"Warsaw Under Construction", photo by Bartosz Stawiarski
The third edition of the "Warsaw Under Construction" festival offers 65 events ranging from walks, workshops, lectures to exhibitions and screenings
A festival of urban design and spatial planning invites all citizens of the capital of Warsaw to join a discussion on the problems of Warsaw urban area. "Warsaw Under Construction" is a programme of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, devoted to broadly understood design. Once again it is held throughout the month of October.
The major exhibition, titled "Back to the city" at the spectacular Parachute Hall of the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) showcases the history of planning and housing in Warsaw. The Warsaw School of Economics main campus is the festival's main venue, its design is based on a classic, symmetrical axial layout, which consists of three art déco buildings designed in 1924 by prominent architect Jan Witkiewicz Koszczyc and finished just after the war. It is one of the best architectural spaces in Warsaw. The entire exhibition is merged into the unique architecture of the three buildings of the Warsaw School of Economics, which serves the double function of being the backdrop for the event and its integral part as well.
For the purpose of exhibition the three towers are each dedicated to one of the themes of the festival. Within each of the towers are presented the effects of the 18-month cooperation between the Museum, the think tanks established especially for the purposes of the Warsaw Under Construction festival, and a number of experts in urban development and urban activists.
The first theme of the festival wants to find answers to three questions, so important for any resident of Warsaw: "What can be done to make apartments of higher quality yet of lower prices? How can we curb the spatial chaos in Warsaw? Can active involvement of the residents in the affairs of their city lead to a positive change?"
The second topic of the festival is related to the problems and consequences of neo-liberal logic which is dominant in land-use planning and limiting the role of public authorities in managing the development of the city. We focus on critical areas on the map of Warsaw, we look for examples abroad such as the Potsdamer Platz. The exhibition features historical documents, mock-ups, old plans and drawings of the city, as well as photos capturing the specific character of the post-1989 Warsaw.
The third topic of the festival deals with the issue of participation (or reasons for refusal to participate) and attempts answering the question, how not to fetishize the concept and how make it not become a tool for legitimizing the interests of only one social group.
Forth, last, and the most specialised topic of the festival is the Polish architecture after socialism, with an indication on post-colonial experience of Polish architects. The exhibition and the accompanying academic session, ask a question about the impact of design experience in the Middle East and North Africa on the production of urban space in Poland after socialism.
Every year "Warsaw Under Construction" hosts a number of popular tours - this time devoted to such peripheral suburbs and neighborhoods. Some of the many tours include, renowned cultural anthropologist Professor Roch Sulima who takes visitors on a tour -"Garden Plot" - around the most beautiful gardens and a picnic to the accompaniment of gramophone records. In "No garden - but there's a balcony" tour-guides take visitors on a hunt for the most unique balcony gardens and visit private apartments in the company of the balcony gardening art enthusiasts. Also tours to unknown, dying sport facilities in "The vanishing sports facilities of Warsaw". A tireless promoter of culture and good food, chef and culinary journalist, Grzegorz Łapanowski takes on a culinary workshop that recalls the long-lost tradition of the "fruit harvest" for one of the main events "The Sady Club/ A culinary workshop in the Sady area of Żoliborskich".
The jam-packed programme with all the places to see and visit during the festival see: warszawawbudowie.pl.
Exhibitions during "Warsaw Under Construction":
"Back to the City"
date: 1st of October 2011 at 19:00.
location: The Warsaw School of Economics, Al. Niepodległości 162
"Black²" - An Exhibition by Konstantin Gcric
date: 3rd of October 2011 at 20:00.
location: The Museum of Modern Art, ul. Pańska 3
Ryan Gander. "Really Shiny Things That Don't Mean Anything"
date: 28th of October 2011 at 20:00.
location: Trybuna Honorowa, plac Defilad
For more information on the festival and a full festival programme see: warszawawbudowie.pl.
"Warsaw Under Construction" runs throughout the 1st to the 30th of October 2011.
Source: press materials