in Leipzig 

• Žvegelj Janja (Slovenia) born 1967 in Ljubljana, lives and works in Ljubljana

I Floor_ 

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pArt II_ 

GEndEr ChECk. 

FEMInInIty 

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In thE Art 

oF EAstErn EuropE_ 

pArt I 

Gender Check is the first comprehensive 

survey of Eastern 

European art dealing with gender 

roles. Showcasing more than 200 

artists, who employ a variety of 

media, and covering a time-span 

of about half a century, Gender 

Check paints a diverse picture of 

a chapter of art history which 

until now has remained largely 

unknown. 

Twenty years after the fall of the 

Berlin Wall, the exhibition traces 

the changes in the representation 

of male and female gender 

roles via thematically organized 

sections. In early examples of 

Social Realistic art the ‘heroes 

and heroines of labour’ are 

practically ubiquitous. These 

depictions of male and female 

workers illustrate the communist 

rulers’ claim that they were 

building a gender-neutral society 

— a claim that in unofficial art 

from that period is exposed as 

a lie. After an era dominated by 

the collective utopian visions 

imposed by the state, there 

followed a long period — lasting 

right up to the end of communism 

— when, with many 

regional differences and hobbled 

by a great many setbacks, 

individualism and liberalism 

found precarious footholds, 

pArt III_ 

making possible the free spaces 

required for non-conformist art 

to flourish. From the 1970s on, 

this growing self-confidence is 

reflected in a new focus on the 

body and in an openly flaunted 

sexuality that calls into question 

heterosexual norms and heroic 

ideals of masculinity. With the 

fall of the Berlin Wall and the 

subsequent ascendancy of consumerism, 

new freedoms were 

gained which, however, were accompanied 

by neo-conservative 

constraints with regard to gender 

roles. Chauvinism, militarism 

and hostility towards minorities 

are some of the negative facets 

of the post-communist era that 

the artists presented here cast 

a critical light on. 

1_prIVAtE rEAlItIEs, 

pErsonAl rEsIstAnCEs 

The family with its inherent 

heterosexual normativity is a 

topic much favoured by official 

socialism. Where those artists 

who were excluded from the 

official art discourse did address 

this issue at all, they tended 

to set off the private, domestic 

sphere against the gender 

roles imposed by the state. A 

critical stance towards socialist 

power and communist ideology 

could also find an outlet in the 

deconstruction of the official 

rituals by means of which the 

state celebrated itself. The artists 

1_ 2_ 3_ 

cast a bilious glance at stateorganized 

mass events or they 

take up a decidedly anti-militarist 

position, pointing out the 

problematic nature of the army 

and the madness of the arms race. 

2_hEroInEs oF Work: 

EMAnCIpAtIon 

And dIsContEnt 

Ever since the days of the October 

Revolution, women’s liberation 

occupied a prominent place on 

the communist agenda. When 

after the end of World War II the 

communist parties seized power 

in the countries of Eastern Europe, 

women’s position in society was 

improved in various ways. Yet despite 

bringing in a number of 

seminal laws — women’s right to 

vote, equal rights at work, access 

to (higher) education and paid 

maternity leave — the communist 

rulers did not get even close to 

resolving the ‘women question’. 

The exhibition features a number 

of paintings extolling women 

as ‘heroines of socialist labour’. 

Other works, however, suggest 

that even though a new age 

seemed to be dawning as far as 

women’s political and economic 

status was concerned, things did 

not in truth change all that much. 

Thus, in some of the exhibits 

a discontent about having from 

now on to carry the double burden 

of public and domestic work finds 

eloquent expression. 

1_Boris Mikhailov (Ukraine), from the Suzi et cetera cycle, 1960s’, photograph, courtesy of the artist © VBK Wien, 2009 

2_Michails Korneckis (Latvia), Let’s Go Girls, 1959, oil on canvas, coll. The Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga © Normundus Braslins 

3_Wojciech Fangor (Poland), Figures, 1950, oil on canvas, coll. Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi © Wojciech Fangor 

4_Galina Petrova (Lithuania), Women, Cleaning Fish, 1969, synthetic tempera on canvas, coll. Lithuanian Art Museum, Vilnius © Galina Petrova 

5_Sanja Iveković (Croatia), Personal Cuts, 1982, video, 3’40”, coll. Generali Foundation Collection, Wien © Sanja Iveković 

pArt I_ 

_soCIAlIst 

IConosphErE 

3_WoMEn At Work, 

MEn At Work 

The first section of the exhibition 

comprises works dealing with 

various aspects of everyday life 

and social reality in early state 

socialism. In the late 1940s, 

when the communist regimes 

in Eastern Europe were already 

firmly established, the new rulers 

set out to combat traditional 

gender structures by introducing 

a number of egalitarian policies. 

Thus, women were encouraged 

to enter professions that until 

then had been exclusively male 

domains. The ideal of a genderneutral 

working environment 

of work was duly celebrated in 

a number of ‘official’ paintings 

in which men and women could 

be seen working harmoniously 

side by side. It was during the 

era of Socialist Realism that this 

utopian vision had its heyday, 

but it lived on all through the 

1970s. Yet the paintings and 

sculpture of socialist realism do 

not only testify to the special value 

accorded to labour in socialist 

societies. The sheer diversity in 

the depiction of their protagonists 

also provides evidence that in 

spite of all the efforts made by the 

communist authorities they did 

not quite succeed in establishing 

homogenous, one-size-fits-all 

models of femininity and 

masculinity. 

4_ 

5_ 

4_rEMAkInG thE pAst 

AFtEr 1989 

After 1989, the socialist past was 

revised or completely rewritten 

in paintings, photographs and 

videos. In some of these works, 

the past is seen through the lens 

of autobiography, family histories 

and childhood memories. In 

others, the communist army discipline 

is made a laughing-stock 

of by showing naked soldiers who 

indulge in dancing and heavy 

drinking. Some works aim at exposing 

the oppressive role played 

by the state apparatus with its 

methods of surveillance, control 

and persecution. The wars in 

ex-Yugoslavia and the disintegration 

of this state form the subject 

of videos that juxtapose images 

of a peaceful past with images 

of the catastrophes wrought 

by war-mongering ideologists. 

Another thematic section is 

about female anti-fascist activists 

and partisans who died in World 

War II: celebrated as national 

saints under communism, they 

were cast into collective oblivion 

after 1989. 

_Socialist Iconosphere 

_ 3

I Floor_ 

_Negotiating Personal Spaces 

4_ 

pArt I_ 

5_ 

6_ 

7_ 

GEndEr ChECk. 

FEMInInIty 


In thE Art 


pArt II 

In the 1970s and 80s many artists 

turned to exploring the private 

sphere, a withdrawal that is both 

symptom of and comment on the 

social reality they were confronted 

with. While painting certainly remained 

the most popular medium, 

the growing importance of body 

art and performances was accompanied 

by an increased interest in 

photography, film and video both 

as artistic and documentary media. 

These technologies were often 

used to underline the processual 

aspect of art and call into question 

the time-honoured notion of the 

autonomous and self-contained 

work of art. 

5_rEprEsEntInG 

WoMEn: lAtEnt 

FEMInIsM Vs. old 

stErEotypEs 

The emancipation from the 

traditional media made it possible 

to redefine femininity with 

complete disregard for the then 

prevalent norms of representation. 

The artists increasingly turn to 

the private sphere which to many 

was the only space of freedom. 

While some of the works exhibited 

here reproduce the old, socially 

constructed stereotypes of an ideal 

femininity, other, more progressive 

positions are informed by what 

one might call a gentle feminist 

resistance. Only very few artists 

working in that period opted for 

taking up a decidedly feminist 

8_ 

pArt III_ 

pArt III_ 

stance. The subject of motherhood 

is treated in an intimate, sober, 

non-heroic manner, while female 

sexuality is seen from a fresh 

perspective that breaks with the 

cliché of female passivity. Portraits 

of both male and female friends 

from the art scene give us access 

to the artists’ immediate personal 

environment. In connection with 

a newly awakened self-confidence, 

the female nude became a central 

point of reference. The fact that in 

circles that remained loyal to the 

communist state the female nude 

was still regarded as the epitome 

of an ideal femininity makes the 

shift from the male to the female 

gaze appear all the more radical. 

6_polItICs oF 

sElF-rEprEsEntAtIon 

Historically, the genre of the 

self-portrait has always been the 

male artist’s medium of choice for 

asserting his identity as sovereign 

creator or tortured soul — a legacy 

that many male artists working 

under state socialism were the 

uncritical inheritors of. It is therefore 

quite fascinating to observe 

the strategies deployed by women 

artists in appropriating this genre 

and in subverting androcentric 

definitions of self-representation. 

Here, the self-portrait is not a mirror 

that accurately and naturalistically 

reflects a static self. For 

the women artists displayed here, 

the self-portrait rather serves as 

a means to constitute themselves 

as professional subjects, as artists. 

Moreover, these self-portraits 

throw a light on the various ways 

in which women could answer 

the challenge presented by the 

complex bundle of gender-coded 

roles ascribed to and imposed 

upon them. Reactions range 

from a militantly expressed 

commitment to female sexuality 

to a more detached, objective 

perspective on the female body. 

7_WoMEn ArtIsts 

ApproprIAtE 

‘unIVErsAl Art’ 

In most communist countries it 

was only after a long and painful 

process that abstract art could 

eventually find some degree of 

acceptance. The 1950s and 60s 

witnessed a series of polemics 

against abstract art, which was 

criticized as ‘formalistic’ and, 

worse even, denounced as a cultural 

import from the capitalist 

west. Yugoslavia was an important 

exception in that after the break 

with Stalin (1948) abstractionism 

was soon embraced as the official 

art ideology. The other exception 

was Poland, where abstract art 

was at least tolerated by the rulers. 

For the female artists shown here, 

abstractionism was a universal 

language that enabled them to 

articulate humanist ideals and to 

confirm their artistic subjectivity 

and freedom. Here, too, they 

entered a field that until then had 

been the exclusive domain of the 

‘male genius’. In these abstract, 

non-figurative works one can 

make out a variety of subtexts and 

hidden sexual and erotic meanings, 

so that with hindsight these 

examples of supposedly ‘pure’ 

abstract art appear to be rather 

‘crypto-iconic’. 

6_ 7_ 8_ 

10_ 

9_ 

8_CouplEs, 

rElAtIonshIps, loVEs 

The immediate personal environment 

of men and women artists 

is at the heart of works concerned 

with hetero- and homosexual 

relationships among the protagonists 

of the art scene. Many of the 

exhibits shown here hark back to 

the classic topos of the artist and 

the model, yet in some of them 

the traditional assignment of 

roles — male artist versus female 

model-cum-muse — is rejected. 

The subject of love usually follows 

a strictly heterosexual pattern, 

but the works dealing with samesex 

relationships call the validity 

of this matrix into question. 

While some of the artists incline 

toward a slightly romanticized 

perspective, others tend to 

emphasize the darker sides of 

human relationships. 

9_hEroIC MAlE 

subjECt rEConsIdErEd 

Alternative representations 

of masculinity undermine the 

model of the male hero as it was 

promulgated in ‘official’ painting 

and sculpture. They also make 

a wry comment on the militarism 

and the arms race that were such 

essential aspects of the cold war 

era. The exhibits try to capture 

men’s everyday life, moments 

of normality. While some artists 

use the genre of the portrait, 

others explore their masculinity 

in a more direct manner trough 

performances in which they act as 

anti-heroes. In the socialist societies, 

the male nude never gained 

as much recognition as the female 

nude. Maleness as defined by 

6_Izabella Gustowska (Poland), Sacrifice I — from the Relative Similarities cycle, 1989–1990, mixed media on canvas, coll. Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu © Izabella Gustowska 

7_Andris Grīnbergs (author of performance), Andrejs Grants (author of photographs) (Latvia), Model and Others, 1988, documentation of performance, photograph, courtesy of the artists © Andris Grīnbergs 

8_Marina Abramović (Serbia), Art Must Be Beautiful, Artist Must Be Beautiful, 1975, video, 13’48”, coll. Netherlands Media Institute, Montevideo © Marina Abramović 

pArt II_ 

_nEGotIAtInG 

pErsonAl 

spACEs 

socialism always meant heterosexual 

maleness. Homosexuality 

was punished as a crime. Thus it 

does not come as a surprise that 

only very few works dating from 

the era of socialism examine 

homosexual aspects of maleness. 

10_pErForMInG 

GEndEr / pErForMInG 

thE sElF 

When concept art flourished in 

the 1970s, many Eastern European 

artists (like their counterparts in 

the West) began using the new 

media in order to explore their 

body, their sexuality and their 

individuality. All the works shown 

here were conceived as series. The 

serial nature characterizing these 

works not only heightens the 

viewer’s awareness of the passing 

of time, it also draws attention to 

their processual and performative 

aspect. The break with traditional 

forms of representation and outdated 

subject matters is reflected 

in the rejection of conventional 

artistic genres such as painting or 

sculpture. Provisionality and transitoriness 

are the new yardsticks 

by whose measure the notion 

of the autonomous work of art 

encapsulating timeless truths 

is found wanting.

pArt I_ 

I Floor_ 

GEndEr ChECk. 

FEMInInIty 


In thE Art 


pArt III 

The fall of the Berlin Wall, the disintegration 

of the communist regimes 

in East and Central Europe and the 

USSR, the establishment of the new 

states in the early 1990s — all these 

historic events shaped an era which 

has aptly been called ‘the age of 

Lenin in ruins’. The introduction of 

liberal democracy and multiparty 

systems in these countries went 

hand in hand with the introduction 

of (or return to) capitalist modes of 

production. The post-communist 

economic transition period of the 

1990s caused mass unemployment, 

especially among women, and led 

to pauperization on a large scale. In 

fact, the social fabric of these new 

democratic societies underwent 

a rapid process of economic polarization 

resulting in the chasm that 

today divides the nouveaux riches 

from the nouveaux pauvres. 

These social transformations 

have been critically reflected by 

Eastern European artists. The works 

displayed in this section of the 

exhibition are all informed by such 

a critical (sometimes even cynical) 

attitude. The artists here presented 

deconstruct the nationalist and 

neo-conservative value systems 

that have made a comeback in the 

post-socialist societies. They try 

to make visible the interfaces and 

affinities between hierarchically 

9_ 

11/12_ 

11/12_ 

13_ 

_ stAIr- 

CAsE 

pArt II_ 

Ground Floor_ 

14_ 

15_ 

15_ 

structured roles and a social order 

dominated by capitalism. 

11_thE polItICIzAtIon 

oF thE prIVAtE 

In the 1990s, we first encounter art 

that is openly feminist as well as 

art taking up the issue of gender 

differences. Against the backdrop 

of the newly revived patriarchy, the 

‘new woman’ is first and foremost 

imagined as the mother. This 

demotion to the role of the mother 

was (and still is) not only high on 

the agenda of nationalistic ideologists, 

it also had a very practical 

reason: women had to stay home 

during the period of economic transition 

for the simple reason that 

they were out of work. Household 

matters form a subject that runs 

like a red thread through many of 

the photographs and videos aiming 

at politicizing women’s role in the 

private sphere. Some of the works 

displayed in this section are about 

the crossing of gender borders and 

lesbian identity — issues which in 

the Eastern European art context 

were not tackled until the 1990s. 

12_FEMInA: 

IdEntIt y, spECtAClE, 

MAsquErAdE 

In portraits and self-portraits 

made after 1989, women artists 

CloACkrooM 

MAIn hAll 

examine female sexuality and 

subjectivity. Their approach to 

the female body is very different 

from that of their colleagues from 

the 1970s and 80s, since they are 

less interested in the ‘ideal’ body 

than in the creatureliness of the 

body, its exposedness to decay, 

aging and illness. Both in the 

self-portraits and in the portraits 

of female protagonists, woman’s 

‘real’ identity is metaphorically 

staged as spectacle and masquerade. 

Other works — by male as 

well as female artists — rewrite 

art history from a feminist 

point of view. In many countries 

women artists produce works 

dealing with female genealogies, 

e.g. relationships between mothers 

and daughters or between 

sisters. Family histories are thus 

told along a matrilineal axis. 

13_nAtIonAlIsM 

And CrItIquE 

The foundation of the post-communist 

states was preceded by 

strong nationalistic movements. 

Nationalist ideology was used 

as the perfect antidote against 

communist ideology. The works 

displayed in this section lay bare 

nationalism’s fundamentalist and 

racist substratum, its masculanism 

and its sexism, especially as 

these manifested themselves in 

the post-Yugoslavian countries 

that were involved in the ethnic 

wars. Yet even in those countries 

pArt III_ 

_post-CoMMunIst 

GEndErsCApEs 

that kept out of the wars, nationalist 

democracy wears a male 

face, since there are practically 

no female politicians holding any 

of the higher political offices, let 

alone the presidential one. Posters 

commissioned by political 

parties indicate that the female 

allegory, which from the mid- 

19th century onward embodied 

the male ideals of the national 

state (e.g. in national monuments), 

has gained new currency 

after 1989. 

14_ConVEntIon 

And trAnsGrEssIon 

The new socio-political situation 

not only called for the invention 

of the ‘new woman’ — the 

concept of maleness also had to be 

revised. Thus, the ‘re-feminization’ 

and domestication of women 

was paralleled by an aggressive 

re-masculinization of the public 

discourse. Yet most of the works 

shown in this section are not 

concerned with men’s public roles. 

The focus is rather on the private 

sphere, with male sexuality being 

discussed both from a hetero- and 

a homosexual perspective. Some 

of the artists subvert the heterosexual 

matrix that had remained 

unchallenged throughout the 

entire era of communism and turn 

to the public display of their crossgender 

and queer identities. Today, 

the term ‘queer’ is used both in 

a sexual and a political sense. 

15_CApItAl 

And GEndEr 

10_ 11_ 12_ 13_ 

14_ 15_ 16_ 17_ 18_ 

To what extent has women’s 

condition changed under the new 

democratic regimes? This section 

comprises works that deal with 

the connections between gender 

and capital. In the course of the 

social transformations sweeping 

over Eastern Europe, the issue of 

a new, post-communist femininity 

was introduced into the public 

debate. While there is a noticeable 

tendency to glorify women as 

guardians of hearth and home, 

the period of perestroika also saw 

the emergence of another female 

gender role, which, imported 

along with democracy, is diametrically 

opposed to that of the 

mother and housewife: the whore. 

The artists presented in this part 

of the exhibition are all critically 

concerned with issues like sex 

work, slave-trade and pornography. 

Other works deal with 

unemployment and the social 

misery rife among women. 

9_Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe (Russia), Monroe, 1996, c-print, col. XL Gallery, Moscow © Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe 

10_Imre Gábor (Hungary), She Has Been My Wife Since 1992 (To Love, to Fuck & to Die), 2002, photograph, courtesy of the artist © Imre Gábor 

11_Elżbieta Jabłońska (Poland), Super Mother, 2002, photograph, courtesy of the artist © Elżbieta Jabłońska 

12_Rovena Agolli (Albania), In All My Dreams, It Never Is Quite as It Seems, 2002, digital print, courtesy of the artist © Rovena Agolli 

13_Alla Georgeva (Bułgaria), Alla’s Secret. Collection 2000–I, 2000–II, 2000–III, 2000, ink jet prints on paper, aluminium, courtesy of the artist © Alla Georgeva 

14_Kriszta Nagy (Hungary), 200.000 Ft, I–VI, 1997, digital print, Collection of Zsolt Somlói and Spengler Katalin, Budapest © Kriszta Nagy 

15_Petra Varl (Slovenia), Zvezda and Odeon, 2010, wall painting, courtesy of the artist © Petra Varl 

16_Eva Filová (Slovakia), Without Difference, 2001, installation, milk tetra pack, courtesy of the artist © Tomáš Błoński 

17_Veronika Bromová (Czech Republic), Girls Too, 1994, digital altered color duratrans in light box, courtesy of the artist © Veronika Bromová 

18_Tanja Ostojić (Serbia), Looking for a Husband with EU paszport, 2000–2005, participatory web project, combined media installation, photograph, book, video CrossingOver (in collaboration with Klemens G.), 7’, courtesy of the artist © Tanja Ostojić 

_Post-Communist Genderscapes 

_ 5

Nazwa rozdziału 

6_ 

_ E M o t I o n A l A n d F A M I l y l I F E I n E A s t E r n - b l o C C I n E M A 

_EMotIonAl And FAMIly lIFE 

In EAstErn-bloC CInEMA 

Gender Check — the first film-related thing 

that comes to mind when one thinks of 

gender checking may be the popular crossdressing 

comedies that play with body and 

gender visibility in cinema (and in society). 

Think of Wojciech Pokora disguising 

himself as a housemaid in Stanisław 

Bareja’s Man — Woman Wanted (1973) or 

Eugeniusz Bodo imitating May West in 

Leon Trystan’s Neighbours (1937). There is, 

of course, a second bottom to those funny 

scenes (and perhaps a third one too). The 

comedy role of Stanisław/Marysia, played 

by Pokora, became a pretext for tongue-incheek 

qui pro quos and light homosexual 

allusions (in Polish culture, homosexual 

themes usually appear under a pretext 

and under disguise). At the same time, the 

problematic issue of gender meets here 

the no less problematic issue of social 

class: a husband-come-housemaid is 

more useful at home than a husband-art 

historian, but the domestic help in the 

supposedly emancipated socialistic society 

_A review of feature films accompanying 

the exhibition Gender Check. Femininity and 

Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe 

Zachęta, 20 March – 13 June 2010 

_18 March_Adventure in Marienstadt 

[Przygoda na Mariensztacie], dir. Leonard 

Buczkowski, Poland, 1954, 93’ (introduction 

by Ewa Toniak, PhD). A mix of popular 

romantic comedy with the requirements 

of socialist realism. A (not very heated) love 

affair serves here above all to promote the 

idea of women’s (and men’s) — bricklaying 

— work and the beauty of Warsaw (openly) 

and the Party (indirectly). As well as youth, 

commitment and soc-version emancipation, 

as in the (pseudo)folk song: ‘The 

machines are riding / Girls on them / And 

each as a boy… . Because a girl — is people!’. 

_25 March_Daisies [Sedmikrasky], dir. 

Věra Chytilová, Czechoslovakia, 1966, 74’ 

(introduction by Paulina Kwiatkowska). 

A hilariously told, anarchic story about two 

pretty girls that, craving for demoralisation, 

play — on their own terms — with 

older and younger men. Described as 

a ‘philosophical documentary in the form 

of a farce’, the film is one of the most 

interesting achievements of the Czech 

New Wave. 

_1 April_Innocence Unprotected [Nevinost 

bez zastite], dir. Dušan Makavejev, 

Yugoslavia, 1968, compilation film, 75’ 

Dušan Makavejev is probably the former 

Yugoslavia’s most interesting filmmaker. 

After Innocence Unprotected, received as 

a provocation, he had to emigrate. The 

film is based on a 1941 movie of the 

same title, the first Serbian sound film, by 

Dragojlub Aleksic, a famous acrobat and 

strongman. The film was banned by the 

Nazi censors and classified as pro-Nazi 

propaganda later on. Makavejev montaged 

a popular story about a male hero with 

WWII-era documentary footage (some of 

has to be a woman. Bodo, in turn, imitated 

an American actress whose curvaceous 

torso lent the name to WWII-era aircrew 

life preserver jackets — only the very Mae 

West image was an imitation in itself, 

a representation of femininity, super-femininity 

embodied. Thus filmic narratives 

and the gestures of film characters reflect 

social praxes, but also reproduce and copy 

them, disseminating them in effect. At the 

same time, demonstration is sometimes 

destruction and an ostentatious supervisibility 

of femininity (masculinity) 

exposes them as nothing but constructs. 

Belief in the causal power of images was 

something that guided socialist-realist 

artists — the essence was supposed to 

become more marble-like and real bodies 

were to model themselves upon the 

designed ones, becoming a bit less sexually 

different, a bit stronger, channelling 

their sexual energy in work. The costume 

of a worker or peasant (the latter less 

preferred, though), or at least a member 

of the Komsomol, covered all that could 

be the non-political body (→Adventure in 

Marienstadt). Post-socialist realist cinema 

— from Warsaw to Moscow and from 

it manually coloured by him) — Nazi and 

Serbian collaborationist propaganda films, 

German military newsreels, but also the 

Alexandrov Circus, Aleksic’s performances 

and interviews with the members of the 

original cast and crew. The compilation 

becomes an accusation of both communism 

and fascism, but also a reflection on 

the process of the creation of a collectiveimagination 

hero and on the Yugoslav 

culture in its official and popular versions. 

The film won the FIPRESCI Award and 

the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the 

Jury at the 18th Berlin International Film 

Festival in 1968. 

_8 April_How to Be Loved [Jak być kochaną], 

dir. Wojciech Jerzy Has, Poland, 1963, 97’ 

A psychological drama told from the 

viewpoint of a woman who during the 

war sacrificed everything to save the 

man she loved. A polemical version of 

history — heroic, but also taking place in 

the private sphere — in which the woman 

are strong active and the men weak and 

passive. The past is shown through the 

retrospections of the main character, 

Felicja, now a well-known actress, popular 

thanks to her role in a radio soap opera, 

through which she fulfils (and promotes) 

the ideal of harmonious family life. The 

film won the Golden Gate Award for Best 

Actress (Barbara Krafftówna), Best Picture 

(Wojciech Has) and Best Screenplay 

(Kazimierz Brandys) at the San Francisco 

International Film Festival in 1963. 

_15 April_Ecce Homo Homolka, dir. Jaroslav 

Papoušek, Czechoslovakia, 1969, 79’ 

The film was the full-length debut of the 

screenwriter of Forman’s and Passer’s New 

Wave movies. In the opening sequence, 

a Prague taxi driver and his family on 

a weekend outing in the woods run away 

frightened upon hearing calls for help. 

Then it only gets worse — the plot moves 

entirely to a family apartment, in which 

the Baltic to the Black Sea (in all those 

places where the censors left artists an at 

least narrow margin of freedom) — will 

unanimously steer towards the private 

sphere: intimate emotions and family 

issues. The bloc’s film dramas became 

either repeatable and bland or did not 

show happy families. 

The family (though there were exceptions) 

was a field where social tensions 

could be safely explored. In a way, it 

was also the only one, because critically 

reviewing the public sphere and openly 

polemicising with the official political 

rhetoric was not allowed. Nonetheless, 

it is in the family and the sphere of 

sexuality (→Innocence Unprotected) that 

the various aspects of human existence 

are all present and the individual meets 

the collective: the work (and pay) of 

men and women, their consumer and 

emotional needs (and their (un)fulfilment) 

(→Adoption; A Woman Alone), relationships 

between parents and children, spouses 

or partners, the politics of the body and 

fertility (→4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), 

but also politics in the common sense of 

the word, invading privacy in the shape 

three generations of men and women 

torment each other. All that because the 

TV set has gone wrong. The tragicomic 

story, a witty portrait of a certain form of 

family life, is the first part a trilogy about 

the Homolka family. 

_22 April_Adoption [Örökbefogadás], 

dir. Márta Mészáros, Hungary, 1975, 89’ 

An unhurried, detail-focused, nuanced 

story about Kata, a lonely widow in her 40s 

living in the countryside. She still dreams 

of having a child, but her married lover 

doesn’t like the idea. The situation changes 

when Anna, runaway from a nearby assisted 

living facility, finds her way to Kata’s 

house. The film won the Golden Bear at 

the 1975 Berlin International Film Festival. 

_29 April_Inner Life [Życie wewnętrzne], 

dir. Marek Koterski, Poland, 1986, 86’ 

Of all the neurotic protagonists of Marek 

Koterski’s movies, this one is surely one 

of the most interesting. The plot is set in 

the claustrophobic space of an apartment 

block, its narrow ‘communication passages’ 

— the corridors and the elevator — and the 

main character’s mind. An image of the 

disintegration of both public and private 

bonds and of emotionality reduced to two 

basic instincts: aggression (dominant) and 

sex (realised only in the sphere of fantasies 

and fear of the ‘night stalker’). The film 

won an award for Best Director at the 1987 

Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. 

_6 May_A Woman Alone [Kobieta samotna], 

dir. Agnieszka Holland, Poland, 1981 

(premiere 1987), 92’ The main character, 

a Wrocław mail carrier (Maria Chwalibóg), 

is a member of neither the Party nor 

Solidarity and receives no support from 

either her family or friends. She raises her 

8-year-old son alone. One day she meets 

a young disability pensioner (Bogusław 

Linda), limping after a coalmine accident. 

Both would like to see a radical change in 

of war or institutional violence (→How 

to Be Loved; Grbavica; Another Way). What 

could be shown was determined by the 

level of censorship — a ‘thaw’ in Soviet 

politics and cinema in the 1950s spawned 

protagonists who sometimes gave 

precedence to the lyrical (e.g. enamoured) 

self over one’s social duties; the perestroika, 

in turn, brought a foamy wave 

of chernukha [pessimistic neo-naturalism] 

art (→Little Vera), under the pressure of 

which no stable values held ground. 

Cinema accompanied those changes, but 

it also helps us to examine them more 

closely. When we see working women, 

we also see a lack of respect for their 

work, low pay and lack of institutional 

support (→A Woman Alone). When we see 

frustration of men at home, we see their 

inability to fulfil themselves in the closed 

public field (Jak być kochaną). All that is 

left to them are reminiscences of a past 

war and their heroic role in it (→Innocence 

Unprotected) — sometimes leading to 

a new war (→Grbavica). 

Showing quickly rechannelled youth 

discontent (e.g., paradoxically, Daisies, 

1966) or actually young people’s inability 

their lives. Holland paints an insightful — 

and painful — picture of the life of people 

outside the focal point of historic events, 

refusing to fit into the simple us-versusthem 

divisions, doomed to live a gloomy 

existence. The film’s message was so 

pessimistic that, despite being censored, 

it was shelved for six years. A Woman 

Alone won the Special Prize of the Jury for 

Agnieszka Holland and Best Actor awards 

for the lead role performers at the 1988 

Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. 

_13 May_Little Vera [Malenkaya Vera], 

dir. Vasili Pichul, USSR, 1988, 128’ 

One of the more interesting, best known 

— and most popular — films of the 

chernukha, a pessimistic, neo-naturalistic 

trend describing the Soviet society of the 

perestroika era. Teenage Vera lives in a port 

town on the Black Sea. A relationship with 

Sergey, a boy met on the beach, gives her 

some relief from the family conflicts at 

home. Her parents, however, don’t approve 

of the boy, who irritates them with his 

refusal to be like ‘everyone else’. The film 

won numerous awards, including the 

FIPRESCI Prize at the 1988 Venice Film 

Festival, the European Film Award for Best 

Screenwriter in 1989, and the Special Jury 

Prize at the 1988 Montreal World Film 

Festival. 

_20 May_Another Way [Egymasra nezve], dir. 

Karoly Makk, Hungary, 1982, 102’ 

(introduction: Bartosz Żurawiecki). The film 

is set during the ‘normalisation’ period 

following the 1956 uprising in Hungary and 

depicts the three protagonists in confrontation 

with history — and their own feelings. 

Eva falls in love with the married woman 

Livia, who, though not without misgivings, 

eventually responds to her love. A lyrical 

study of their romance is confronted with 

the brutality of public life and language. 

A forbidden love is inextricably linked 

here to political proscriptions and the 

_FIlM 

proGrAMME 

to rebel and a destruction of the domestic 

and family sphere (→Inner Life; Ecce Homo 

Homolka; Little Vera), filmmakers were 

actually showing a society in a state of 

implosion. All attempts of transgression 

and non-normative gestures were sternly 

punished in it (→Another Way) and the 

atrophy of social bonds (→4 Months, 

3 Weeks and 2 Days) is reflected in the 

disintegration of the stable self (→Inner 

Life; A Woman Alone). 

When a social explosion took place, 

cinema did not explode at all. It opened 

itself towards new subjects and new 

types of protagonists, but remaining 

a step behind the transitions, not so 

much redefining the space of the debate 

as capturing, like a radar, the changes 

taking place in both the public and 

private spheres. It has been diagnosing 

rather than designing, acting like 

a scalpel rather than like a hammer. This 

is because a fundamental transformation 

requires a radical language on the part 

of the medium itself and that is present 

more often in the other visual arts. 

Iwona Kurz 

transgression of social conventions — to 

actual borders. The movie features superb 

performances by two Polish actors, 

Grażyna Szapołowska (Livia) and Jadwiga 

Jankowska-Cieślak (Eva, Best Actress at 

1982 Cannes Film Festival). 

_27 May_4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days [4 luni, 

3 săptămâni şi 2 zile], dir. Cristian Mungiu, 

Romania–Belgium, 2007, 113’ 

The plot is set in Romania in the late 

1980s and tells the story of Gabita who 

decides to have a late abortion, in which 

she is being helped by her friend, Otilia. An 

illegal abortion becomes here a symbol of 

living in a society where everyone who has 

any power uses it against others, where 

social bonds are a matter of commercial 

exchange and emotions a matter of 

contract. The film won numerous awards, 

including the Golden Palm in Cannes and 

the European Film Award in 2007 for Best 

Film and Best Director. 

_10 June_Grbavica [Esmas Geheimnis 

— Grbavica], dir. Jasmila Žbanić, Austria– 

Croatia–Germany–Bosnia and Herzegovina, 

2006, 90’ (introduction: Bożena Umińska- 

-Keff). One of the first films breaking away 

with Yugoslav-style self-Balkanisation 

à la Kusturica. A lone mother is raising 

her 12-year-old daughter, Sara, in the 

Sarajevo neighbourhood of Grbavica. The 

girl believes her father was a Bosnian hero 

whereas in truth she was born as a result 

of a rape committed by a Serbian soldier. 

The film won the Golden Bear at the 2006 

Berlin International Film Festival 

Thursdays at 16:00 screenings of films by 

Marina Gržinić and Aina Šmid, multimedia 

room, entrance through the exhibition 

Three Sisters [Tri sestre], video, 1992, 28’ 

Bilocation [Bilokacija], video, 1990, 12’06’’ 

Luna 10, video, 1994, 10’35’’ 

edited by Iwona Kurz

_ l E C t u r E s , M E E t I n G s , d I s C u s s I o n s 

_ A r E V I E W o F d o C u M E n t A r y F I l M s 

_ G u I d E d t o u r s 

_ W o r k s h o p s F o r C h I l d r E n 

_lECturEs, MEEtInGs, dIsCussIons 

_EduCAtIonAl 

proGrAMME 

• 20 March (Saturday), 12:00 Meeting with Wojciech Fangor about his 1950 painting Figures, with the participation of Agnieszka Morawińska, PhD (moderator), Ewa Franus, 

Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius, PhD, Ewa Toniak, PhD; meeting will be translated live into English; multimedia room, admission free 

• 21 March (Sunday), 12:15 Guided tour by curator Bojana Pejić (in English); main lobby, admission included in ticket price 

• 28 March (Sunday), start 11.30 Zachęta goes Wiki; multimedia room, admission free 

11.30 – 12.30 Free Culture — Free Art? Discussion panel with the participation of Krzysztof Siewicz, attorney at law, devoted to Creative Commons licences for works of art, 

Małgorzata Bogdańska-Krzyżanek (moderator) 

12.45 – 14.15 Workshop: creating Wikipedia entries about works in the Zachęta National Gallery of Art collection — led by Masti (Marek Stelmasik) & Przykuta 

(Sebastian Skolik) 

14.30 –15.30 Guided exhibition tour 

15.45 – 17.15 Workshop: Wikipedia Women, Come On! — led by Claudia Snochowska-Gonzales 

17.30 – 18.30 Lecture, Ewa Mikina, PhD: Mary Flanagan — Hyperbodies, Hyperknowledge, Resistance Strategies in Cyberculture 

Wikipedia entries about the exhibition will be edited and posted live during the lectures and workshops; in association with Fundacja Wikimedia Polska 

• 31 March (Friday), 18 Lecture, Prof Małgorzata Radkiewicz: Gender RePRESENTATIONS in Cinema and Contemporary Art 

multimedia room, admission free; in association with Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych 

• 9 April (Friday), 18 Lecture, Jacek Kochanowski, PhD: The Spectacle of Norm. Gender Transgression and Meeting Death 

multimedia room, admission free; in association with Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych 

• 10 April (Saturday), 18 Lecture, Samuel Nowak: Post-feminism, Pop Culture and Conservative Modernisation 

multimedia room, admission free; in association with Fundacja Kultura dla Tolerancji, www.tolerancja.org.pl 

• 14 April (Wednesday), 18 Workshop: Ignorance-based Logics (Zachęta Art Lovers Club meeting) — moderators: Lidia Krawczyk, Wojtek Kubiak; multimedia room, admission free 

• 17 April (Saturday), 12 Workshop: Between Disappearing and Appearing, or, Following Gender — moderator: Dominika Cieślikowska; multimedia room, 

subscriptions: Anna Zdzieborska, a.zdzieborska@zacheta.art.pl 

• 23 April (Friday), 18 Lecture, Agata Adamiecka-Sitek, PhD: Performing Gender. Gender in Contemporary Polish Theatre and Drama, multimedia room, admission free 

• 24 April (Saturday), 18 Lecture, Anna Taszycka, PhD: Sexual Minority Cinema. From Transgression to Mainstream; multimedia room, admission free; 

in association with Fundacja Kultura dla Tolerancji, www.tolerancja.org.pl 

• 26 April (Monday), 18 Lecture, Prof Maria Poprzęcka: Gender of Eye; multimedia room, room, admission free 

• 27 April (Tuesday), 18 Discussion panel: Gender Trouble. Does Gender Art Exist in Poland? — moderators: Magdalena Furmanik-Kowalska, Marcin Teodorczyk; 

multimedia room, admission free; in association with the online periodical uniGENDER, http://www.unigender.org 

• 7 May (Friday), 18 Meeting with Sylwia Chutnik and Ewa Majewska, PhD: Politicising the Private; devoted to images of women-mother in Gender Check; 

workshop room, admission free 

• 8 May (Saturday), 12 Meeting with Jerzy Bereś and Bettina Bereś — moderator: Ewa Toniak, PhD; multimedia room, admission free 

• 11 May (Tuesday), 18 Meeting with Angelika Richter — Gender Check researcher responsible for selection of artists and works from the former DDR; multimedia room, admission free 

• 14 May (Friday), 18 Lecture, Agnieszka Graff, PhD: Our Innocence — Their Deviations. Gender, Sexuality, Nationalism 

meeting devoted to Gender Check section on post-1989 nationalisms; multimedia room, admission free; in association with Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych 

• 19 May (Wednesday), 18 Lecture, Prof Paweł Dybel: Psychoanalysis and Gender; workshop room, admission free; in association with Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych 

• 21 May (Friday),18 Lecture, Prof Magdalena Środa; meeting devoted to the exhibition section presenting post-1989 historical revisions; multimedia room, admission free; 

in association with Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych 

• 28 May (Friday), 18 Trailer, ART HOMO EROTICA exhibition (11 June – 5 September 2010, National Museum in Warsaw), moderator: exhibition curator Paweł Leszkowicz, PhD; 

multimedia room, admission free 

• 29 May (Saturday), 18 Workshop with artist Justyna Koeke; workshop room, admission free; in association with Fundacja Kultura dla Tolerancji, www.tolerancja.org.pl 

• 4 June (Friday), 18 Lecture, Dominik Kuryłek: Love — Vague Premonitions; multimedia room, admission free 

• 9 June (Wednesday),18 Lecture, Ewa Tatar: Is an Exhibition of Feminist Art a Feminist Exhibition?; multimedia room, admission free 

• 11 (Friday), 12 (Saturday), 13 (Sunday) June Meeting with the GENDER CHECK exhibition researchers; in association with ERSTE Foundation, www.erstestiftung.org 

• 13 June (Sunday), 12:15 Guided tour by Izabela Kowalczyk, PhD; main lobby, admission included in ticket price 

Detailed information about the Gender Check exhibition accompanying events will be available on www.gendercheck.blogspot.com. Note: the Organisers 

reserve the right to make changes in the programme. Contact: Magdalena Komornicka, m.komornicka@zacheta.art.pl; Stanisław Welbel, s.welbel@zacheta.art.pl 

_A rEVIEW oF doCuMEntAry FIlMs (sCrEEnInGs on 31 MAy, 1 And 2 junE – MondAy, tuEsdAy, WEdnEsdAy) 

A week with documentary films as part of the film programme accompanying the exhibition. We will present documentaries about the featured artists, e.g. portraits of the Bereś family: Jerzy Bereś — a Sculptor and 

Maria Pinińska-Bereś — a Sculptress, films about artists from Eastern Europe and the former DDR, showing the interesting social and cultural environment in which they lived and worked. Some of the films, of a more 

biographical nature, focus on the artist and his or her work while others, showing the socio-political background, speak more broadly about the situation of artists in general and their reaction to the changes taking 

place in the different countries. 

Detailed information about the programme will be available at: www.gendercheck.blogspot.com 

_GuIdEd tours 

Three forms of guided tours are offered for secondary-school and high-school students: traditional tours with guide, interactive tours and thematic workshops. Work card-based interactive tours will give students 

an opportunity to become familiar with the issues raised by the exhibition and the work of the featured artists. Workshops, led by women psychology students, will start with several selected works to provoke 

a debate on selected issues and will proceed to discuss gender roles in society and changes in the image of women and men over the last fifty years or so. We will also discuss gender discrimination and how to 

defend yourself against it. Contact and subscriptions: Anna Zdzieborska, a.zdzieborska@zacheta.art.pl 

_Workshops For ChIldrEn 

We offer workshops that will revolve around the exhibition’s main themes, such as gender roles in society, rather than any specific works. We encourage both girls and boys to take part in the ‘boys’ workshops that 

will take up ‘male’ activities (such as DIY). The workshops are aimed at demonstrating that gender divisions are becoming increasingly artificial, that emancipation includes accepting the fact that some boys like to 

play with dolls and sometimes cry, while some girls like to play with the hammer and don’t always have to be well-behaved. In response to doubts voiced by teachers and parents, we would like to stress that all the 

works discussed with children in the exhibition are suitable for their age. 

Workshops on 21, 28 March; 11, 18 April; 9, 16, 23, 30 May; 6, 13 June 

Contact and subscriptions: Zofia Dubowska-Grynberg, z.dubowska@zacheta.art.pl 

_EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME 

_ 7

www.zacheta.art.pl 

8_ 

Zachęta National gallery of Art 

pl. Małachowskiego 3 

00-916 Warsaw 

www.zacheta.art.pl 

director Agnieszka Morawińska 

Exhibition 

20 III – 13 VI 2010 

curator Bojana Pejić 

reserchers: Edit András, Ivana Bago, 

Dunja Blažević, Keti Chukhrov, 

Branislav Dimitrijević, Lilia Dragneva, 

Urška Jurman, Eva Khachatryan, 

Katrin Kivimaa, Izabela Kowalczyk, 

Laima Kreivyté, Suzana Milevska, 

The exhibition 

organised in 

cooperation with 

Museum Moderner 

Kunst Stiftung 

Ludwig Wien 

pArt I_ 

pArt II_ 

Initiated by 

1 Floor_ 

I_Socialist Iconosphere 

1_Private Realities, Personal Resistances 

2_Heroines of Work: Emancipation and Discontent 

3_Women at Work, Men at Work 

4_Remaking the Past after 1989 

n o t e s 

1_ 

2_ 

3_ 

4_ 

5_ 

6_ 

7_ 

the exhibition 

initiated and supported 

by ERSTE foundation 

11/12_ 

11/12_ 

Eduard Muka, Almira Ousmanova, 

Martina Pachmanová, Lali Pertenava, 

Angelika Richter, Zora Rusinová, 

Hedwig Saxenhuber, Alina Şerban, 

Erzen Shkololli, Nino Tchogoshvili, 

Māra Traumane, Maria Vassileva 

coordination Hanna Wróblewska 

organisation Julia Leopold 

assistant Maria Świerżewska 

exhibition design Robert Rumas 

execution Anna Muszyńska and staff 

audiovisual technician 

Krzysztof Boguszewski 

educational programme 

Magdalena Komornicka, Stanisław 

Welbel, Anna Zdzieborska 

13_ 

_ stAIr- 

CAsE 

8_ 9_ 

We thank: the Embassy of Serbia in Warsaw, 

the Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw, 

the Czech Centre in Warsaw, the Goethe 

Institut in Warsaw, the Hungarian 

Cultural Institute in Warsaw, the Russian 

Centre of Science and Culture in Warsaw, 

the Romanian Cultural Institute in Warsaw, 

the Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych 

association, the Wikimedia Foundation 

Poland, the Fundacja Kultura dla Tolerancji 

foundation, the online periodical uniGENDER, 

and the Drukarnia Argraf printing house 

10_ 

film programme Iwona Kurz, 

Katarzyna Pszczołowska 

programme for children 

Zofia Dubowska-Grynberg 

press officer Olga Gawerska 

marketing Zofia Koźniewska and staff 

chief registrar 

Małgorzata Bogdańska-Krzyżanek 

conservator-restorer Joanna Waśko 

We kindly thank the artists 

and owners of the works for leasing 

them for the exhibition. 

Special thanks for assistance 

in realising the exhibition: 

Dominik Art Projects, Jan Ságl 

_plAn 

oF thE EXhIbItIon 

sponsors 

of the 

gallery 

pArt III_ 

II__Negotiating Personal Spaces 

5_Representing Women: Latent Feminism vs. Old Stereotypes 

6_Politics of Self-Representation 

7_Women Artists Appropriate ‘Universal Art’ 

8_Couples, Relationships, Loves 

9_Heroic Male Subject Reconsidered 

10_Performing Gender / Performing the Self 

We thank the following persons 

and institutions for translating 

the films shown in the exhibition: 

Andrzej Antoszek, Karolina Łabowicz- 

-Dymanus; Institute of English 

Philology, Catholic University 

of Lublin: Magdalena Gładysz, 

Agata Głowacka, Maciej Krawczyk, 

Karolina Majkowska, Agnieszka 

Matysiak, Małgorzata Miciuła, 

Weronika Nowacka; Institute of 

Linguistics, MCSU Lublin: Gabriela 

Deryło, Katarzyna Domańska, Marta 

Flis, Karolina Kondrak, Karolina 

Kościukiewicz, Anna Jurys, Anna 

Maszerowska, Arkadiusz Mikrut, 

technological 

partner of 

the exibition 

sponsors 

of the 

opening 

ceremony 

14_ 

15_ 

15_ 

Ground Floor_ 

media 

patronage 

CloACkrooM 

MAIn hAll 

III_Post-Communist Genderscapes 

11_The Politicization of the Private 

12_Femina: Identity, Spectacle, Masquerade 

13_Nationalism and Critique 

14_Convention and Transgression 

15_Capital and Gender 

Joanna Mituła, Marta Nowakowska, 

Monika Ostrowska, Paulina 

Tomkowicz, Joanna Sałapa, Anna 

Siarkiewicz, Dorota Wierzchacz 

Folder 

graphic design Marta Ignerska 

translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak 

printed by Argraf Sp. z o.o., Warsaw 

© Zachęta National Gallery of Art, 

Warsaw 2010

Gender Check - ERSTE Stiftung

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