The Museum is open 11:00 – 19:00
Cinema is closed now
The Museum is open 11:00 – 19:00
Cinema is closed now
Debate
Blackout. A Debate in SZUM Magazine
06.11.2026 18:00–20:00
LOCATION
Auditorium
LANGUAGE
Polish
ADMISSION
Free thanks to the cooperation with Audi Polska
Karolina Szwed, World Money (Amatorska Café), 2025
oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, courtesy of the artist
The starting point for the third debate organized by Szum Magazine in collaboration with the Museum of Art is an essay by Zuzanna Stempska Blurring the Field: On the Right to Opacity in Young Polish Art. In it, the author argues that the opacity and hermeticism becoming increasingly common in young Polish art may serve as a defensive strategy against the pressure and demands placed on artists by institutions, grant programs, and the market. Zuzanna Stempska, artist Zuza Golińska, and MSN curator Jagna Lewandowska will discuss whether the era of clear messages, explicit stances, and the showcasing of artists’ identities is coming to an end. The discussion will be moderated by Piotr Policht.
Has the era of confessional, identity-based narratives come to an end? In contemporary Polish art, what was previously served up on a silver platter is increasingly obscured, blurred, or positioned in such a way that one must bend down, squeeze through, or squint to see anything at all. Is this merely a market trend, or—on the contrary—an act of defiance by artists against the commodification of everything, including their own biographies and identities?
As Zuzanna Stempska argues in an essay published in *Szum*, hermeticism can be a defensive strategy rather than a communication error. But in the reality in which we find ourselves, is resistance even possible, given that the market can instantly transform it into aesthetic packaging? Can one afford ambiguity when institutions, competitions, and galleries reward the formulation of clear, literal messages? And finally: what does this trend say about the experience of a generation raised on “miserable images” and then thrown into a system that expects them to lay their emotions bare?