Your favourite image was supposed to be here. ◼️ (2021)
Year: 2021
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 91,5 x 91,5 cm
'This used to be your favourite show' it's Polish media stage blackout protest as concerns over media freedoms intensify in Poland.
Today all commercial TV channels, radio stations and web portals have gone off the air in Poland in protest at tax proposals that critics say threaten independent media, a day after Hungary’s leading private radio station lost its broadcasting licence.
The European Commission on Wednesday expressed concern for media freedom in Poland & Hungary, both of whose governments have been accused of acting to stifle opposition outlets and are under investigation for alleged rule-of-law violations.
Polish private media, much of which is highly critical of the nationalist ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, ran slogans such as “This used to be your favourite show” (#TuMialBycTwojUlubionyProgram) and “Media without choice” (#MediaBezWyboru) to highlight the planned tax on their advertising revenues.
The inspiration came from today's protest. Not to mention the Russian avant-garde artist and art theorist, Kazimir Malevich's Black Square (1923). Though this painting he made his intention clear, he wanted to completely abandon depicting reality and instead invent a new world of shapes and forms.
In the year 1913, trying desperately to free art from the dead weight of the real world, I took refuge in the form of the square. - K. Malevich
It is very important to point out that Malevich unveiled the Black Square at The Last Exhibition of Futurist Painting 0.10 held in St Petersburg (1915). The Black Square was placed high up on the wall across the corner of the room. Though this position might mean nothing to the average non-Russian viewer today, it was the same sacred spot that a Russian Orthodox icon of a saint would sit in a traditional Russian home. [link]
His work disappeared from public view in 1935 as Stalin’s state-sponsored social realism was adopted as the ‘official art’ of Soviet Russia. The Black Square wasn’t exhibited again until the 1980s, became an icon that couldn’t be seen by many. I took inspiration from here. Media, if will become controlled by the government, it means they won't be free, means many shows, movies, films, documentaries, art shows and more will be blocked for the viewer. It is a sad day for the Polish people, as our screens turned black today, my art became the Black Square.
