Upowszechnianie sztuki współczesnej na prowincji : uwagi o działalności Galerii Szara w Cieszynie

The article focuses on the activity of the Szara Gallery in Cieszyn that for the last 10 years presents contemporary art. Szara is one of the very few art galleries in Poland which focus on showing the latest pieces of art, yet being located far from “the centre” of the country, in a broad sense of the term. At the same time, the specific localisation of Cieszyn on the map of Poland decides on the activities characteristic for the gallery and the support for the artists. In particular for the ones from Poland and the Czech Republic, and broadly, from Central Europe. The gallery makes a lot of efforts to popularise the culture and visual arts, which allow the citizens of the town to experience the mainstream art without the necessity of leaving for Warsaw or Cracow. The purpose of the article is to show the features of the gallery run in the province that makes a decision to present an ambitious artistic, cultural and social programme.