To commemorate the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Poland, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum will be holding an exhibition titled "Flexible Struggle: Polish Women Artists and Film from the 1970s to the Present" from August 14 to October 14. The exhibition focuses on female artists and visual expression in Poland, a cultural powerhouse in Eastern Europe, from the 1970s onwards.

Karolina Bleguła, "Ah, Professor!" 2018, Courtesy of the artist
The history of 20th century Polish art and film has been told through the names of many men. However, in 21st-century Poland, which joined the global economic wave that surged into the East after the fall of the Berlin Wall and achieved EU membership, many works by women are making their presence felt, particularly in the field of visual expression. At the same time, a movement has emerged to reexamine pioneering examples of female artists' visual expression, which have not been sufficiently discussed until now.

Through collaboration and exchange with researchers, curators, and related institutions both in Poland and abroad, the exhibition "Flexible Struggle: Polish Women Artists and Film, 1970s to Present" offers a fresh perspective on the history of Polish art since the 1970s, taking into account the historical context. This highly ambitious exhibition explores how female artists of different generations have reexamined the social environments in which they found themselves and found ways to express themselves through their own individual media.

Anna Kutera, Dialogue, 1974, Courtesy of the artist
One of the highlights is the way in which Polish female artists have chosen to fight: through art. Women's issues, such as the global #MeToo movement and Japan's #KuToo, are still happening in our daily lives. In Poland, traditional customs are valued, and women are expected to ideally be "good mothers," "good wives," "good daughters," and "good workers." Furthermore, there are deep-rooted issues such as discrimination due to the gap between Eastern and Western Europe and prejudice against sexual diversity, which have sometimes made it difficult for women to achieve self-realization.

To confront these invisible problems, Polish female artists turned to art as a tool for living authentically in society. Their resilient approach to struggle transcends gender and should give us ideas and hope for how to live authentically in society.

Zuzanna Janin, "The Struggle," 2001. Courtesy of Zuzanna Janin Studio and lokal_30, Warsaw
Their experimental video expressions are also noteworthy. In the 1970s, videography emerged around the world as a new artistic genre distinct from painting, sculpture, and film. This exhibition offers a comprehensive look at the evolution of visual expression by Polish women artists over the past 50 years, from the 1970s onward. The experimental spirit shared by the pioneering generation who lived in the communist bloc during the Cold War to today's globalized digital generation will offer fresh surprises, especially in an age where anyone can easily shoot and distribute videos.

Karol Radziszewski, "Karol and Natalia LL," 2011. Courtesy of the artist and BWA Warszawa, Warsaw
This exhibition is the fruit of the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum's collaboration with not only the featured artists, but also many other leading Polish researchers and curators. Nearly all of the works will be shown in Japan for the first time, and the exhibition will introduce the evolution of contemporary Polish art and visual expression from a new perspective.

A number of related events will be held during the exhibition. On August 15th, a relay talk by the exhibiting artists will be held. Lectures titled "Polish Art and Feminism (tentative title)" will be held on August 18th, and "In the Context of Critical Art (tentative title)" will be held on August 31st.