Meet the headstrong musician who's been viciously rebelling against both of the systems he lived under... and created some truly worthwhile art along the way. 

Tymon Tymanski came of age in the 1980s, probably the bleakest years of the communist regime. Much like teenagers in the West, he turned to punk rock and artistic rebellion as a way of protesting the stagnation of the society he lived in. He met like-minded young people at the University of Gdańsk, played in various bands, and formed the avant-garde art group Totart, whose absurd, and often obscene, performances and happenings aimed to provoke disorder and outrage. Then, in 1989, the whole system came tumbling down. Like other artists, Tymon had to adapt to the new reality of total artistic freedom and economic uncertainty.

How did Tymon and his band Miłość (Love) end up creating a whole new musical genre? What did the arrival of free-market capitalism in the 1990s mean for artists and musicians? Is it possible to remain uncompromising as an artist and still pay the bills?

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Time stamps

[01:25] Coming of age in the 1980s
[04:08] The origins of Totart
[06:12] Absurdity & transgression
[08:43] 1989 & the end of censorship
[10:48] A new band & a new music genre
[13:29] Disillusionment & surviving as an artist

Further reading

• Tymon Tymanski // biography on Culture.pl

• Yass: The Jazz, The Filth & The Fury // on Culture.pl

• 9 Politically Influential Singer-Songwriters from Europe under Communism // on Culture.pl

• Rock Music and the Fall of Communism // on Wikipedia.org

• The Walls Must Tumble: 10 Polish Songs about Freedom // on Culture.pl

Credits

Written & produced by Wojciech Oleksiak
Edited by Adam Zulawski
Music by Tymon Tymański, Sni Sredstvom Za Uklanianie, Tymon Tymański & The Transistors, and Totart
Scoring & sound design by Wojciech Oleksiak
Hosted by Nitzan Reisner & Adam Zulawski