DOI Heft:
Część I. Museum / Part I. The Museum
DOI Artikel:Pomian, Krzysztof; Ziemba, Antoni; Bastek, Grażyna: Wystawa "Wywyższeni. Od faraona da Lady Gagi": (17 maja - 23 września 2012)
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45360#0091
90
The Museum
citizens’ equality under the law, observance of human rights and the freedom of expression, re-
mains deeply hierarchical. The traditional criteria of elevation by wealth, education and talent
remain in force, but not birth, which has been replaced by beauty, physical attractiveness and,
above all, talent for self-promotion. The media are the platform for building and maintaining
social position. A person’s public image has been transformed into the promotion of celebrities
and personalities, which followed from the cult of opera divas, Hollywood stars and icons of
pop culture (pop-art, Andy Warhol). Digital tablets, which in themselves are “gadgets of pop
culture,” showed well-known Poles from the worlds of politics, culture, the arts, music, sport
and iconic crowd idols. Some of the images are no more than simulacra (as defined by Jean
Baudrillard), symbols lacking meaning, which are presented for their own sake, for the ostenta-
tion of “being visible and being seen.” The Internet’s social portals, in turn, make it possible for
any user to self-create his image, to give himself elite prestige and make himself the object of ad-
miration. As is shown by election posters, this also shapes the transformation of the traditional
image of the politician from a statesman (Tadeusz Mazowiecki) or an activist or revolutionary
(Lech Wałęsa) into a personality who exposes his corporality or sexuality for political gains
(Marta Ratuszyhska), while the phenomenon of Internet popularity increasingly becomes the
subject of fabricated artistic-social provocations (the virtual Kampania prezydencka Wiktorii
Cukt [The presidential campaign of Wiktoria Cukt], 2001; Marcel Lozihski’s film Jak to się robi?
[How It’s Done), 2006). The world of media celebritism combines with the extreme division
of society into a narrow and shallow elite of the wealthy (big capital and the top celebrities)
and the rest of the human masses. The exhibition interpreted this phenomenon by provoking
a collision of images of celebrities and top-brand luxury products with Nicolas Grospierre’s
photograms of cheap apartment blocks (2007-2012).
Closing the exhibition was a series of photograms by Oskar Dawicki, Obituaries (2004).
They were placed in “The Right to Immortality” section, next to the castrum doloris, symboli-
cally returning to the beginning of the exhibition, where they also gave a critical perspective
on the contemporary cult of celebrities and commented forcefully on the relativity and eva-
nescence of media celebrities, even the most deserving and distinguished ones.
The Museum
citizens’ equality under the law, observance of human rights and the freedom of expression, re-
mains deeply hierarchical. The traditional criteria of elevation by wealth, education and talent
remain in force, but not birth, which has been replaced by beauty, physical attractiveness and,
above all, talent for self-promotion. The media are the platform for building and maintaining
social position. A person’s public image has been transformed into the promotion of celebrities
and personalities, which followed from the cult of opera divas, Hollywood stars and icons of
pop culture (pop-art, Andy Warhol). Digital tablets, which in themselves are “gadgets of pop
culture,” showed well-known Poles from the worlds of politics, culture, the arts, music, sport
and iconic crowd idols. Some of the images are no more than simulacra (as defined by Jean
Baudrillard), symbols lacking meaning, which are presented for their own sake, for the ostenta-
tion of “being visible and being seen.” The Internet’s social portals, in turn, make it possible for
any user to self-create his image, to give himself elite prestige and make himself the object of ad-
miration. As is shown by election posters, this also shapes the transformation of the traditional
image of the politician from a statesman (Tadeusz Mazowiecki) or an activist or revolutionary
(Lech Wałęsa) into a personality who exposes his corporality or sexuality for political gains
(Marta Ratuszyhska), while the phenomenon of Internet popularity increasingly becomes the
subject of fabricated artistic-social provocations (the virtual Kampania prezydencka Wiktorii
Cukt [The presidential campaign of Wiktoria Cukt], 2001; Marcel Lozihski’s film Jak to się robi?
[How It’s Done), 2006). The world of media celebritism combines with the extreme division
of society into a narrow and shallow elite of the wealthy (big capital and the top celebrities)
and the rest of the human masses. The exhibition interpreted this phenomenon by provoking
a collision of images of celebrities and top-brand luxury products with Nicolas Grospierre’s
photograms of cheap apartment blocks (2007-2012).
Closing the exhibition was a series of photograms by Oskar Dawicki, Obituaries (2004).
They were placed in “The Right to Immortality” section, next to the castrum doloris, symboli-
cally returning to the beginning of the exhibition, where they also gave a critical perspective
on the contemporary cult of celebrities and commented forcefully on the relativity and eva-
nescence of media celebrities, even the most deserving and distinguished ones.