The Subjective Bus Line was initiated in 2002 as a tribute to the legacy of the Solidarity movement, using the personal stories of former shipyard workers to create a subjective account in addition to the official historical record. The line addresses the need to recover memories that have never been voiced, to found a deeper insight into this significant site.
The artist Grzegorz Klaman has given the project its general shape and framework. It takes its cue from mainstream guided bus tours, but led by people who present a more insightful perspective on the history of the shipyard. As art critic Kuba Szreder has written about the project,
Grzegorz Klaman consciously broadened and split open the crack between the history of the victors, publicly celebrated as myths of the official shipyard history, and the personal tales of former shipyard workers or rather polyphonic histories consigned to the abysses of privacy, deleted for being fluid, subjective, unclear. Official History avoided the daily lives of the same workers whose mythical phantasms were celebrated during anniversary rituals. Their individual fates only deserved a lack of mention or reportage about the burdensome fate of the victims of transformation. Paraphrasing the scathing words of Godard, we are dealing here with an interesting case, where the same group of people in the space of just one decade is first elevated in an epic form and then only deserves a document.
The Subjective Bus Line in Gdańsk takes place as part of the Alternativa art festival, which presents a series of lectures, happenings, performances and concerts - all set around the context of Gdańsk's history of Solidarity and opposition and aimed at developing the ideas that fostered this change and its implications today. Two of the main exhibitions at the festival explore the visual, sensory, political, scientific and even physical aspects of the shipyard's history and the buildings still standing today, as well as the archives of the Wyspa (Island) Foundation. The exhibition presents the works of well-known artists and curators alongside younger artists from both Poland and abroad, including Matthew Herczka, Katarzyna Józefowicz, Katarzyna Krakowiak, Robert Kuśmirowski, Michał Szlaga, Mariusz Waras, Matthew Ball (in collaboration with Aleksandra Jach and Christopher Skoczylas), Konrad Smoleński and Zorka Wollny. Musical acts presented at the festival include the jazz group Pink Freud and Nils Project. Lectures on contemporary art and its cultural aspects are to be led by Alfredo Cramerotti, Okwui Enwezor, and Irit Rogoff.
The Subjective Bus Line in Gdańsk operates in parallel to the Subjective Bus Line in Genk, Belgium, which also explores the mining town's post-industrial legacy. The project takes place in connection with the Manifesta 9 festival.
The Subjective Bus Line in Genk is a project by Grzegorz Klaman and FLACC and partnered by Het Vervolg Vzw / Coal Face (BE), Wyspa Institute of Art in Gdansk (PL) in conjunction with Alternativa International Visual Arts Festival in Gdansk and with support of Meta VZW. Meta is the Flemish heritage organisation for vintage tramcars and buses. The Subjective Bus Line in Gdańsk is a project partnered by the City of Gdansk and supported by Gdańsk Shipyard, Baltic Property Trust and Drewnica Development.
Culture.pl is a media patron of the Alternativa Festival, which takes place in Gdańsk between the 26th of May - 30th of September 2012.
Subjective Bus Line schedule:
30 May - 30 September 2012
Departures: Tue–Sun, 12:00 & 2:00 pm
Languages: English, Flemish, Polish, and Slovenian
Reservations: Tel. 0048 512 055 176 / sla@wyspa.art.pl
www.wyspa.art.pl
Departures: Fri and Sat, 12.30 and 3:00 pm
Additional departures during the opening weekend of Manifesta 9: Thu 31 May at 3:00 pm, Fri 1 June at 2.30, Sat 2 June - Sun 3 June at 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm
Languages: English, Flemish, Polish, and Slovenian
Reservations: Tel. 003211603019 / info@hetvervolg.org
www.flacc.info
See more on the Subjective Bus Line at www.subiektywnalinia.pl
See the detailed Alternative festival programme at www.alternativa.org.pl
Culture.pl is a media sponsor of the Alternativa festival.
Wyspa Foundation for Progress / Wyspa Institute of Art
st. Docks one building 145B
80-958 Gdańsk
www.wyspa.art.pl
Source: press releases, Obieg.pl, Wyspa Institute of Art