The main theme of the 22nd SURVIVAL was Romanticism: the question of which meanings and values derived from the Polish – as well as regional and European – Romantic tradition persist to this day and how they shape our perception of contemporary reality.
Romanticism as an artistic movement in Poland is identified with the struggle for independence and the dream of creating a sovereign state rooted in a messianism meant to save Europe. At the same time, across Europe, Romanticism accompanied the formation of the concept of the nation – as we understand it today – and, in a sense, shaped national aesthetics. The Romantic trust in the invisible, the irrational, and the ungraspable by science enabled spirits to participate in the processes of nation-building. Thus, in the Polish tradition, independence appears to be inextricably tied to that which escapes reason. The title “Frenzy and Independence” is borrowed from *Romantic Fever* by Maria Janion, where this outstanding scholar of Romanticism writes:
“Romantic fever is fantasy and the experience of the cosmos, it is tragedy and revolution, it is frenzy and independence, above all, it is the discovery of a new marvel – new, because it turned out that all of reality – visible and invisible – is ‘marvelous’, charged with unexpected signs and meanings, exploding with ‘miracles’ in even the tiniest of events.”
One of the most essential features of Romanticism is spiritual opulence, emotional excess, and a peculiar intensity that commands us to see the world as an impenetrable enigma filled with symbols, secret messages, and superhuman mysteries. Irrationality is a virtue, and the uncanny – a reality.
The inward approach of Romanticism to national and identity issues, focused solely on the vision of patriotic attitudes shaped by national bards, resonated through the following centuries. Equally significant is the impact of Romanticism on the collective, by reinforcing the crucial role of nationality in the worldview of Poles and the belief in the uniqueness of the Polish nation and its history. This, in later years, led to a turn towards xenophobic and nationalist ideologies. Romanticism, with its burden of myths of heroism and messianism as the “core tradition” of Polish patriotism, continues to influence the language and consciousness of far-right groups through the often-cited works of great Romantic poets. In this context, it demands deep critical reevaluation.
An important issue is also the reading of history through the prism of the Romantic vision of Poland’s past. A significant example is the image of the Slavic world broadly conceived by Romantic writers – one could even say it was an alternative to scientific discoveries. Strong enough that knowledge based on research about Slavic tribes cannot break through to general awareness due to the wall of myths and legends created during Romanticism. The 19th-century fascination with the Slavic past, especially beliefs, remains a cultural phenomenon still resonating in cultural texts and even academia.
The search for pre-Christian knowledge and rituals led some Romantics to appreciate folk traditions and assign them a special role in shaping Polish self-consciousness.
Importantly, in harmony with the 19th-century processes of democratization, this belief was tied to the idea of the people’s full participation in civic life. At the same time, a specific form of Orientalism emerged from European Romanticism, characterized in the Polish tradition by a unique view of the nearby East: Ukraine and Russia. A good example is Mickiewicz’s *Crimean Sonnets* – the first sonnet cycle in the Italian style written in Polish, published in 1826 in Moscow and introduced with a quote from Goethe. The exuberant descriptions of the journey to Crimea serve as an opportunity for the Polish pilgrim to express longing for his homeland and to self-define from a Western perspective. To this day, the Polish gaze toward the East often evokes a similarly Orientalizing lens, which calls for an Occidentalist reflection.
Although Romanticism, along with the ideological weight developed by its creators and thinkers, seems unquestionable and untouchable, in recent years, attempts have been made to reread the entire movement – particularly the archetype of the “Romantic hero” – anew, for instance in a postcolonial or queer context. Traces and aesthetics of Romanticism are being explored today in pop culture, rich in works drawing from gothic novels and vampirism. Contemporary spirituality and the broader search for meaning in areas distant from scientific knowledge also seem to trust intuition and the heart in the spirit of Romanticism. A significant aspect of 19th-century spirituality is its feminist dimension – by taking on the role of medium, women not only gained financial independence but also public attention.
One of the most frequently referenced moments of silence in Polish history is the unveiling of the Adam Mickiewicz monument in Warsaw on December 24, 1898. A silence believed to have resulted from organizers’ fear of provocations, but which offered the gathered crowd an unforgettable moment of unity and attentiveness. There have been few such moments of opening space for all voices to be heard – especially those silenced and intimidated – in Polish public and national discourse. A series of works presented in the Sound Scene program is an attempt to create such safe and inclusive spaces that speak to the need for deep listening, attentive to the other and the unknown, forgotten, and overlooked.
The opposition of sound art to the classical system of music also relates to the Romantic idea – its programmed pursuit of inspiration and emotional experience. This model persists to this day, both in academic halls and musical event programs.
Romanticism also left behind the idea of the synthesis of the arts, including Wagner’s concept of the “total work of art,” which continues to influence stage productions. Liberating sound from musical frameworks meant conceptualizing and contextualizing it, and shifting from the totality of music toward a profound experience of sound. These are tools we can also apply in dialogue with Romanticism, to question both its origins and the effects we now regard as canonical – such as the music of Chopin.
Romantic music was, of course, dominated by men; the works of women composers from this era are less known, showing that they remained in the shadows of famous male musicians with whom they were connected by blood or love – like Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Alma Mahler, Clara Schumann, or in Poland, Filipina Brzezińska and Maria Szymanowska. History could have taken a different path if open forms proposed by, for instance, Tekla Bądarzewska or Louise Farrenc had been embraced – perhaps free from nationality and historicism, but grounded in spirituality.
In this year’s edition of SURVIVAL, we ask about another possible image of Romanticism – on the level of emotions, myths, and facts – sometimes in opposition to what is already known, familiar, and repeated. We are deeply interested in reflecting on the products of Romanticism and their long-lasting influence – asking to what extent certain Romantic patterns and beliefs are still with us today.
