At a press conference on 27th January 2016, Anna Hryniewiecka, the centre's director, explained:
The #1050 project constitutes an entirely new approach towards an anniversary that will be celebrated by many other institutions in Poznań this year. We want to ask the question of how the baptism of Poland has impacted our contemporary identity. It is precisely the contemporary aspect that is most important for us in this project.
The #1050 project invites reflection on how our culture, language, politics and our perception of the world in general have been impacted by Mieszko I's decision to adopt Christianity. The series of events planned throughout March, April and May includes concerts, workshops, discussions and lectures. One of the projects is the 60 Polish Sentences exhibition, exploring the relation between language and Christianity. The visual presentation will include most commonly used phrases and sentences, as well as film and literary quotes, with commentary by famed linguist Professor Jerzy Bralczyk.
Anna Hryniewiecka stated that CK Zamek wants to tackle the challenge posed by contemporaneity and its problems by creating a space for an interdisciplinary discussion. The centre plans to produce artistic projects which focus on social and educational aspects.
One of such projects is the upcoming exhibition We Are All Migrants: Late 19th-century Letters by Polish Immigrants in the Americas. Andrzej Maszewski, the event producer at CK Zamek, described the exhibition as an interesting selection of individual and very personal testimonies, and explained:
The exhibition will consist of about 300 preserved letters written between 1890 and 1891 by Poles who emigrated to the USA and Brazil, the letters were sent to the Polish lands of the Russian partition. However, because they were intercepted by Russian censors, the letters never made it to the addressees.
The exhibition will be organised around eight topics, such as the dangers of migration and culture shock as well as alienation and homesickness.
The director announced that in 2016 the Zamek centre will also host big international projects and festivals, including the 20th jubilee edition of the CINEMA OFF International Documentary Film Festival and the 9th Ethno Port Poznań Festival, which showcases music from all over the world.
One of the projects that will premiere this year is Zamek z książek (Castle of Books), which aims to promote readership and valuable literature for children. It will consist of workshops and author meetings, featuring writers such as Wojciech Widłak, author of the Pan Kuleczka series, and Swedish author Martin Widmark, who penned The Whodunit Detective Agency cycle.
Beside the above-described events, Zamek's programme for 2016 includes numerous exhibitions, concerts, festivals, film and theatrical projects as well as educational initiatives.
According to numbers presented at the conference, in 2015 the Zamek Culture Centre was visited by almost half a million people, and almost 300,000 guests actively participated in its cultural events. Altogether, the centre hosted more than 2,500 events last year.
Source: PAP, compiled by PW, translated by OK, 29 Feb 2016