ABSTRACT
Since 2004, when Poland joined the European Union and became eligible for special funds devoted to the development of cultural infrastructure, about 100 multimedia museums and/or exhibitions have been built or reworked in the country. The pioneering example of a successful digital exhibition is the Warsaw Rising Museum, an institution opened in 2004 with strong support from Lech Kaczyński, then mayor of the capital and future Polish president. He represented the Law and Justice (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość - PiS) party, which ruled Poland untill 2023. The inauguration of this museum marked the beginning of the Polish “museum boom,” which has produced an extensive series of new museum openings and exhibitions characterised by intensive usage of diverse multimedia. Even though they are far from original, largely reproducing familiar technological solutions, these digital displays are generously financed by state authorities, who, in many cases, offer special funding programs for digital culture. A visible “digital preference” in the cultural policy of the Law and Justice government, both in 2004–2010 and since returning to power in 2015, has resulted in a further increase of rehashed digital exhibitions and museums in Poland, even though many scholars and experts openly criticise them. Polish museums’ digital escapism has serious political implications: digital exhibitions are susceptible to political manipulation, as they can be easily adjusted to present the vision of heritage favoured by the ruling party. This chapter offers an in-depth analysis of the use of technology and heritage by right-wing populists at a time when this movement enjoyed significant political power. I consider the Polish experience with digital museums within the broader scope of the technocratic cultural policy introduced by the conservative-populist Law and Justice party, focusing on its support for digital historical games and digitisation initiatives in heritage institutions. Thus, by discussing the complex Polish case study of conservative modernisation, I hope to shed light on the relations between heritage, politics and technology.
