Wicked games
The November 2000 photo exhibition of actors portraying Nazis was deemed bad enough by conservative Polish society. But it was the December showing of a sculpture of Pope John Paul II, pressed by a boulder, that finally did it.
Last week, Culture Minister Kazimierz Michal Ujazdowski accepted the resignation of Anda Rottenberg, director of Warsaw's Zacheta Gallery of Contemporary Art.
Rottenberg had handed in her resignation four months earlier because of, she says, mounting political pressure over her art choices. Since then, her fate has been debated in Parliament and in the press.
"Generally I put it this way: the election for Parliament is coming and if there is no positive program to show to society, (political parties and groups) search for something to fight against," said Rottenberg, a striking 56-year-old.
"I decided to shift the instrument of the political fight away from the gallery (by resigning). It is no place to have a political fight before an election because it is very bad for art."
Seven years ago when Rottenberg accepted the position at Zacheta, she said her primary goal was to use art to make Polish society think. She succeeded, but perhaps not with the consequences she was expecting.
At the Nazi exhibition, actor Daniel Olbrychski dramatically destroyed a number of photos including one of himself with a sword. At the December exhibition a collection of Polish contemporary art put together by the internationally renowned Swiss curator, Harald Szeemann the attacks came from many factions, all claiming Catellan's "Holy Father" sculpture of the Pope was sacrilegious.
Politicians were divided over Rottenberg's future. Newspapers either attacked or leapt to her defense, while some members of society chose to send poison pen letters many, she says, threatening violence. Others, referring to her Jewish heritage, were laced with anti-semitic barbs.
"This whole episode doesn't say anything about art," said Rottenberg wearily. "It says something about ignorance and the dirty side of political fighting."
Ujazdowski was not available for comment, but in a general press statement, he recognized Rottenberg's contribution to Polish art by saying that Rottenberg will oversee the creation of a new modern art gallery in Warsaw. Her replacement at Zacheta will be selected by a competition.
Rottenberg says she will be more cautious in the future. But she hasn't lost her passion for pushing the boundaries of art, which, she says, helped bring Zacheta into the international art scene.
"This has been a very important experience in my life for good and evil: To show me where I live and what it means to live in this society how many friends I have, how open-minded the people are who live here and who supports me."
