Działania konceptualne w łódzkim środowisku plastycznym na przykładzie Grupy Konkret

The Konkret Group emerged in the spring of 1970. The group exhibited three times in Łódź, and one of their exhibitions was also shown in Sieradz. The group consisted of Aleksander Halat, Romana Halat, Ryszard Hunger, Andrzej Jocz, Zbigniew Kosinski, Andrzej Nawrot, Henryk Strumillo, later accompanied by Konrad Frejdlich and Antoni Szram. Among the group members there were artists who expressed themselves in painting, sculpture and graphics, and also ones who were associated with the creative use of text and language. The group did not have a formal program. The group members agreed, that at this specific time and place one needed to turn to concrete art, that is to concentrate on the form, not forgetting, however, about its social aspect. They perceived a way to develop art by new artistic means, using the achievements of technology and science. They did not support enclosing oneself within one discipline, they rather wanted to show the convergence of the ideas of visual art and other artistic disciplines, such as poetry. The activity of the Konkret Group may be placed on the border of conceptualism and Dadaism, however, the resignation from creating a tangible artwork that happened not sooner than in the last exhibition of the group would favour the previous. Paradoxically, the lack of presence of a recognised artwork in the exhibition of 1972 was caused by the impossibility to realise a specific concrete form. On the other hand, the form that the artists wanted to show was a form of communication, therefore it dealt with a concept, not an object. The other argument to support the conceptual character of the group was the introduction of documentation to the exhibition and the elevating of this aspect to the importance of an artwork, equal to painting. On the other hand – the Dada character of the group’s activities can be seen in the fact that in their ventures they were critical towards the artistic milieu and used ready mades. This group of young artists was open to the novelty factor in art and at the same time, the newest of artistic phenomena and tendencies became for them useful tools amongst others to deepen the essence of art.