Wspólnota, ciało, polityka : estetyczne i kulturowe konteksty jedzenia w polskiej sztuce współczesnej

Abstract

The aim of proposed thesis is to analyze the cultural and aesthetic contexts of food which are present within the works of Polish contemporary artists. The starting point of the thesis is noticing the cultural aspect of eating, which is not understood as merely physiological act, but as a complex social phenomenon. First part of the thesis is an introduction, which clarifies food studies as a research perspective. The next chapters present the most important research and issues which are connected with cultural and aesthetic aspects of food in the anthropological and aesthetic perspective. Among the mentioned scholars are Claude Lévi-Strauss, Mary Douglas, Marvin Harris, and Carolyn Korsmeyer. The first part of the thesis tackles also the issue of presence of food motifs in art. This part refers to the traditional painting representations such as genre scenes and still life, but also to avant-garde (futurists, Daniel Spoerri) and contemporary artists (Michael Rakowitz, Lee Mingwei, Mella Jaarsma). It also mentions the issue of bilateral permeation of the spheres of art and cooking, and raises the question about their possible separation. The consecutive two chapters of the thesis are dedicated to analysis of chosen artworks. They are concentrated on Polish art after 1989, but there are also examples of artworks from Peoples Republic of Poland period. The artworks are analyzed in the perspective of the definitions which appear in the thesis title – community, body, and politics. In the context of those categories various issues and topics emerge. In the second part there are mainly topics connected with hospitality, intercultural meeting, ritual, culinary taboo, and the political aspect of food which becomes visible in the context of food state control and hunger. Also the Nicolas Bourriaud’s concept of relational aesthetics is brought up as a theoretical background. This part analyzes the works of Jerzy Bereś, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Dorota Podlaska, Karolina Żyniewicz, Karolina Brzuzan, Zbylut Grzywacz, Elżbieta Jabłońska, and Joanna Rajkowska. The third part of the thesis is dedicated to the intersection between food, body, senses, and gender. It tackles the issues of the separation between domestic and public sphere, woman’s work and the connection between food and eroticism. Here also appears the issue of cannibalistic metaphor which is used to describe the relation between the sexes. Finally, this chapter also analyzes the artworks which concentrate on the sensuous aspect of food, for instance its tastes and smells. In this context the issues of memory and emotions which are intertwined with sensory experience are mentioned. In the third part, among the analyzed works are those created by Elżbieta Jabłońska, Joanna Rajkowska, Zuzanna Janin, Alina Szapocznikow, Aleksandra Ska, Natalia LL, Anna Królikiewicz, Justyna Gruszczyk, and Angelika Markul.