COURAGE

connecting collections

The photo presented Ewa Partum making her performance Stupid Woman in the Dziekanka Workshop, November 20, 1981. The performance was acknowledged as one of the essential pieces of women's art or even feminist art in Poland. Ewa Partum was one of the prominent female artists of the neo-avant-garde in the time of late socialism in Poland, alongside with Natalia LL, Maria Pinińska-Bereś, Izabella Gustowska, Teresa Murak, Zofia Kulik, and Barbara Konopka. Partum exercised the performativity of gender many times, conducting in her works deconstruction of the femininity and features associated with it. The question of gender and femininity was the subject of the Stupid Woman performance as well. On the picture taken by Tomasz Sikorski, naked Ewa Partum is performing with only chains of lights on her body.

Urbs Paterna was the manuscript newspaper compiled by activists from Noor-Tartu (Young-Tartu). Its first issue bore the name Kodulinna Teataja (Journal of the Hometown). Urbs Paterna was reproduced manually in a few copies, and not all issues have been preserved. These rare copies were passed from hand to hand. In this way, Noor-Tartu also avoided the censor.

This number is the third, and dates from 11 April 1980. This and other numbers do not contain any opposition content, only articles about culture, poetry, and discussions about the movement. It is not known whether the authorities reacted in any way to this issue, for at that time the movement could act relatively freely, and without major restrictions.

Like the entire collection, this particular copy of the newspaper belongs to the core group of Noor-Tartu. It has not attracted wider attention, which is the intention of the current holder of the collection. Only Indrek Riigor briefly mentioned the newspaper in his BA thesis. It is possible that it will be used for research after the collection is given to an institution.