Museums and art are both phenomena strongly connected with collective identities. During the process of development of modern nations in the 19th and 20th centuries, museums were actors (or tools, depending on the context) of the process of the construction of collective representations. This relates to a certain link between collectivities and objects, in which the latter contribute to the emergence of social roles and the organization of social worlds. Artworks as collective representations, and memory carriers significantly participate in these processes. Since 1989, the importance of local identities has been growing. Local actors undertake organized activities to develop a sense of community and attract the attention of outsiders. Museums also participate in these processes, yet in the changing context the question arises as to whether they play a role similar to the national ones or, perhaps, different situations introduced new ways of museum involvement. The paper examines the practices during which representations of a locality are constructed to be displayed in the museum context. We are interested in how art pieces contribute to this process and how they are used in comparison to non-aesthetic artifacts. The study is based on 50 in-depth interviews collected during two projects conducted in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship in Poland and in the Kosice Region in Slovakia. Concentrating on the practices of collection building, exhibition designing, and interpretation, we discuss different classes of objects used in the process, analyze their effectiveness in representing the original context – the main topic of museum narratives – and indicate some of them as boundary objects around which arenas emerge.

In the introduction to this issue of Przegląd Socjologii Jakościowej, we undertake an attempt to characterize the contemporary field of the sociology of art in Poland. For the point of departure, we took four generations of the sociology of art as defined by Nathalie Heinich as well as the identification of the following four elements: an artwork and its reception, an artist and a creative process, an audience, and a social-institutional framework. We try to draw the timeline of this sub-discipline by means of indicating works of Stanisław Ossowski (the sociology of art sensu largo) and Florian Znaniecki (the sociology of artist) as its beginning in the country. We also define the unique status of art sociology in Poland as a sub-discipline of the sociology of culture, as well as its mutual relations with different sciences. We analyze the emergence of scientific communities and the appearance and disappearance of research specializations during the period of over 80 years. Additionally, we indicate missing pages as well as thematic fields and perspectives that are still developing. We are aware of the fact that it is difficult to exhaust the problem of the history and status of art sociology in Poland within one article, which is why our objective is, rather, to indicate problems, perspectives, and ideas that can begin the discussion on the topic.

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