Crowned eagle ring

At the exhibition, we have gathered objects dating from the 18th century. – that is, the century when modern patriotism was born in Poland in the face of a threat to statehood, and the word nation began to mean all the inhabitants of the country – to modern times, when the concept seeks a new dimension and a place in the still forging civil society – and finds it there. We look at items belonging to various fields of applied art: ceramics, jewelry, furniture, textiles or prints, and ask the questions: is this an example of patriotic design due to the use of motifs relating to Polish history, local designs, national raw materials? The result of a conscious attitude of an artist who creates “for the glory of the Fatherland”? A symbol of civic involvement?

The exhibition is part of the activities conducted for several years by the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola in favor of design, recalling Stalowa Wola’s roots: design as a project – a gigantic project in the form of the Central Industrial District, within which the city on the San River was also created, and patriotism, which eighty years ago pushed thousands of people to transform Poland. It is accompanied by a catalog (featuring interviews on patriotism and applied art with, among others, director Andrzej Wajda, Professor Jerzy Bralczyk, Father Adam Boniecki, designer Robert Szuba) and a creative children’s booklet titled My Navel of the World.