Ukryta dekada. Polska sztuka wideo 1985-1995 / The Hidden Decade: Polish Video Art 1985-1995, eds. Piotr Krajewski, Violetta Kutlubasis-Krajewska, WRO Art Center, Wroclaw 2010, 336 p.

Given the contributions of feminism or New Historicism, the statement that there is no such thing as complete and cohesive ‘”great narrative” appears to be a cliché. When writing a history, especially the first historical outline of an art field, one will inevitably get involved in the politics of inclusion and exclusion (the canon), and one will have to answer questions such as: who is speaking? and from where? Such questions evidently beset the authors of The Hidden Decade, a collection of eight texts on Polish video art spanning from the mid-1980s--when video became more accessible (replacing 16 mm films) to its rising popularization and commercialization after 1995. The editors call this decade “hidden” both because of the widespread unfamiliarity with that period, and because of its reputation as an “alternative” art form).