Muzeum dobra wspólnego i dziwne użytki: Solidarny Dom Kultury „Słonecznik”

Abstract

The “Sunflower” Solidarity Community Center has been operating as part of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw since the outbreak of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The author treats this activist-artist initiative as a litmus test of the possibilities for activist involvement in Polish cultural institutions. Referring to examples of similar activities from recent years and theoretical studies, she analyzes it in terms of questions about activism in the “safe” environment of a public institution, the stability and possibility of long-term sustainment of such cooperation, and the tensions associated with the institutionalization of the activist impulse. The author uses collected interviews with members of the “Sunflower” SCC collective and people working at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, as well as participant observation, to answer questions, such as whether art institutions are able to support activist initiatives without taking away their potential and preying on the efforts of activist individuals; whether they can be a place for what Sara Ahmed describes as “queer uses ,” and what shape “solidarity museology” or a “museum of the common good” can take. Key-words: “Sunflower,” Ukraine, museum of the common good, solidarity museology, queer uses