One needs a lot of determination and strong nerves to work in culture – this was the moral of the meeting with Bogna Świątkowska, the most practical of practitioners of Polish culture, who led the first class in the Art in Practice series.
Bogna Świątkowska hardly needs to be introduced to anyone associated with culture in Poland. Her biographies on various websites describe her as a “promoter” and “propagator” of culture. “I don’t have an education that would ‘entitle’ me to work in the field of culture,” she told the meeting, “I haven’t finished any studies, let alone studies related to art. In view of this, all my activity is based on enthusiasm and genuine interest in culture, not as a detached field isolated in the gallery space, but culture understood broadly – as an effect of human activity creating civilization, culture understood as the totality of human behavior in social life”.
Bogna Świątkowska presented her practice on the basis of the Bęc Zmiana Foundation, which she founded.