Small poster for a series of political happenings in Łódź, late 1988 and early 1989

Łódź: Wolna drukarnia MSW, [1988]. Single sheet, xerox-printed to recto, measuring 36 × 25.5 cm. About very good; old creases. Apparently unrecorded poster for a series of "manic" political happenings slash performances held at the Galeria Działań Maniakalnych in Łódź, a branch of the Pomarańczowa Alternatywa (Orange Alternative), an originally Wroclaw-based anti-communist artist group. The movement was born out of the student protests at Wroclaw in the early 1980s, and its leader was Waldemar Fydrych (born 1953). It is perhaps best known for painting little orange gnomes over Solidarity and other anti-State graffiti that had been painted over by the authorities. Never an explicitly political movement, the Orange Alternative instead fused elements of surrealism and dadaism with urban protest in the tradition of Dutch Provo and the kabouters. DIY xerox punk aesthetic, with a drawing showing a bearded male making love to a five-pronged star. As of November 2019, we are unable to trace other copies. See also: Happening Against Communism by the Orange Alternative, Kraków: International Cultural Centra, 2011.