DOI Artikel:
Dworniczak-Leśniak, Kamila: Pamie̜ć katastrofy i mit uniwersalnego je̜zyka: monumentalne wystawy fotograficzne jako narracje o człowieku
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34225#0080
74
KAMILA LESNIAK
co stanowi tutąj dodatkowy kontekst). Można zatem stwierdzić, że to, co definitywnie rozpoznawano jako
tautoiogiczne w odniesieniu do wystaw probiemowych (Garztecki: „Przejętą od Steichena i dwa razy zasto-
sowaną receptę na wystawę można jeszcze powieiać. Na przykład organizując koiejne światowe wystawy
tbtografiki na tematy: mężczyzna, dziecko, pies, koń, kot, krowa"74), nie raziło wyraźnie w odniesieniu
do wystaw „Rodzina człowiecza" i „Czym jest człowiek?". Podejmowane przez nie spektrum probiemów
było bowiem zogniskowane wokół kwestii, która stanowiła probiem tyleż uniwersainy, co indywiduainy,
zasiedlający pamięć zbiorową oraz jednostkowe wspomnienia.
THE MEMORY OF DISASTER AND THE MYTH OF UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.
MONUMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBÎTIONS AS HUMAN NARRATIVES
Abstract
The monumental photographic exhibitions shown in many parts of the world during the first post-war decades were an important
landmark in the history of photography. In this paper, two of the exhibitions became the starting point for a discussion about the per-
ception of the medium of photography and its function in the 1950s and 1960s. The Trst. titled 77?e Fowi/y o/ALon, was set up in 1955
by American photographer and curator Edward Steichen; the second, organised less than a decade later. was the woridwide exhibition
Ths- At &7* by the Austro-German joumalist Kari Pawek. The two projects, aithough generaiiy based on the same ideoiogicai
and structurai principies - a spatiai instaiiation buiiding a narrative of a humanist nature - are antithetical to each other in terms of
approach to the subject. Rooted in the compiex context of the cuitural. sociai, and poiiticai post-war period, they reveai a number of
tensions hidden behind the strategies of constructing a visuai narrative.
The author mainiy focuses on the issue of the representation of World War П experiences in photography, especiaiiy its most
poignant event - the Hoiocaust. Stories about the human condition and reaiities of the contemporary iconosphere are investigated through
reievant images. The refiections are based on case studies - the reception of these exhibitions in Germany and Poiand. The anaiysis is
supported by iittie known theories by Kari Pawek. by the voices of historians and critics of photography, as weii as the iatest deveiop-
ments on the subject.
By revealing the circumstances of the reception of these projects and the resonance of their humanistic message questions are
raised about ways of understanding the medium of photography within the broader history of visuai cuiture. An important theme in
the discussion are changes in the way we reflect on photography - criticism of a medium perceived as a visuai ianguage of universal
character, taking into account the fundamentai roie of the historicai, sociai. and cuiturai context in the process of creating meaning and
interpreting images.
(trans. Katarzyna Krzyżagórska-Pisarek)
^ Garztecki. ^ozczar*owo7?/e...
KAMILA LESNIAK
co stanowi tutąj dodatkowy kontekst). Można zatem stwierdzić, że to, co definitywnie rozpoznawano jako
tautoiogiczne w odniesieniu do wystaw probiemowych (Garztecki: „Przejętą od Steichena i dwa razy zasto-
sowaną receptę na wystawę można jeszcze powieiać. Na przykład organizując koiejne światowe wystawy
tbtografiki na tematy: mężczyzna, dziecko, pies, koń, kot, krowa"74), nie raziło wyraźnie w odniesieniu
do wystaw „Rodzina człowiecza" i „Czym jest człowiek?". Podejmowane przez nie spektrum probiemów
było bowiem zogniskowane wokół kwestii, która stanowiła probiem tyleż uniwersainy, co indywiduainy,
zasiedlający pamięć zbiorową oraz jednostkowe wspomnienia.
THE MEMORY OF DISASTER AND THE MYTH OF UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.
MONUMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBÎTIONS AS HUMAN NARRATIVES
Abstract
The monumental photographic exhibitions shown in many parts of the world during the first post-war decades were an important
landmark in the history of photography. In this paper, two of the exhibitions became the starting point for a discussion about the per-
ception of the medium of photography and its function in the 1950s and 1960s. The Trst. titled 77?e Fowi/y o/ALon, was set up in 1955
by American photographer and curator Edward Steichen; the second, organised less than a decade later. was the woridwide exhibition
Ths- At &7* by the Austro-German joumalist Kari Pawek. The two projects, aithough generaiiy based on the same ideoiogicai
and structurai principies - a spatiai instaiiation buiiding a narrative of a humanist nature - are antithetical to each other in terms of
approach to the subject. Rooted in the compiex context of the cuitural. sociai, and poiiticai post-war period, they reveai a number of
tensions hidden behind the strategies of constructing a visuai narrative.
The author mainiy focuses on the issue of the representation of World War П experiences in photography, especiaiiy its most
poignant event - the Hoiocaust. Stories about the human condition and reaiities of the contemporary iconosphere are investigated through
reievant images. The refiections are based on case studies - the reception of these exhibitions in Germany and Poiand. The anaiysis is
supported by iittie known theories by Kari Pawek. by the voices of historians and critics of photography, as weii as the iatest deveiop-
ments on the subject.
By revealing the circumstances of the reception of these projects and the resonance of their humanistic message questions are
raised about ways of understanding the medium of photography within the broader history of visuai cuiture. An important theme in
the discussion are changes in the way we reflect on photography - criticism of a medium perceived as a visuai ianguage of universal
character, taking into account the fundamentai roie of the historicai, sociai. and cuiturai context in the process of creating meaning and
interpreting images.
(trans. Katarzyna Krzyżagórska-Pisarek)
^ Garztecki. ^ozczar*owo7?/e...