Book Discussion: "Art in a Disrupted World, Poland 1939-49," by Agata Pietrasik

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

This important and unprecedented book, Agata Pietrasik’s "Art in a Disrupted World" offers a
new look at artistic life in Poland in the ten years following the outbreak of World War II.
Highlighting examples of artworks by a number of Polish-born artists that were created in
concentration camps, ghettos, in exile, and during the years of socio-political and cultural
disintegration following the war, Pietrasik draws attention to the ethics of artistic
practice as a method of fighting to preserve one’s own humanity amid dehumanizing
circumstances. This significant new publication breaks out of entrenched historical
timelines and traditional forms of narration to bring together drawings, paintings, architectural
designs, and exhibitions, as well as literary and theatrical works created in this time period and
tell the important story of Polish life in wartime. With the focus on this one decade, Pietrasik
poses greater critical questions about the ability of traditional art history writing to
accommodate artworks created in direct response to traumatic experiences.

Sub Unit

• Arts: Art History, Architecture, Dance, Museum, Music, Photography, Theatre 

Chair

• Magdalena Moskalewicz, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Roundtable Members

• David Anthony Goldfarb, Independent Scholar

• Agata Justyna Pietrasik, Freie U Berlin (Germany)

• Julia Secklehner, Masaryk U (Czech Republic)

• Joanna Szupinska, UCLA