On the WOK.radar

Z założycielkami grupy i pomysłodawczyniami rezydencji domowych z tutoringiem dla artystek-matek małych dzieci rozmawiają Aleksandra Wiechowska i Miranda Zarzycka.

What impact does freelance status have on the lives and career trajectories of contemporary dance artists? How do professionals in conceptual dance organize their work in a "project-to-project" mode?

In the season of the “artificial intelligence boom”, why not draw on the knowledge gained from recent conversations about the established (and emerging) models of cultural work – ecology and overproduction?

The publication which sums up the project Artistic, Collective, Metropolitan. Warsaw art studios as micro-institutions address the issue of creative work, its regulatory frameworks and constraints through viaf the functioning of art studios. Focusing on city-owned properties, studios rented on the commercial market, the creative space available at the Academy of Fine Arts, and studios run by creative cooperatives, we explore the different ways in which creative work can be organised, which usually depends on the availability of dedicated space.

The publication Jacy tacy nowacy? Doświadczenia współpracy polskich organizacji kulturalnych z białuskimi artystami w zakresie projektów teatralnych [Who are we all? The Experience of Cooperation on Theatre Projects between Polish Cultural Organisations and Belarusian Artists] attempts to observe the cooperation of Belarusian artists and artist groups with Warsaw-based cultural institutions on theatre projects. We are primarily interested in the challenges and possibilities of supporting artists.

Engaging with an audience in a collective manner can also be a political act, with the potential for social transformation and emancipation.

Who should answer this question? There are many people who read and promote reading, and multiple approaches to the problem. At the Warsaw Observatory of Culture (WOK), we have created a platform for sharing cross-sectoral knowledge and reflections on reading, in order to capture the transdisciplinary sense of reading promotion.

The British Brutalists, cultural activism and a theatre attacked by right-wing extremists - Paweł Łysak, director of Warsaw's Powszechny Theatre, talks about the behind-the-scenes work of running an institution in the midst of political tensions.

Is it possible to manage a large urban theater known for its high artistic aspirations in an empathetic, inclusive, and humane way? Anna Rochowska, the director of TR Warszawa, reveals the challenges she faces while trying to reconcile seemingly contradictory elements.

Will the new model for a cultural institution be an outlet in a state of constant formation, uninterrupted transformation and repurposing? How do you manage a museum that is constantly migrating, under construction, shrinking and expanding its space? Joanna Mytkowska, the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Warsaw talks about managing an elusive structure.

The study of cultural education in Warsaw is a study of the city itself: its radically changing community; its shifts and uncertainties in the face of global challenges; as well as its local conditions and their impact on the lives of Warsaw’s residents. WOK presents the report Cultural Education in Research and Action, which concludes the second phase of our study on cultural education practices in Warsaw.

Female voice amplifiers versus dad jokes. Under the leadership of Joanna Mueller, we open our space to poetry and invite all readers to discover new poetic voices and search for works that are not chameleons. A conversation with the poet Joanna Mueller is the last in a series of interviews with experts in the Reader Education research project conducted by the Warsaw Observatory of Culture.

Can you live radically with your head in the clouds? In the age of the digital revolution, it is a thorn in the side of literary purists and a one-night-read, so to speak, if we betray the logic of progress, profit and consumption. The answer is complex. As an invited panellist at the Eye on the World (L'œil du monde) conference at the National Library on 22 March, I spoke about the implications of WOK research and what reading education could look like in the age of the digital revolution.

The Open and Developing Catalogue of Intercultural Practices is the result of months of work by the React! network. We believe it can be helpful in working with individuals with migration and/or refugee experience. We call the catalogue ‘developing’ and ‘open’ because it is a dynamically evolving collection of practices that we will adapt and update in response to changing needs and cultural contexts. ‘Developing’ means that the document is constantly updated with new experiences and solutions.

The European Commission points to the digital transformation as one of the driving forces of change in the European workplace. The growing amount of data, its use in various industries and positions, the development of work on artificial intelligence and its potentially disruptive nature for the labour market make data analysis skills increasingly important.

Are cultural institutions destined to be organised in traditional ways? How can we think differently about structure and working methods? What kind of model would we like to see if we are tired of the hierarchy of roles? How can we communicate effectively? How can we make decisions safe and fast? These and other questions drove the workshop on the basics of sociocracy that I ran for the team of the Warsaw Observatory of Culture. Here is a brief overview of the model discussed for those interested in self-organisation.

Presenting the solutions developed by experts for the cultural sector during a time of transition. On 26 September, a debate on the organisation of the financing and functioning of culture in Poland took place at the Nowy Teatr in Warsaw. The debate focused on four main issues: the law on the status of professional artists, cultural institutions, the decentralisation of culture, and social and civic culture.

What are the interests of young refugees in Warsaw? How can we reach them? These are some of the questions that we at the Warsaw Observatory of Culture have been asking for some time, and then Oksana Kolisnyk, a student of Social Arts at the Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw, approached us with a request to organise workshops in our WOK.lab.

The project offers perspectives on the development of Warsaw's cultural offering until the year 2040. The results showed the directions that cultural institutions should take in view of becoming more attractive in the eyes of young people in the future. The results and the formulated recommendations can be adopted by all institutions in the development of their cultural offer.

The Museum Watch Governance Management Project was drafted to help the museum community address management challenges more efficiently. The idea emerged out of the existing Museum Watch Programme, introduced by CIMAM with the aim ‘to assist modern and contemporary art museum professionals in dealing with critical situations that undermine their ability to undertake their professional practice and effect a museum’s ability to operate to international standards of best practice’.

The document contains recommendations, guidelines, and inspirations on the subject matter of projects, ways, and methods of working with recipients, as well as support tools for individuals conducting activities in the field of cultural education. The Cultural Education in Warsaw document intends to aid in planning individual educational activities an comprehensive strategies of institutions in which cultural education plays an essential role.