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Muzeul ca efect secundar
sau problema Varøoviei cu memoria
Sebastian Cichocki
I. Glorificarea antagonismelor
Muzeele de artæ sînt create ca urmare a aparifliei unor nevoi de tipuri felurite – de
la încercæri de a instaura o putere simbolicæ, prin furnizarea de „material de construcflie“
pentru edificarea identitæflii culturale, la strategii planificate ingenios øi cîntærite
economic de atragere a investitorilor. Procesul nu e întotdeauna complet
conøtientizat, chiar dacæ teoreticienilor øtiinflei muzeistice contemporane le place
sæ-l priveascæ drept rezultat al tendinflelor pro-comunitate prezente în realitatea postmodernæ.
Încrederea în puterea muzeelor, care, dupæ cum scria Kevin Moore, „sînt
probabil cel mai potrivit loc pentru a medita asupra unora dintre controversele politice
ale vremurilor noastre“, e adesea zdruncinatæ, lucru ce poate fi observat în exemplul
raporturilor dificile ale institufliilor de artæ cu realitæflile haotice ale democrafliilor
est-europene „aflate în proces de maturizare“. Poate exista impresia cæ iniflierea de
noi instituflii artistice a reprezentat efectul secundar al unor complexe procese de
transformare. Deøi unanim dorite, noile instituflii artistice sînt o creaturæ neînfleleasæ
în totalitate sau chiar suspectæ, incapabilæ sæ cîøtige o acceptare publicæ impresionantæ,
generînd astfel tensiuni øi revelînd conflicte øi antagonisme greu de depæøit. Pe
scurt, muzeele de artæ, øi muzeele de artæ contemporanæ în particular, sînt o lupæ
prin care putem privi apariflia demonilor frustrærilor sociale øi ai dorinflelor reprimate.
Un exemplu de astfel de tensiune instituflionalæ, consecinflæ a ambifliilor post-transformare
øi necesitate de a completa lacunele culturale, caracteristic pentru flærile din
fostul bloc sovietic, este Muzeul de Artæ Modernæ din Varøovia, creat oficial în aprilie
2005. Crearea sa a fost însoflitæ de convingerea cæ noile muzee sînt instrumente
de sprijin øi stimulare a proceselor de modernizare. Dezbaterea încinsæ care a urmat,
presæratæ cu rafliuni conflictuale øi prejudecæfli comune, a fost færæ precedent în Polonia
postbelicæ. Trebuie adæugat, în acest punct, cæ vechiul muzeu de artæ recentæ
al Poloniei, Muzeul Naflional de pe Aleje Jerozolimskie, a fost inaugurat acum øaizeci
de ani, în 1938. Pînæ în 2008, cînd un Centru pentru Artæ Contemporanæ s-a
deschis în oraøul de provincie Toruń, acesta a fost cel mai recent spafliu dedicat
expunerii de artæ contemporanæ. Cu mult înaintea ridicærii clædirii în sine (planificatæ
pentru 2014), muzeul din Varøovia a devenit scena unui conflict înverøunat care a
învræjbit comunitæflile artisticæ, arhitecturalæ øi politicæ. Pentru cei implicafli în proiect,
e limpede faptul cæ acesta s-a întemeiat pe conflict, øi nu pe o dezbatere raflionalæ
øi compromisuri care, paradoxal, îi pot garanta longevitatea øi durabilitatea.
II. O vecinætate nefericitæ
Clædirea WMMA urmeazæ sæ fie ridicatæ în Plac Defilad, o piaflæ imensæ aflatæ în inima
oraøului øi care, în mod evident, poartæ eticheta arhitectural-ideologicæ a ruøinii. Piafla,
cu toate elementele pe care le cuprinde, inclusiv o tribunæ de paradæ de unde aparatul
de partid urmærea paradele militare la marøurile de 1 Mai, a fost construitæ în
1955 în fafla emblematicului Palat al Culturii øi Øtiinflei. Clædirea-mamut ræmîne cel
mai caracteristic, dar øi cel mai controversat element al peisajului urbanistic al Varøoviei.
Motivul naturii sale controversate e simplu – a fost construitæ cu preflul demolærii
SEBASTIAN CICHOCKI este curator la Muzeul de Artæ Modernæ din Varøovia.
MUSEUM AS A SIDE EFFECT,
OR, WARSAW’S PROBLEMS WITH MEMORY
Sebastian Cichocki
I. The Praise of Antagonisms
Art museums are created as a result of the emergence of various
kinds of needs – from attempts to establish symbolic power, through
the provision of “building material” for the construction of cultural
identity, to strategically cunning, economically calculated investorattracting
strategies. The process is not always fully conscious, even
if the theoreticians of contemporary museum science would like to
see it as a result of pro-community tendencies present in the postmodern
reality. The belief in the power of museums, which, as Kevin
Moore wrote, “are probably the best place to consider some of the
political issues of our times”, is often shaken, which can be observed
on the example of art institutions’ difficult relations with the chaotic
realities of the “maturing” Eastern European democracies. One can
get the impression that the initiation of new artistic institution has
been a side effect of complex transformation processes. Even though
commonly desired, new artistic institutions are a creature that is not
entirely understood, or even suspect, unable to win overwhelming
public acceptance, and thus generating tensions and manifesting
unsolvable conflicts and antagonisms. Put shortly, art museums, and
contemporary art museums in particular, are a magnifying glass
through which we can watch the rising demons of social frustration
and repressed yearnings. An example of such an institutional tension,
a consequence of post-transformation ambitions and a need to fill
cultural gaps, characteristic for the former Soviet bloc countries, is
the Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, officially created in April 2005.
Its creation was accompanied by a belief that new museums are
instruments of supporting and stimulating modernisation processes.
The heated debate that ensued, full of conflicting reasons and ordinary
prejudices, has had no precedent in post-war Poland. It needs
to be added at this point that Warsaw’s former recent art museum,
the National Museum in Aleje Jerozolimskie, was opened sixty years
ago, in 1938. Until 2008, when a Centre for Contemporary Art opened
in the provincial city of Torun’, it was Poland’s newest venue for
presenting contemporary art. The Warsaw museum, long before the
erection of the building itself (planned for 2014), became the stage
of a bitter conflict that has antagonised the artistic, architectural,
and political communities. For persons involved in the project, it is
an obvious fact that it had been founded on conflict, rather than on a
rational debate and compromises, which, paradoxically, can guarantee
its longevity and endurance.
II. An Unfortunate Neighbourhood
The WMMA building is to be erected on Plac Defilad, a huge plaza
located in the very heart of the city, and rather obviously marked
with architectural-ideological shame. The plaza, with all its features,
including a parade stand where party apparatchiks received military
parades on 1st of May marches, was built in 1955 as a foreground for
the iconic Palace of Culture and Science. The mammoth building
SEBASTIAN CICHOCKI is a curator, Museum of Modern Art
in Warsaw.
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, temporary headquarters at Pan’ska Street, 2008, photo: Jan Smaga
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