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Działalność Grupy Roboczej w Krakowie w drugiej połowie lat siedemdziesiatych XX wieku

Abstrakt

REALITY DOES NOT EXIST. THE ACTIVITY OF GRUPA ROBOCZA IN KRAKÓW IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 1970S

The present paper attempts to describe the activity of the Kraków-based group of photographers that existed in the years 1975–1978 under the name Grupa Robocza [Working Group]. It presents the outcomes of academic research conducted since 2015 whose aim was to use the oral history method for the purpose of studying local artistic history. While trying to outline the context of the Group’s activity, I describe the functioning and internal structure of the Kraków branch of the Association of Polish Art Photographers (Zwiazek Polskich Artystów Fotograków, ZPAF) in the 1970s. I also refer to the recollections of specic artists in which they describe their lifestyle and various forms of professional work as photographers that are typical of the discussed decade. Starting o  from a group photograph showing the members of Grupa Robocza published in the catalogue of an exhibition which was planned to be held (but failed to materialize) at Jaszczurowa Galeria Fotografii – a gallery that operated at the Pod Jaszczurami student club at 8 Main Market Square in Kraków, I present the brief bios of the artists associated with the Group. I refer to the accounts of specic artists in order to delineate the fundamentals of the Group’s artistic programme. By analysing their concrete works I attempt to determine the ways in which these selected artists perceived the functions of art, particularly the position of the medium of photography in relation to reality and artistic traditions. rough a narrative focused solely on the members of Grupa Robocza I portray the nal decades of Polish People’s Republic, creating a very local, subjective image constructed from elements of everyday life, work methods, ideas, and mutual relations. Due to the adopted research method, i.e. oral history, this image is only fragmentary, built from traces, conversations, and odd scraps of scattered information. It is complemented by materials from other sources, usually private archives and the scarce publications. e paper also discusses such issues as art market in the context of photography, completion of commissioned works, and photographers’ cooperation with the Studio of Plastic Arts [Pracownia Sztuk Plastycznych]. The impact of the political transformation that took place in 1989 on the functioning of the photographic milieu, and the repercussions of Communist censorship and surveillance of those circles by the secret service have been described here from the perspective of individual experiences.