Zbigniew Libera
Zbigniew Libera (born 7 July 1959) is a Polish artist, Born in Pabianice, Poland. Zbigniew Libera is best known for his controversial artwork named LEGO Concentration Camp that he designed in 1996. LEGO Concentration Camp is Zbigniew Libera’s most controversial artwork to date as he used plastic toy bricks designed for children (LEGO), to make models of National Socialist German Workers' Party Concentration Camps. It is said that the LEGO corporation sponsored Zbigniew Libera’s artwork by providing him with the LEGO bricks, however, the corporation later threatened to take legal action against Zbigniew Libera for inappropriate use of a children’s product. Zbigniew Libera insists that it was never his intention to create a children’s toy to provide to children, and that it was an artwork designed for an adult audience. Zbigniew Libera is also famous for his photography and videography such as Intimate Rites (1984), How to Train Little Girls (1987) and 'Pozytywy' (translates to 'Positives'). ‘Pozytywy’ is a series featuring Libera's photographs that captured humans living in war-torn cities. In 1982, Zbigniew Libera was arrested and sentenced to one and a half years in prison for protesting against new laws that were introduced in Poland. Many art critics have argued that Zbigniew Libera's time in prison was influential to his artworks following his release. Zbigniew Libera currently lives in Warsaw, Poland.
Contents
- 1 Life and Background
- 1.1 Arrest and Time In Prison
- 2 Lego Concentration Camp
- 3 Criticisms & Lego Concentration Camp Controversy
- 3.1 Criticisms
- 3.2 Support for Zbigniew Libera
- 4 Zbigniew Libera's Stance on the Lego Camp Controversy
- 5 Famous Works
- 5.1 Videography
- 5.2 Photography
- 5.3 Other Famous Works
- 6 References
- 7 External links
Life and Background
Zbigniew Libera, born (1959) in Pabianice, Poland, is a polish artist best known for his artwork *led ‘LEGO Concentration Camp’. Zbigniew Libera’s artworks are considered to fall under the styles of ‘pop art’ and ‘critical art’, and have been frequently used his works to comment on political and social issues. Zbigniew Libera spent his early years in Poland and studied at the Copernicus University in the polish city of Torun. Libera began his career as an artist in the mid-1980’s, working with an avant-garde group known as “Sternenhoch”. Amongst the “Sternenhoch” group were artists such as Andrezej Partum and Zofia Kulik. In 1982, Zbigniew Libera held his first exhibition in the Polish city of Łódź. Zbigniew Libera is now considered to be one of the most renowned Polish artists to date. Zbigniew Libera considers himself to be the father of critical art. Zbigniew Libera’s most famous artwork is his ‘LEGO Concentration Camp’, created in 1966, which attracted much attention because of the controversy it caused, including the LEGO Corporation threatening to take legal action. Zbigniew Libera has created several other photography artworks and videos, including La Vue 2004 - 2006, Intimates Rites 1984 and Positives 2002 - 2003.
Arrest and Time In Prison
In December of 1981, during the communist rule of Poland, Zbigniew Libera created, printed and published leaflets, posters, and political cartoons that were designed to challenge laws that were introduced to suppress protests in a coal mine in Poland named ‘Wujeck’. As a direct consequence of these leaflets, posters and political cartoons, Zbigniew Libera was arrested in 1982 and sentenced to a total of eighteen months in prison. Art critiques and fellow artists have argued that Zbigniew Libera’s time in prison contributed to his development as an artist.
Lego Concentration Camp
Zbigniew Libera’s most controversial artwork to date named ‘LEGO Concentration Camp’ was created in 1996. LEGO Concentration Camp consists of seven box sets each containing a different perspective of National Socialist German Workers' Party concentration camps in World War II, including human limbs piled on top of each other. The LEGO Corporation is one of the largest corporations to originate in Denmark and it is said that Zbigniew Libera requested a donation from the LEGO Corporation of their popular children’s plastic building blocks, to which they agreed to give Libera as part of their efforts towards their community outreach programs in Poland during the year 1966. At the time of donation, Libera had not yet given a clear definition or vision for his artwork to the LEGO Corporation. However, Libera saw the LEGO Corporations’ donation as a means of sponsoring and supporting his artwork yet to be created. Zbigniew Libera's final LEGO Concentration Camp models were placed in boxes with a logo on the top right-hand corner closely resembling the official LEGO corporation logo, making them look like a real LEGO box set for children. After creating National Socialist German Workers' Party concentration camp models out of the plastic LEGO building blocks, Zbigniew Libera then photographed the models and cut each photograph up into puzzle pieces and put them into boxes that closely resembled real LEGO box kits designed for children and sold in toy stores. The models, photographs, LEGO-like packaging, and the cut-up photographs/puzzle pieces have since been purchased for large amounts of up to $7,200 and displayed by museums and art galleries all over the world. Zbigniew Libera’s work also inspired the Jewish Museum in New York to host their ‘Mirroring Evil: National Socialist German Workers' Party Imagery / Recent Art’ exhibition in 2002.: ‘LEGO Concentration Camp’ is currently owned and displayed by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Criticisms & Lego Concentration Camp Controversy
Criticisms
Zbigniew Libera’s’ ‘LEGO Concentration Camp’ attracted much controversy and criticism mostly due to the LEGO Corporations iden*y as a respected company dedicated to creating a product that engages children and expands their imagination and fine motor skills. Zbigniew Libera was criticised by the Curator of the ‘Polish Pavilion’ and famous sculptor, Jan Stanislaw, for the inappropriate use of a popular children’s toy. The Polish Pavilion invited Zbigniew Libera to display his works in the famous Venice Biennale art exhibition, however, Jan Stanislaw instructed Zbigniew Libera to not include his LEGO concentration camp models in the display. Further criticism of Zbigniew Libera came from the LEGO Corporation itself, whereby they claimed to believe that Libera created ‘LEGO Concentration Camp’ using their building blocks with the intention of being the centre of debate and attention. The LEGO Corporation also claimed they were unaware of Zbigniew Libera’s artistic intentions when they provided him with the building blocks, and that if they were aware that Libera wanted to create models of holocaust concentration camps, they would not have proceeded with the providing Zbigniew Libera with the LEGO blocks. According to the LEGO corporation, the only information they had received from Zbigniew Libera about his artistic intentions was that he would build either a house or a hospital using their LEGO blocks, in 1996.In 1997 on February 24, a press release detailed that the LEGO corporation believed Zbigniew Libera's artwork to be disturbing and deplorable, and refused to take ownership for sponsoring the artwork.
Support for Zbigniew Libera
The Jewish Museum in New York supports Zbigniew Libera's LEGO Concentration Camp because it represents a 'pivotal event in Jewish history' and important cultural at*udes. The curator of the Levinthal exhibition in the Museum of Judaica, Joan Sall, also supports Zbigniew Libera's artwork by arguing that it cleverly demonstrates an ironic point of view, whereby, a children's plaything is being used to show a destructive moment in history. Joan Sall argues that the irony of Zbigniew Libera's artwork signifies that the holocaust is not Jewish history, it is world history.
Zbigniew Libera's Stance on the Lego Camp Controversy
Despite such controversy, Zbigniew Libera has made consistent attempts to combat such criticism, and has claimed that it was never his intention to create concentration camp models for the purpose of providing them to children as a plaything. Zbigniew Libera has made clear that his intention was artistic only and that ‘LEGO Concentration Camp’ was not created as a product to be sold in children’s toy stores. Zbigniew Libera has also claimed that the meaning behind the artwork was to highlight the contrast between the horrors of the real world, and the perfect world that is presented to children.
Famous Works
Videography
Zbigniew Libera’s rise to fame as an artist began in the 1980’s in Europe when he released a series of video’s beginning with ‘Intimate Rites’ (1984), followed by ‘How to Train Little Girls’ (1987), and ‘Mystical Perseverance’ (1984-1990). These videos became popular in Europe as a result of the controversial topic Zbigniew Libera based them on; hospitals and death. 'Intimate Rites' (1984) is said to have been influenced by the treatments that Zbigniew Libera's grandmother endured in her later life, such as; being showered, being spoon fed and having her diapers changed. 'Mystical Perseverance' (1984) is said to have also been influenced by Zbigniew Libera's grandmother and her strange actions that came about as a result of her slow deterioration due to illness. 'How to Train Little Girls' (1987) is a political comment on the social norms of society such as sexual roles.
Photography
Zbigniew Libera also created a series of photographs named ‘Positives’ (2002-2003), which include photos of German soldiers destructing a barrier placed on the border of Poland and Gdansk in 1939, a Vietnamese girl escaping Trang Bang during the Vietnam War in the year of 1972, and prisoners of a liberated concentration camp.
'Mistrzowie' (2004) which translates to 'Masters' in English, is another photography work by Zbigniew Libera which captures sections of published newspapers and magazines that feature interviews with other artists in his league.
Other Famous Works
Zbigniew also released his work named ‘Kens Aunt’ in 1995 which consisted of twenty-five copies of a Barbie Doll box-like packaging design and bubble wrap. ‘Kens Aunt’ was purchased and displayed by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
Similarly, to ‘Kens Aunt’, Zbigniew Libera also created another four-box set named ‘Eroica’ which featured tiny female figures based on models of slaves.
References
External links
- Zbigniew Libera
- Konzentrationslager, on Libera's controversial LEGO concentration camp sets, with pictures.
- Zbigniew Libera's Lego Concentration Camp: Iconoclasm in Conceptual Art About the Shoah published in Other Voices, v.2 n.1, 2000.
- Residency and exhibition 2006, University of Michigan
- Profile at culture.pl