Finisaż wystawy plakatu „104 x propaganda”

With each subsequent edition, we invite a new external institution to cooperate, which in the long run builds a new identity for the event and makes it unique. The 4th edition is the result of cooperation between the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts Łódź and the University of Lodz Library. Posters from the collection of the library are juxtaposed with contemporary works by teachers and students of the Academies of Fine Art from Łódź and Gdańsk. The clash of posters from such a vast, a hundred-year period will allow viewers to analyse the repertoire of motifs, literary, historical and political metaphors, visual changes in the context of two cities with extremely different temperaments.

The 4th edition is exceptional for many reasons: firstly, due to the location – Lodz and the unique interior of the library, secondly, due to May – a month associated with May Day parades. The exhibition “104 x Propaganda” is a sum of the views of several generations of creators on the same topics. May, as seen from the perspective of the generation of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, is completely different from how it is seen by the contemporary generation of creators. This difference in perspective is visible in the set May and Mayonnaise, which is a key to understanding the idea of this edition.

 

Nowadays, the term propaganda means deliberate and systematic action aimed at disseminating content, as well as specific ideas in such a way so as to activate the beliefs and actions of individuals or social groups. Propaganda uses art, symbols, images and slogans to create messages intended to convince others to a specific way of thinking. It can use ideological, religious, conspiracy theories and manipulation content.

The negative meaning of the term has become entrenched in our modern times along with the development of totalitarian regimes and specific political groups in the 20th century. Advertisers, activists, politicians, and leaders of radical minority groups take advantage of the experience of propaganda manipulation. The poster, due to its mass, typographic, and iconic nature, has always been an important weapon of propaganda.

Propaganda is also an area where art and ideology intersect. Propaganda uses the language of art and artists for its own purposes. In the past, great avant-garde artists created under the influence of ideas that ultimately led to apocalyptic tragedies. Also, outstanding contemporary artists use and redefine the languages of propaganda, apply subversive techniques and conscious culture jamming.

The Propaganda exhibition, which has been organised jointly by the University of Lodz Library, the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts Łódź, presents the full polyphony of interpretations of this term. It collects archival social, cultural and political posters created by graphic artists and designers from the 1940s to the 1980s. Contemporary works by teachers and students of the Institute of Graphic Design in Lodz and the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts Łódź are critical and polemic in nature towards the phenomenon and slogan Propaganda.

Especially for the generation of current students (Gen Z), Propaganda is inseparably associated with their bipolar environment – virtual and real. The young generation reveals a high critical awareness of manipulation, disinformation and commercialism. They use techniques of culture jamming, adbusters and meme parody.

The works for the exhibition were lent by: the University of Lodz Library, the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk from the following studios: Poster Design and Advertising Forms (Prof. Sławomir Witkowski, mgr Rafał Fedusio), Studio of Design for Culture (mgr Joanna Czaplewska, Dr Anita Wasik). The fourth edition of the exhibition is also a unique meeting with the works of Professor Tomasz Bogusławski, who has been teaching for decades at the Basics of Graphic Design and has educated generations of great graphic designers.

The Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts Łódź is represented by lecturers from the Institute of Graphic Design and students working under their supervision in the Publishing Graphic Design and Digital Media Typography Studio, the Poster Design Studio, the Basics of Graphic Design and the Visual Identification Studio at the Postgraduate Studies in Graphic Design. The lecturers from the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts Łódź taking part in the exhibition include: Dr Mariusz Andryszczyk, Dr hab. Jakub Balicki, Dr Karolina Grudzińska, Dr Przemysław Hajek, Dr Izabela Jurczyk, Prof. Piotr Karczewski, mgr Sebastian Komicz, Prof. Sławomir Kosmynka, mgr Daria Łuka, Dr Tomasz Olszyński, Dr Jakub Stępień.

The presence of archival posters designed by Prof. Bogusław Balicki and Prof. Stanisław Łabęcki, co-founders and lecturers of the then Department of Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts Łódź cannot be ignored. There are distinguished names associated with the Lodz and national graphic design scene of the post-war years: Roman Cieślewicz, Jakub Erol, Jerzy Flisak, Wiktor Górka, Ryszard Grzybowski, Marek Mosiński, Rafał Olbiński, Karol Śliwka, Tadeusz Piechura, Andrzej Smoczyński, Henryk Tomaszewski, Jerzy Treliński, Maciej Urbaniec, Mieczysław Wasilewski and many others.

The exhibition "104 x Propaganda" can be viewed during the opening hours of the University of Lodz Library. Admission to the exhibition is free.!