Zofia Kulik's degree piece at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in the late 1960s, 'Instead of Sculpture: Lady Halina and Cones', was a deliberate denunciation of the stale vacuousness of this ossified academicism. It was an intelligent rebellion against the prevailing academicism. Although her professors expected to be presented with a fully formed sculpture, the young student submitted a series of photographs of the academy's life-class model festooned with paper cones and striking increasingly absurd poses.
As one of the technically most outstanding students of the class, she was awarded her degree in spite of her provocation.