Intersections of Art and Film on the Wrocław Art Scene, 1970–80

Abstract

Visual artists in Poland from the 1970s onward explored film as a new medium, but little is known about the intersection of visual art practice and filmmaking beyond Warsaw and Łódź. This essay fills that gap by focusing on the conceptualist neo-avant-garde art scene in Wrocław. It analyzes projects by the artistic groups Permafo and Galeria Sztuki Aktualnej (GSA), whose members embraced film to broaden the spectrum of creative expression and to adjust their artistic language to their changing reality. Permafo’s analytical approach to film as a tool to potentially expand human perception of visual reality is contrasted with film projects by GSA’s members that re-evaluated their own roles as artists, releasing themselves from the obligation to generate “artistically” loaded content.