Rationed Modernity

The temporary exhibition at the National Museum in Krakow – “Rationed Modernity. Modernism in the Polish People’s Republic”, features the modernization processes in Poland after World War II. The determinants of the modernism in the times of Polish People’s Republic considered by the curatorial team do not confine to the ideological restrictions on culture imposed by the undemocratic authorities, but also include other limitations of various nature – external (economic, organizational), as well as the internal ones, such as artistic creativity and inspirations. The exhibition highlights the tension between modernist visual languages and the experience of war, effects of the ideological imperative of the social function of art and the fictitiousness of modernization in the times of communism in Poland. The exhibition is a third show in the series of four organized by the National Museum in Kraków and is open until April 14.