Self-Historicization Through Photography and Documentation. Stanisław Ostoja-Kotkowski’s Archive in the National Museum in Warsaw

Abstract

The article is based on the research I carried out on the archive of Stanisław Ostoja-Kotkowski (1922–1994), the Cold War-era Polish-Australian artist living in South Australia, which is currently kept in the National Museum in Warsaw. Ostoja-Kotkowski was a pioneer in electronic art, kinetic sculpture, laser art, computer graphics and light art in the 1960s and 1970s. The article analyzes the archive in the context of “self-historicization” (Badovinac), used by this émigré artist to create his artistic identity in both Australia and Poland. The archive proves that self-documentation by the less-known creators from peripheral hubs is helpful to contemporary researchers in deconstructing dominating historical narratives. The use of photographs in the archive is seen through Amelia Jones’ notion of “performative document”, which helps to see images of ephemeral performances and actions as equal to the works of art themselves.