A postcard from Warsaw, or just relations

A year ago, during our first meeting at the WOK, which was then a relatively new institution in Warsaw, we talked a little about ourselves. Today, now that we know each other well, we want to reflect on the importance of culture beyond our own space.Drawing on the In Warsaw project, in which we invited artists with a migration or refugee background to walk around the places that are important to them, we decided to create a cultural map of the city. With the help of the invited guests and visitors, we succeeded without a hitch! We had our experts – Marta, Ania, Miranda, Iwo and our favourite accountant, Robert – take you on a walk along a map marked with coloured dots.

On the first floor of the WOK.lab, we had a map of Warsaw waiting for our guests and visitors to mark their cherished places with colourful stickers. Together we marked about 60 places that were important to us. We will tell you about some of them – these include the Bar Kawowy, Gruba Kaśka, the moat by the Barbican in the Old Town, Młodsza Siostra, the Mermaid statue on the flyover, Iluzjon cinema and Plac Konfederacji and its cafés that you can go to with friends. Last but not least, there is the wasteland between the railway tracks between Targówek and Praga.

Fot. Joanna Gałuszka

The event was supported by a visual presentation of photographs of the city by the KANAPLEIDIKI duo, Julia Leidik and Eugen Kanaplev. At the end of the meeting, guests and visitors were given a postcard of Warsaw depicting Hala Mirowska, Plac Unii Lubelskiej, Łazienki Królewskie or Dworzec Centralny. Everyone was familiar with these places, although the most difficult to decipher was the somewhat mysterious depiction of the summer residence of King Stanisław August. Many people were also puzzled by the photograph of Hala Mirowska, which looked old even though it had been taken recently. Plac Unii Lubelskiej was thought to be reminiscent of New York, but the most popular photo was that of the Central Railway Station – perhaps because this place connects our individual versions of Warsaw with other vital points on the map of Poland.

But let us return to the scholars, as this day was theirs. The presentation, discussed by Marta Wesołowska, was crowned by a cloud of hashtags that most often accompanied your projects. There were many important keywords, including emotions, fear, multiculturalism and transgender. However, the word that came up most often was ‘relationships’ – not surprisingly!

Tag cloud

Dwutygodnik weekly was a supporting partner of our meeting and, in agreement with the Office of Culture of the City of Warsaw, created a subpage dedicated to the scholarship holders.