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The setting in which Adam Michnik will speak, Piotr Uklanski's "Bialo-Czerwona" (White-Red) exhibition, unites a radically diverse group of works that engage recognizable imagery of his native country and play on his red and white color palette. Although Bialo-Czerwona is, on one level, authentically Polish, the exhibition is also, in its use of populist decorative traditions and political symbols that allude to the country's not-so-distant Communist past, a highly stylized performance of Uklalski's Polish identity.

Adam Michnik is a legendary dissident from Poland, major figure of the Solidarity movement, distinguished author and political thinker, and Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's most widely circulated daily. He is the recipient of major European awards, both in journalism and for his lifelong commitment to non-violence, dialogue, and democracy. His books include Letters from Prison and Other Essays (1985), The Church and the Left (1992), Letters from Freedom (1998), and a dozen others written in Polish and translated into over 20 languages. He lives in Warsaw

Piotr Uklanski, is an internationally acclaimed artist whose works challenge the given of national identity in the world of arts and politics at large. His recent solo exhibitions include Summer Love: The First Polish Western, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2007); Piotr Uklanski: A Retrospective, at the Wiener Secession, Vienna (2007); and The Joy of Photography at the Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Strasbourg (2007). He currently lives in New York and Warsaw, and will be present at the event.

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