On 3 January 2022, Janusz Janowski, painter and chairman of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers took over the position of director of Zachęta — National Gallery of Art, despite numerous protests of the art community. He was appointed without competition by Minister of Culture Piotr Gliński, member of then-ruling conservative party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Low and Justice). In the afternoon of that day, the new director entered the Zachęta building accompanied by representatives of the Ministry Culture and National Heritage and attorney Jerzy Kwaśniewski, the chairman of Ordo Iuris.

A group of women artists reacted to these events with a spontaneous protest action. Visual artist and poet Weronika Zalewska wrote about their activities: ‘On 4 January, we are spontaneously writing to those willing and those in solidarity; we are collecting eight pieces of fabric in various colours, similar to the colours of the rainbow in Plac Małachowskiego [art installation by Marek Sobczyk], under which many beautiful things happened last summer. The next day, we write questions on the pieces of fabric, questions which echo in our heads, and which seem not to exist for the authorities. Questions we want to take with us to Zachęta, even though they may fall on deaf ears. ‘Why education?’, ‘Why freedom of speech?’, ‘Why living artists?’, ‘Why diversity?’, ‘Why critical thinking?’, ‘Why contests?’ and ‘The end of art?’ refer both to the specific situation of Zachęta and its newly announced programme, as well as the values practised by the current authorities’.

On 5 January, the gathered people headed with the pieces of fabric to the Ministry of Culture building, and then to Zachęta, where they assembled the pieces into a banner on the steps before the entrance. One of the participants said about the protest, “We object to a state institution being staffed by party yes-man Janusz Janowski, whose lack of competence is evident. We came together with colourful fabrics to brighten up a bit this gloomy, disturbing, lost time’.

Ewa Skolimowska, translated by Paulina Bożek