Facing Poland's “New Historical Politics”: A Conversation with Jaroslaw Suchan

Abstract

Abstract This conversation between Jarosław Suchan, director of Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, Poland, from 2006 to 2022, and grupa o.k., the collaborative endeavor of Julian Myers and Joanna Szupinska, addresses the current political crisis in Poland under the rule of the ethnocentric right-wing populist party Law and Justice and its effects on art-institutions in that country. It addresses Suchan's innovative approach to the avant-gardes of the early twentieth century, which he sees as internationalist and emancipatory, and explores the circumstances of his dismissal by forces within the ultra-conservative government. It provides Suchan's parsing of disparate factions within the ruling party, his critical analysis of their aims to advance a whitewashed view of Polish history, his efforts to produce a counternarrative to this “new historical politics,” and his hopes and fears for a Polish cultural scene under right-wing populist direction.