The The Transformative Power of Cultural Heritage: The Avant-garde of the Interwar Period at the Exhibitions of the Museum of Art in Łódź towards the Conservative Turn

The article is a critical response to the populist rhetoric utilized in Poland in the aftermath of the 2015 elections. What the author reflects upon is how the visual arts of the twenty-year interwar period (1918–1939) have been represented in museum exhibitions organized in the twenty-first century. Focusing on the expositions at the Muzeum Sztuki [Museum of Art] in Łódź, in particular two displays: Pole, Jew, Artist… and Correspondences, the author asks a question: What methodological assumptions were those expositions based on and how did they transcend the traditional discourse of the Polish history of art? Based on these case studies, the author demonstrates that curatorial practice at the Museum of Art had been closely intertwined with revaluations occurring in the academic reflection on Polish art after 1989. Subsequently, the author refers, among others, to the thought of Michał Paweł Markowski and Laurajane Smith, while discussing the problem of the current role played by the avant-garde heritage. In this perspective, the analysis of exhibitions at the Museum of Art shows that the representations of the twenty-year interwar period, instead of having been focused on the past, were future-oriented, since the said heritage may have a preventive character and transformative power. By opposing the populist visions of culture, it persuades to be open to difference, to empatically notice the communities based on values, and to remain critically mindful of conceptual foundations of arts. The article’s content spans the spheres of studies on alternative modernisms and, in its backdrop, of critical heritage studies.