Afterimage, Andrzej Wajda’s final film, is a moving meditation on creative freedom, moral conviction, and the devastating consequences of ideological control. Followed by a talk on abstract art in totalitarian societies.
Afterimage (2016, 122 min)
Afterimage is inspired by the life of one of Poland’s most influential modernist artists in postwar Poland, a renowned avant-garde painter Władysław Strzemiński. Having refused to subordinate his art to the demands of Socialist Realism, he opposed the Stalinist regime. Stripped of his position, livelihood, and public visibility, Strzemiński struggled to preserve his artistic integrity in the face of relentless political persecution. Afterimage, Andrzej Wajda’s final film, is a moving meditation on creative freedom, moral conviction, and the devastating consequences of ideological control. Dignified and deeply humane, it is a poignant farewell from one of cinema’s greatest masters.
Talk: a clash between art and politics
Why was abstract art so passionately hated by totalitarian systems? And why many artists having the misfortune to live in one still insisted to create abstract visions and objects? Anda Rottenberg and Matt Steinglasswill bring the life and work of a brilliant, uncompromised Polish artist, Wladyslaw Strzemiński to the spotlight, explaining the circumstances under which he pursued his artistic ideas and how he influenced the development of 20th-century European art.
Speakers
