The declining years of Peerel
The 1980s in the FORUM Agency’s photographs

3 June – 16 August 2009
HMH, KAROWA 20, WARSAW

THE EXHIBITION PREPARED AS PART OF THE “WYŁĄCZ SYSTEM” (OFF WITH THE SYSTEM) CAMPAIGN - THE WARSAW CELEBRATION OF THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 4 JUNE 1989 ELECTION ORGANIZED BY THE HISTORY MEETING HOUSE (HMH)
www.wylaczsystem.pl

Toilet paper on a chain in the lavatory of the Central Office for the Control of the Press, Publications and Performances (Censorship Office) at 2 Mysia Street in Warsaw. A female worker hammering bottle stoppers with a rubber hammer at a fruit wine factory. A gigantic queue for the record of the “Oddział Zamknięty” band. Jarocin: a crowd of young people holding huge radio-cassette recorders over their heads to record the concert. Tangled human legs sticking out of the window of a stopping train called a “slaughterhouse”. A female office clerk with a cigarette in her mouth seeing supplicants in the clouds of smoke. This is how outstanding photographers saw the Poland of the 1980s.

The exhibition The declining years of Peerel. The 1980s in the FORUM Agency’s photographs presents more than 200 photographs taken in the years 1980–89. They were authored by renowned photographers such as Krzysztof Wójcik, Chris Niedenthal, Jacek Marczewski, Aleksander Jałosiński, or Krzysztof Pawela. The displayed photographs come from the collection of the FORUM Polish Photographers Agency.

The exhibition was divided into chapters: The City and the Street, Commerce, Interiors, Work, Catering, Politics, Transport, Health Service, Alcohol, Jarocin, Sports, The Provinces, and Religion.

Even though there is almost no politics in the pictures, its influence can be seen everywhere. The photographs of daily life in the last decade of Peerel (short for the Polish People’s Republic) make us realize that politics affected almost all walks of life. A picture of people getting off the train, laden with everything they managed to “hunt down” in the city, long queues in front of the shops, propaganda notices in the streets and at work establishments, subversive texts on fences, walls, and in subways, meat sold stealthily from boots – it seems that none of these photographs could have been taken after the fall of Peerel.

The exhibition was open from 3 June to 16 August at the History Meeting House (HMH) at 20 Karowa Street.


The FORUM Polish Photographers Agency has been operating on the Polish press and publishing market since 1994. It provides the Polish and foreign press with current and archival photographs connected with political, economic, cultural, and social life. It was the first photo agency in Poland to have made all its collections available to customers online in 1997. In Poland, FORUM distributes the photographs of great world press agencies: Reuters, DPA, Itar Tass, EFE, Zuma Press and show business, illustration, tourist, historical, or nature agencies: Animal Press, Arco, Arturimages, Bigaustralia, Bigpictures, Bildagentur Huber, Blend Images, Capital Pictures, CNN-Images, Colourpress, Filmstills, Foodanddrink Photos, Foodcentrale, Headpress, I Love Images, Image Broker, Image Source, Infophoto, Interphoto, Keystone, Lime Foto, Medicimage, National Group, Olivia Images, Panther Media, Photomovie, Rue Des Archives, Russian Look, Scanpix, SSPL, Starface, Stockfood, SV, Topfoto, Vario Images, Visum, and Westend61. FORUM represents more than 400 Polish photographers, who entrusted the agency with more than half a million photographs: from the 19th century to the events from an hour ago. The FORUM Polish Photographers Agency has nearly eight million photographs available online.

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