Libera, Zbigniew

Since 1979, he studied at the Faculty of Education of the University of Nicholas Copernicus in Torun . He left school after the first year, after which he collaborated with the Strych Art Society of Lodz. In the early 1980s, he joined the work of Solidarity , for which he printed leaflets, and in 1981 , after the introduction of martial law , also leaflets and posters against the pacification of the riot in the Vujek mine in Katowice .

His first exhibition was held in the spring of 1982 . In August, the artist was arrested by the security service on charges of printing an underground press. He was convicted by a military court in Lodz ; served 1.5 years in prisons of Lodz and Khrubeshov . This time was fundamental in the formation of the creative personality of Libera. With the amnesty, the artist began cooperation with the лодódult artistic environment Kultura Zrzuty, was a co-editor. Sophia Kulik, Jan Svidzinsky, Anastaziy and Andrzej Partum had a serious influence on the development of Zbigniew Libera's artistic speech. From 2008 to 2009 worked as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague ^[3] . Collaborates with the Raster Gallery.

Zbigniew Lieber is a recognized leader and pioneer of critical art ^[4] , the so-called body art and aesthetics of Queer , which he introduced at the end of the 1980s in his own photographic self-portraits. In his works, he analyzes and criticizes generally accepted conventions, popular culture, and traditional models of education. He explores the relationship between the methodology of raising children and the existing perception of physicality, creating, among other things, macabre toys ^[5] . Raises the issue of image manipulation in the media. The main goal of his work remains, first of all, his own experience - disputes with reality.

One of his most famous works is the Lego project . Concentration camp , established in 1996 ^[6] .

Other artist's projects

• What does a coherent do? 2005 - a book co-authored by Darek Fox, deals with the events of the Warsaw Uprising , but its purpose is not a historical narrative. Artists are interested in how historical events function in collective memory, how modern media reproduce, what types of fables are exposed and what stereotypes they include. Photocopies were added to the book in which movie stars at the turn of 1950-1960 appear depicted against the backdrop of military devastation. This is another attempt to show traumatic feelings in an artificial, positive scenario.
• Positive , 2002 - 2003 - a series of photographs showing the tragic events: the war, the concentration camp, the corpses of soldiers. The project has the character of a psychotherapeutic experiment, the artist is looking for methods to cope with traumatic experience ^[7] .
• Masters , 2003 - a cycle that arose as a protest of the artist against the refusal to show one of his works ( Lego. Concentration camp ) at the Venice Biennale in 1997 . The curator of the Polish exhibition, Jan Stanislav Wojciechowski, decided that this work would lead to an international scandal and adversely affect Polish-Jewish relations. After that, Libera decided not to show any of his works at the Biennale.
• Correction Instruments , 1989 - a series of works of art that involve mocking “Western” goods aimed at over-esthetizing the body, and which appeared on the Polish market after the fall of communism. So you came up with “You can shave your grandfather” (Możesz ogolić dzidziusia) as a form of a super doll toy that you can shave overgrown with legs, and “Universal Penis Expander”, a device in the form of a sports equipment for penis lengthening. Devices for correction brought Libera recognition and contributed to the invitation of the artist to the Venice Biennale in 1997 , but because of the scandal with the leadership of the Polish exhibition, he did not take part in it.
• How to Train Girls , 1987 - The film shows a 4-year-old girl taught by an older woman. The film raises the theme of the imposition of stereotypes by society ^[8] . The film became popular in the second half of the 1990s after performances by American feminists .
• Intimate Rites , 1984 - a film in which Lieber acts as the guardian of her own grandmother, Regina G., who, already a sick person, had no contact with the surrounding reality. The artist raises the problem of objectification of the body, transcends the boundaries of intimacy, causes a feeling of awkwardness in the viewer, but this is also an attempt to confirm reality, old age and death.

2006 - TVP Kultura Prize for the book What Does a Messenger Do? (co-author Darek Fox)

• Uyazdovsky Palace in Warsaw
• National Gallery of Art "Zachęta" in Warsaw
• Museum them. Leon Wichulkowski in Bydgoszcz
• Museum of Art in Lodz
• Jewish Museum in New York
• House of History (Haus der Geschichte) in Bonn

• Zbigniew Libera , Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warszawa, 1992
• Zbigniew Libera. Atlasy fotograficzne i inne wydawnictwa. W samym centrum uwagi. Część 2 / Zbigniew Libera. Photographic Atlases and Other Publications. At The Very Center of Attention. Part 2 , Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warszawa, 2006
• Manipulacje. O ekonomii kłamstwa. / Manipulations. On economies of Deceit , Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Łaźnia, Gdańsk 2007

• Presentation of Zbigniew Libera at the National Center for Theater Arts. Les Kurbasa
• Zbigniew Liber: "To create new is to repeat." Interview with Alexei Radinsky
• Biography of Zbigniew Libera on the site Culture.pl ( gender )
• Interview with Zbigniew Libera of the site “kulturanatychmiastowa.pl” ( gender )
• Zbigniew Liber: "The Society is Wrong." Interview by Bartosz Józefjack ( gender )
• Presentation “Zbigniew Liber. Work of 1982-2008 ”(“ Open Archive ”)
• “Double game” - Polish-Ukrainian project within the framework of ARSENALE 2012
• Correspondence of Alexey Radinsky and Zbigniew Libera on the pages of the magazine "5.6"