Main entrance at the Central Railway Station in Warsaw
photo by Lech Gawuc / Reporter / East News
Aleksandra Wasilkowska follows up her "Emergency Exit" project of last year, created together with Agnieszka Kurant and featured at the Architecture Biennial in Venice, with a space-and-time tunnel out of the remains of the Warsaw Central Railway Station. Signs lead users between the futuristic new face of the edifice, currently under renovation, and the decrepit, socialist-style remains of the past
Aleksandra Wasilkowska lures the audience to directly participate in her projects. People co-create events and spaces of her works often in random ways, balancing on the verge of risk.
Her installation "Emergency Exit" made last year together with Agnieszka Kurant, represented Poland at the Architecture Biennial in Venice. People faced with the emergency exit braved a jump into the unknown several stories up in the air. The work referenced the safety regulations imposed on architecture by the law.
The author explains the idea behind her new project:
The time which passes between two events is not explicitly defined, it depends on the observer and his point of reference. The installation 'Time Machine' sets two bodies in motion. Tourists trapped in the machine travel across the railway station hall's time and space, while the time of their journey is unknown. You travel at your own risk.
"Time Machine" / "Maszyna czasu" inaugurates Dworzec Polski's (Polish Railway Station) Open Gallery, designed to open the spaces of railway stations to art. The project is part of Warsaw's efforts in the race to become a 2016 European Capital of Culture.
Grzegorz Piątek, Warsaw 2016 ECC artistic director says:
We believe art can be experienced in a city at every turn, that it does not have to be something which takes place in a set space at a set time. You don’t have to go to a museum and buy a ticket to see "Time Machine". The installation is placed inside a railway station which is used by 20 million people every year. Anyone can see "Time Machine" by chance and be touched by it At the same time the project is a symbol of Central Railway Station's turn towards Varsovians. Once admired, with time the station became the object of embarrassment. Now, after renovations, we can be proud of it again.
Curator: Jarosław Trybuś.
Runs from June 12 (opening at 12:00) to July 2, 2011.
Warsaw, Central Railway Station, Main Hall.
Source: press material