One of the characteristic features of Polish transformation after 1989 was the second wave of an interest in spirituality (after the first wave in the 70s). The goal of the article is to analyse and present the connection between Paweł Althamer artistic work and New Age theories as an inspiration and a possibility of a wide interpretation of his activity. As Carl Gustav Jung was regarded as one of „fathers” of New Age, the main attention was paid to Carl Gustaw Jung’s conceptions of human potential and Undefined Flying Objects, that is one of the themes of Althamer’s works (like ”Common works”). Jung claimed that striving for fullness, in the broader sense is a concensual proces that concerns all people and might be accompanied with visual signs given as clueas „from unconsciousness”. This visual signs appearing in dreams or hallucinations, the archetypes, could be an interresting inspiration to create sculptures. The thesis of the article is that Althamer’s works could be regarded as Jungian archetypes. This attitude could „explain” some of artist’s choices and be an illustration of spiritual fascinations of the 90s. Moreover, it create more complex and incoherent picture of Polish critical art, that is often dicribed in nomothetic rather than ideographic approach (resemblances between works of different artists associeted with Polish critical art rather than variations). The approach that treats Althamer as an artis inspired by New Age philosophy enables to observe connections and similarieties between Polish art and global cultural currents.

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Historyczka sztuki, doktorantka Instytutu Historii Sztuki Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, uczestniczka Interdyscyplinarnych Studiów Doktoranckich na Wydziale Historycznym UJ. Absolwentka psychologii i historii sztuki w ramach Międzywydziałowych Indywidualnych Studiów Humanistycznych UJ, studiowała także na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim, Uniwersytecie Adama Mickiewicza oraz na Wolnym Uniwersytecie Berlińskim. Przygotowuje pracę doktorską na temat związku przemian społeczno-politycznych z polską sztuką krytyczną. Opublikowała artykuły w czasopismach naukowych („Miejsce. Studia nad Sztuką i Architekturą XX i XXI Wieku”, „Artium Quaestiones”) oraz w monografiach zbiorowych. Stypendystka subsydium „Mistrz” FNP: From the Material to the Immaterial Medium. Changes in Art in the Second Half of the 20th Century and the Discourse of Art (kier. Wojciech Bałus).