Dorota Nieznalska
Encyclopedia
Dorota Alicja Nieznalska (born 19 September 1973) is a Polish
visual artist
and sculptor
.
Nieznalska's controversial installation Pasja (2002), which included the placement of an image of the penis
upon a metal Greek cross, resulted in a notable scandal, as the display was condemned as immoral and blasphemous by Polish conservative
Catholics. The group exhibition at which the installation was presented was closed down by the authorities, while Nieznalska herself faced legal charges on account of an alleged violation of a provision of the Polish criminal code prohibiting blasphemy.
The sculptor was successful in fighting off the blasphemy conviction following the favorable ruling of an appeals court in 2009.
in 1973. Raised in the Gdańsk-Gdynia
–Sopot
Tricity area, Nieznalska was educated at an art high school in Gdynia Orłowo. Nieznalska enrolled at Gdańsk
's Academy of Fine Arts as a student of sculpture in 1993, a year after making her first solo exhibition in her native city. Nieznalska's fine arts instructors were the Professors Franciszek Duszeńko and Grzegorz Klaman. Nieznalska graduated from the academy in 1999 and exhibited a number of student works (Insemination, 1997; The Pleasure Principle, 1998; Absolution, 1999) in the 1990s. She subsequently participating in three major exhibitions in Gdańsk, Warsaw
, and Białystok in 2000 and 2001.
charges were levelled against Nieznalska after an exhibition featuring the 2002 work Pasja ("Passion"), an artistic installation concerned with the themes of masculinity
and suffering
. The installation was displayed at the experimental Gdańsk, Wyspa Gallery, an institution associated with the academy, and consisted of two elements: a large Greek cross made of metal was suspended from the ceiling of the gallery, and covered; its center was filled in with an image of a man's hips
, thighs, and penis
. Behind the cross, the viewer's attention was drawn to a large video, its display projecting from an overhead angle the face and shoulders of a grimacing man in the act of weight-lifting. The viewer's inability to behold the man's body, his other body parts being cut off from the screen, concocted an effect of ambiguity as to the activity of the man on the screen, suggesting that the man's feeling of torment could have been the effect of other kinds of activity. The installation would be described by some as depicting "the penis of Christ" in the ensuing controversy.
began a petition to the local authorities to open a legal case following the release of television footage of the exhibition. Complaints about Pasja led to Nieznalska's being summoned to report to the local police on 2 March 2002. The city's rightist municipal councilors quickly closed the exhibition while the young artist, insisting that her intention was to focus on "the cult of the male body", became the defendant of a trial concerning Nieznalska's alleged violation of the criminal code
. Nieznalska's upcoming exhibits in Słupsk and Ostrów Wielkopolski
were cancelled after further intervention from the League of Polish Families. Members of the nationalist youth group Młodzież Wszechpolska threatened to "hang such artists" and "shave their heads, like the Home Army
did with women who were in close relationships with [the] Germans
"
At the conclusion of the first legal process in 2003, the court found Nieznalska guilty of "offending religious feelings", a violation of the ban on blasphemy
within Article 196 of the criminal code
. Judge Tomasz Zieliński denied that Nieznalska's work was entitled to any special constitutional protection as an object of art, stating that "the fact that a work is within the boundaries of art has no significance for whether it can offend the feelings of other people." The court ordered Nieznalska to perform six months of unpaid community service
. The trial prosecutor had originally demanded a fine of 2000 złoty, but the court decided to increase the penalty. Judge Zieliński additionally forbade Nieznalska from traveling out of the country. The local deputies of the League of Polish Families present during the sentencing clapped to express their approval.
Controversy surrounding Nieznalska's installation, already boiling during the initial trial, persisted well into the appeals process. An unsigned editorial
in Poland's Anglophone
monthly The Warsaw Voice, summing up the court case shortly after the initial verdict as a battle between the left and right - albeit "the first of its kind" for modern Poland - treated Nieznalska as "a tasteless provocateur, covering up her lack of genuine talent with shock tactics" and cited the opinion of Franciszek Starowieyski
, "one of the best-known Polish sculptors, himself rather partial to unconventional works", who "said before the beginning of the lawsuit that the one to blame was not the novice artist but the curator of the Gdańsk gallery. According to Starowieyski, Nieznalska's installation was of such a low artistic standard that it should never have been exhibited. Many other known artists, while not approving of the sentence, agreed that if not for the scandal, Nieznalska's work would have stood little chance of making it into reputable galleries." The former president Lech Wałęsa
spoke out against Nieznalska and supported a hard line
, maintaining that the artist's sentence was insufficiently severe. The fine arts professors supporting the Wyspa exhibitions decided to atone for the mistake by closing the gallery.
The more liberal
sections of Polish society stood up in support of the sculptor's right to free artistic expression. A letter of protest signed about 1500 artists, professionals, and other concerned citizens argued for "civic freedoms" and art as "one sphere" of "freedom, incorrectness, difference." An opinion piece
by Andrzej Osęka for the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza
compared the Nieznalska case to the 2005 Jyllands-Posten controversy in Denmark, noting that whereas the Danish newspaper suffered no legal consequences on account of its publication of a cartoon deliberately offensive to the Muslim faith
in spite of loud outcries from Muslim communities around the world, Nieznalska's case had resulted in a campaign of legal intimidation because of poor legislation and the judges' deference to the politicians. The Adam Mickiewicz University art historian Pawel Leszkowicz compared Nieznalska to Alicja Zebrowska and Katarzyna Kozyra
, two other female artists attacked for immoral works in the 1990s.
Two former Wyspa staff - curator Aneta Szylak and director Grzegorz Klaman, Nieznalska's former instructor - wrote that while "[s]ince the times of Plato
, the academy [had been] a place for intellectual and artistic discourse", the principle "was broken when the gallery closed... Because she had the courage to show 'Pasja', Nieznalska had her scholarships and subsidies cut off; she has been stigmatized and censored... A spectacular political sham is [the League of Polish Families'] typical marketing strategy, and the judge acted just like they wanted him to."
Nieznalska was acquitted after an arduous process and multiple appeals in June 2009. The Gazeta Wyborcza hailed the decision as "a toast to freedom."
The European Humanist Federation
has alleged that Polish prosecutors have been trying to revive the case in 2010. Polish reports denied that Nieznalska would be subjected to a third trial, emphasizing the acquittal as a binding verdict.
The blasphemy case:
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
visual artist
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
and sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
.
Nieznalska's controversial installation Pasja (2002), which included the placement of an image of the penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
upon a metal Greek cross, resulted in a notable scandal, as the display was condemned as immoral and blasphemous by Polish conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
Catholics. The group exhibition at which the installation was presented was closed down by the authorities, while Nieznalska herself faced legal charges on account of an alleged violation of a provision of the Polish criminal code prohibiting blasphemy.
The sculptor was successful in fighting off the blasphemy conviction following the favorable ruling of an appeals court in 2009.
Early life
Dorota Alicja Nieznalska was born to a devout family in GdańskGdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
in 1973. Raised in the Gdańsk-Gdynia
Gdynia
Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...
–Sopot
Sopot
Sopot is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000....
Tricity area, Nieznalska was educated at an art high school in Gdynia Orłowo. Nieznalska enrolled at Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
's Academy of Fine Arts as a student of sculpture in 1993, a year after making her first solo exhibition in her native city. Nieznalska's fine arts instructors were the Professors Franciszek Duszeńko and Grzegorz Klaman. Nieznalska graduated from the academy in 1999 and exhibited a number of student works (Insemination, 1997; The Pleasure Principle, 1998; Absolution, 1999) in the 1990s. She subsequently participating in three major exhibitions in Gdańsk, Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, and Białystok in 2000 and 2001.
Pasja (2002)
BlasphemyBlasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
charges were levelled against Nieznalska after an exhibition featuring the 2002 work Pasja ("Passion"), an artistic installation concerned with the themes of masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
and suffering
Suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and...
. The installation was displayed at the experimental Gdańsk, Wyspa Gallery, an institution associated with the academy, and consisted of two elements: a large Greek cross made of metal was suspended from the ceiling of the gallery, and covered; its center was filled in with an image of a man's hips
HIPS
HIPS may refer to:* High impact polystyrene* Home Information Pack* Host-based intrusion-prevention system, a computer security system oriented towards workstations...
, thighs, and penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
. Behind the cross, the viewer's attention was drawn to a large video, its display projecting from an overhead angle the face and shoulders of a grimacing man in the act of weight-lifting. The viewer's inability to behold the man's body, his other body parts being cut off from the screen, concocted an effect of ambiguity as to the activity of the man on the screen, suggesting that the man's feeling of torment could have been the effect of other kinds of activity. The installation would be described by some as depicting "the penis of Christ" in the ensuing controversy.
Legal charges of blasphemy
Gdańsk activists of the right-wing League of Polish FamiliesLeague of Polish Families
The League of Polish Families is a right-wing political party in Poland. It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński, until the latter dissolved in September 2007....
began a petition to the local authorities to open a legal case following the release of television footage of the exhibition. Complaints about Pasja led to Nieznalska's being summoned to report to the local police on 2 March 2002. The city's rightist municipal councilors quickly closed the exhibition while the young artist, insisting that her intention was to focus on "the cult of the male body", became the defendant of a trial concerning Nieznalska's alleged violation of the criminal code
Criminal Code
A criminal code is a document which compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law...
. Nieznalska's upcoming exhibits in Słupsk and Ostrów Wielkopolski
Ostrów Wielkopolski
Ostrów Wielkopolski is a town in central Poland with 72,360 inhabitants , situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship; the seat of Ostrów Wielkopolski County.-History:Recently, a small fortified dwelling dating from the 10th century was discovered on the north-east side of...
were cancelled after further intervention from the League of Polish Families. Members of the nationalist youth group Młodzież Wszechpolska threatened to "hang such artists" and "shave their heads, like the Home Army
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
did with women who were in close relationships with [the] Germans
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
"
At the conclusion of the first legal process in 2003, the court found Nieznalska guilty of "offending religious feelings", a violation of the ban on blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
within Article 196 of the criminal code
Criminal Code
A criminal code is a document which compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law...
. Judge Tomasz Zieliński denied that Nieznalska's work was entitled to any special constitutional protection as an object of art, stating that "the fact that a work is within the boundaries of art has no significance for whether it can offend the feelings of other people." The court ordered Nieznalska to perform six months of unpaid community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
. The trial prosecutor had originally demanded a fine of 2000 złoty, but the court decided to increase the penalty. Judge Zieliński additionally forbade Nieznalska from traveling out of the country. The local deputies of the League of Polish Families present during the sentencing clapped to express their approval.
Controversy surrounding Nieznalska's installation, already boiling during the initial trial, persisted well into the appeals process. An unsigned editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
in Poland's Anglophone
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
monthly The Warsaw Voice, summing up the court case shortly after the initial verdict as a battle between the left and right - albeit "the first of its kind" for modern Poland - treated Nieznalska as "a tasteless provocateur, covering up her lack of genuine talent with shock tactics" and cited the opinion of Franciszek Starowieyski
Franciszek Starowieyski
Franciszek Andrzej Bobola Biberstein-Starowieyski , was a Polish artist. From 1949 to 1955 he studied at Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and Warsaw. He specialized in poster, drawing, painting, stage designing, and book illustration. He was a member of Alliance Graphique International...
, "one of the best-known Polish sculptors, himself rather partial to unconventional works", who "said before the beginning of the lawsuit that the one to blame was not the novice artist but the curator of the Gdańsk gallery. According to Starowieyski, Nieznalska's installation was of such a low artistic standard that it should never have been exhibited. Many other known artists, while not approving of the sentence, agreed that if not for the scandal, Nieznalska's work would have stood little chance of making it into reputable galleries." The former president Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
spoke out against Nieznalska and supported a hard line
Hardline
In politics, hardline refers to the doctrine, policy, and posturing of a government or political body as being absolutist and sometimes authoritarian. The hardline position is usually extremist and uncompromising....
, maintaining that the artist's sentence was insufficiently severe. The fine arts professors supporting the Wyspa exhibitions decided to atone for the mistake by closing the gallery.
The more liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
sections of Polish society stood up in support of the sculptor's right to free artistic expression. A letter of protest signed about 1500 artists, professionals, and other concerned citizens argued for "civic freedoms" and art as "one sphere" of "freedom, incorrectness, difference." An opinion piece
Opinion journalism
Opinion journalism is journalism that makes no claim of objectivity. Although distinguished from advocacy journalism in several ways, both forms feature a subjective viewpoint, usually with some social or political purpose...
by Andrzej Osęka for the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
compared the Nieznalska case to the 2005 Jyllands-Posten controversy in Denmark, noting that whereas the Danish newspaper suffered no legal consequences on account of its publication of a cartoon deliberately offensive to the Muslim faith
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
in spite of loud outcries from Muslim communities around the world, Nieznalska's case had resulted in a campaign of legal intimidation because of poor legislation and the judges' deference to the politicians. The Adam Mickiewicz University art historian Pawel Leszkowicz compared Nieznalska to Alicja Zebrowska and Katarzyna Kozyra
Katarzyna Kozyra
Katarzyna Kozyra is a Polish video artist. She graduated in 1993 from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art and received a Paszport Polityki award in 1997. She has exhibited internationally since 1997, at venues including Brown University and Carnegie International in the U.S.Her art was involved in a...
, two other female artists attacked for immoral works in the 1990s.
Two former Wyspa staff - curator Aneta Szylak and director Grzegorz Klaman, Nieznalska's former instructor - wrote that while "[s]ince the times of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, the academy [had been] a place for intellectual and artistic discourse", the principle "was broken when the gallery closed... Because she had the courage to show 'Pasja', Nieznalska had her scholarships and subsidies cut off; she has been stigmatized and censored... A spectacular political sham is [the League of Polish Families'] typical marketing strategy, and the judge acted just like they wanted him to."
Nieznalska was acquitted after an arduous process and multiple appeals in June 2009. The Gazeta Wyborcza hailed the decision as "a toast to freedom."
The European Humanist Federation
European Humanist Federation
The European Humanist Federation-Fédération Humaniste Européenne is an international association that federates numerous European humanist associations. It also has individual members. The members of its administrative board are elected for three-year terms by the general assembly of the member...
has alleged that Polish prosecutors have been trying to revive the case in 2010. Polish reports denied that Nieznalska would be subjected to a third trial, emphasizing the acquittal as a binding verdict.
External links
Official websites:The blasphemy case:
- "The Anatomy of Blasphemy: Passion and the Trial of Dorota Nieznalska": The Drama Review article on the Nieznalska blasphemy trial by Magda Romanska (2007).