KwieKulik through the Lens of Feminism

Abstract Active in the 1970s and 1980s, KwieKulik was a Polish artistic duo comprised of Zofia Kulik and Przemysław Kwiek. Despite the duo’s dissolution in 1987 and Kulik – the female artist – having departed from her previous practice, KwieKulik’s art is framed by the so-called political and regional context of Poland’s state socialism. This article argues that the still on-going struggle of Kulik for self-definition opens up the possibility of rereading KwieKulik’s art through the lens of feminism. It analyses the visible and invisible gendered roles and identities reflected in two of KwieKulik’s most characteristic performances: Monument without a Passport and Activity for the Head: Three Acts. The visible refers to how, in their performances, Kulik had to actively allow herself to be restricted and humiliated in order to be viewed as a subject. The invisible, meanwhile, refers to the maintenance work that Kulik did for KwieKulik, which was once rendered secondary to Kwiek’s ambition for the appearance of spontaneity.