A work of art is transcendent by nature. It is created mainly to cross the line of the author’s „I” and to confront itself with „you” of the audience. The language of art, and particularly that of fine (visual) arts, has always encouraged crossing the lines of nationality or race. It is a universal language and that’s why cultural exchange has always been something natural. While the transfer of goods between countries was limited, artistic work crossed all borders freely.

Before the concept of the national state was finally formulated in the 18th century, international exchange in the culture field had been obvious. A medieval painter or sculptor, before he became a guild master, wandered around Europe, learning about ideas and techniques other than those which he knew from the workroom he had been growing up in. We must remember that at that time artists regarded themselves as the citizens of a town rather than of a state, and therefore it was sometimes difficult to define the ‘nationality’ of artists such as Veit Stoss (Wit Stwosz), who was both the citizen of Nuremberg and Krakow.

When we read biographies of artists who lived many centuries ago, we find information not only about their artistic travels, but also about their work in various parts of contemporary world. Let me mention here just any two examples of the 16th- and 17th-century artists. Hans Holbein studied in Augsburg, worked in Basil, traveled around Italy, where he discovered humanism and the Renaissance, settled in France in 1524, and finished his artistic peregrinations in England, on the court of Henry VIII. The biography of Anton van Dyck, who lived and worked in Italy, the Netherlands and England, is equally colourful. His portraits could be found in the mansions of Genoese aristocracy, on the court of archduchess Isabel – the governess of the Netherlands, as well as on the London court of Charles I. Artists’ nationality didn’t particularly matter. When we look at the old Polish art, we will see how many foreigners shaped our culture.

Changes came with the formulation of the concept of a nation and the development of the idea of the national state. In the modern urbanized and industrialized world the identity of a local community was replaced by the identity of a nation. Also for artists their national identity became much more important than the previous, too general, identity that referred to the Jewish-Christian civilization rooted in the Antiquity, or than the too specific identity of a “little homeland”. The extreme example of the national attitude to art are the works by Jan Matejko, so hermetically Polish that they are totally incomprehensible to foreigners. In spite of those changes the international artistic exchange didn’t cease. However, it had to be more conventional, had to have new structures developed. Exchange opportunities were offered, for example, by the great world exhibitions at which cultural achievements of nations were presented.

The 20th century, due to - among other things - national ambitions, led to such great civilization damage and human tragedies that the only thing we can do now is to re-build confidence through cooperation. I think that such is the assumption of all those who constitute the European community based on the free transfer of goods and labour, but also of cultural achievements. The understanding of that is common nowadays and I believe nobody has to be encouraged to such cooperation.

But perhaps we should try to reflect on this subject too. Because the incentives,  financial too, are so strong that the exchange is losing its real character. What really matters is using the means, and not whether the exchange makes any sense. And so the projects have become the need of the moment, and as they are created in haste, their quality suffers. We have dozens, or maybe even hundreds of international cultural initiatives which are aimed almost merely at spending the EU money. It’s not that I complain about excessive means, but it’s always worth making sure that they are well spent.

Finally, I would like to point out our national obligation in this field, if someone still believes in such high-flown ideas. It seems that as the community of language and culture we have always been somewhere between the West and the East. So our special characteristic and virtue could be the understanding and negotiation between those so different cultures. It would be good if more Polish projects would offer them the opportunity to meet, but first of all - to understand each other. Obviously, the nations of the West and the East meet without our help and there is nothing wrong about it. But maybe the cultural and next also economic cooperation of Germans, Russians and Poles, and not the confrontation of their national and cultural interests, could become a new value.