“A Popular Exhibition”, a photograph fabricated by Tadeusz Kantor

“A Popular Exhibition” constituted an attempt at a new definition of the object, its function and creative potential. At Krzysztofory Gallery, objects from the ‘fringes’ of Kantor’s work were displayed on washing lines, in boxes or chests, in an apparent mess. The objective of the exhibition was to demote the work of art as a separate idea contained within its structure. This was supposed to facilitate extension of the idea and, in consequence, to reach the object afresh, to ‘recover’ it. At the same time, “A Popular Exhibition” ventured to try and change the conventions and established habits regarding the exhibiting of art; it appealed to viewers’ perception. “The absence of ‘paintings’– Kantor wrote in his manifesto – shifts the viewer’s perception from the analytic and contemplative mode to fluid and almost active co-presence in this field of living reality.”