Science provides truth and art provides beauty. But is it possible to have truth and beauty simultaneously? Such a thing was once eagerly believed, but the nineteenth century erected formidable walls between the two. Positivist science tried to describe man in a distanced and abstract way, while art sought a mystery of life which could not be expressed in words. The conflict between these two original forms of understanding the world continually intensified. In the next century, the bastions collapsed, there was a surreal confusion, and radical gestures were made, but neither truth nor beauty emerged from under the rubble, only their hybrids. And then there were more struggles and displays… vicious circles, puppet dances.
This is not an issue about demarcation lines, divisions, or criteria of “purity.” In the texts, art and science begin to dance the tango, pulling together and moving apart. What counts is closeness and improvisation. The dance will continue until a border is crossed and science becomes a true art.
The issue also contains an extensive review section. The reviewers discuss works such as Marcin Zaremba’s Wielka trwoga, Paweł Śpiewak’s Żydokomuna, and Andrzej Waśkiewicz’s Paradoksy idei reprezentacji.