BUDAPEST.- Poles are still struggling with identity issues, 27 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Only after 1989 were they able to discuss and examine Poland publicly, without censorship, for the first time in 50 years. Today, they continue to ponder the true nature of Poland and the Poles. The 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century were marked by an attempt to process the Communist past and wartime traumas. The younger generation—distanced from history and free of the typical Polish complexes of the Communist era—is actively engaged in building an identity, as well as revisiting the Socialist past and the history of Poland. At the same time, it encounters current problems stemming from globalization, commercialization, and a crisis of values, which are common to young people everywhere.

The group exhibition Young Poland – Afterimages of Reality is an attempt to present the search of the young generation of Poles for an identity. The display, through works of art that deal with history, social change, art historical traditions, and everyday life, attempts to sound the voice of a new generation. The selection is a statement by artists deliberately recording, analyzing, and criticizing the very reality of Poland. The presented issues reflect the themes of interest of artists who must deal with history and transition in order to find their place in the collective consciousness of both the country and the world.

Artists: Anna Baumgart, Stanisław Boniecki (Bobrowiec), Justyna Chmielewska, Alex Czetwertyński, Norbert Delman, Małgorzata Goliszewska, Maya Gordon, Tomasz Górnicki, Nicolas Grospierre, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Dominik Jałowiński, Jakub Jezierski (Pionty), Malwina Konopacka, Agnieszka Kurant, Olga Mokrzycka–Grospierre, Agnieszka Polska, Slavs and Tatars, Tomasz Szerszeń, Piotr Wysocki, Rafał Żarski