The Rainbow - Julita Wójcik | #photography & visual arts

This art installation woven out of multi-coloured flowers appeared on Plac Zbawiciela (Saviour Square) in Warsaw on 8th Junem 2012. The Rainbow (Tęcza) is supposed to elicit joy, it’s pure beauty – according to the artist and author of the piece, Julita Wójcik.

The installation is Julita Wójcik’s third Rainbow in her career so far. The first one was built in August 2010 during her stay in the Creative Work House in Wigry. The steel-flower construction propped up the walls of the Camaldolese monastery that began to crumble due to poorly conducted archeological work on the site.

The second Rainbow stood in front of the European Parliament in Brussels in the fall of 2011. The installation was part of an artistic project entitled Fossils and Gardens initiated for the first Polish Presidency in European Union. The new Rainbow was much bigger than the previous one: it was 9 metres high and 26 metres wide, made of 8 tons of steel and over 16 thousand artificial flowers.

In order to create such a grand composition, Julita Wójcik established the TĘCZA Artistic Handicraft Centre. There was a group of volunteers that worked for a week in an apartment in Sopot and crammed the artificial flowers together with wire. Later, the flowers were attached to a garden fence on a metal structure. This arch-shaped structure was prepared by a company that specializes in producing scythes. Prefabricated components were transported to Brussels, that were then assembled on the spot.

See how The Rainbow was made in Brussels:

In the winter of 2012, the art installation made its way from Brussels to Warsaw. Three thousand flowers needed to be added, as many passers-by in Belgium liked the installation so much they took a souvenir with them. In February 2012, over a thousand volunteers helped the artist make new flowers for The Rainbow as part of workshops organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

The message this piece sends is very joyful and full of optimism. Julita Wójcik refers to the long line of positive associations affiliated with the universal symbol of a rainbow such as alliance, love, peace, hope and – in more contemporary times – movements on behalf of the emancipation of sexual minorities.

On the 6th of June 2012, there was a meeting with the artist Julita Wójcik and the Presidency Project coordinator from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute Olga Wysocka on the patio of the Chralotte café on Plac Zbawiciela.

The moment, in which The Rainbow appeared coincides with many events: The Equality Parade was on 2^nd June 2012, right after that is the Corpus Christi, and finally – the opening ceremony of the Euro 2012 football championship. In a way, it fits all these events and therefore communicates my main message: that The Rainbow is not socially or politically involved, but is free of any kind of imposed meanings. Simply there – to be beautiful.
– the artist stated.

Olga Wysocka pointed out that the location of The Rainbow on Plac Zbawiciela is not accidental:

The arc of The Rainbow accentuates the arch of the arcade and the semicircular shape of the buildings surrounding the Plac Zbawiciela.

See the assembly of The Rainbow in Warsaw during the night:

Coverage: PK , Translated by: Zuzanna Wiśniewska, June 2015

Julita Wójcik's Rainbow on Saviour Square in Warsaw – Image Gallery

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