Design Art Papers 2025 | No. 13

Fig. 5 / Jerzy Bereś, Prophecy II , Krzysztofory Gallery, Kraków, 1968, Christic pose of the artist on top of the pyre, photo by Eustachy Kossakowski third territory, neither fully public, nor fully private. The very instability of meaning in these spaces became their defining characteristic. Such in-between, third spaces, were also defined as „Gray Spaces. [4] ” Their quintessential nature was that they were taken-over by art, rather than designated for it. Using a place not designed for art exhibitions enabled a particular kind of artistic practice, especially during periods of censorship and propaganda. The half-secrecy they afforded made them ideal sites for temporary performances and body-based actions. The human body became a crucial medium in such environments, functioning as a tool to activate viewers, animate artworks, and as a suggestion for social movement. The symbolism of body art in third, alternative, gray, or underground spaces in Eastern Europe reflected broader political metaphors: in Romania, sleep symbolized social dormancy, and wakefulness, the state of social engagement; in Poland, stillness could be understood as compliance, and movement as a manifestation and social involvement; in Hungary, constant transformations were synonymous with the act of living, while constancy was perceived as the death of artistic life. Within the confined, hidden spaces of basements, the temporary presence of performing bodies carried heightened significance, embodying both the constraints and the transgressive potential of underground artistic practice. The following threecasestudies showcasehowsomespaces, in particular basements, functioned as paradigmatic sites for underground body art in Eastern Europe. Each performance took place in an actual underground location, where the physical constraints of the space added to the conceptualism of artworks that spoke about cultural, social and artistic limitations. In Poland, Hungary, and Romania, artists utilized venues located in basements to create temporary, body- centered interventions, that tested the boundaries of what was possible in public spaces during the repressive political climate. Jerzy Bereś's Prophecy II from Kraków, 1968, the collaborative The Lunch - In Memoriam Batu Ká n by Tamás Szentjóby, Gábor Altorjay and Miklós Erdély from Budapest 1966, and Alexandru Antik's The Dream Has Not Died , from Sibiu, 1986 demonstrate how the underground space became an active agent in the process of creating meaning. The basement's inherent qualities, such as its concealment, separation from official scrutiny, and architectural intimacy, shaped the phenomenological experience of both performers and witnesses. This fact made them essential elements for the understanding of body art behind the Iron Curtain. Poland: Political Context and the KrakówUnderground Poland's trajectory through the second half of the twentieth century was shaped by successive occupations and political upheavals. Following Nazi occupation during World War II, the country fell under Soviet control, officially becoming the People'sRepublicof Poland in1948. Theperiodknownas the Thaw, beginning in 1955, brought tentative modernization through a national socialist system, but economic pressures led to escalating food prices and civil unrest. The 1956 protests, known as the PolishOctober,marked thebeginning of a cycle of demonstrations that would recur throughout the1970s, eachmetwithviolent suppressionby theMilitia [5] . The resulting atmosphere of the 1970s was defined by fear 301 300 / / / / Caiete de Arte și Design / nr. 13 / 2025 / / / / Publicație a Centrului de Cercetare și Creație în Artele Decorative și Design / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /