The Wonder of Warsaw

zzzz zzzz, ‘Yurta of storytellers’.
Photo: Jan Mencwel.

REVIEW

Mark Webster gives an account of the pan-European Animator project and its final event in Warsaw on 26 April.

Reviewed by: Mark Webster

It was a warm spring-like day in late April when I found myself in Bazar Rozyckiego, a market in Praga, a slightly down-at-heel, colourful district in Warsaw on the other side of the River Vistura. I was there as a guest of The Institute of Polish Culture at Warsaw University and had been invited to come and observe and participate in a series of events to mark the culmination of a two-year European collaboration called Animator. This project has seen students from Poland working with students from Lithuania, and involved collaborations from artists in the Czech Republic along with Laundry, a Midlands-based artist collective.

Arriving on that sunny April morning to a variety of creative interventions in the centre of this once bustling market, I saw a range of small exhibitions in the open air and a series of mini participatory arts activities led by students and collaborating artists. One mini project involved members of Laundry working with students, talking to passers-by and writing the responses on small pieces of paper that were hung on a washing line. These were then moved over people’s heads via a pulley that went out from the market enclosure onto a bus stop in the street. On each piece of paper was written the answer to the question “What would you like to be doing now?”

On arrival it was clear I was not going to be allowed to be a bystander. I was immediately invited to join in one of the five Zloty projects being handed out on slips of paper to students and willing passers-by for use in engaging with the shoppers and stallholders. One of the tasks was: “On the narrow colourful pieces of paper collect people’s answers to the question ‘What do you dream about?’ Then attach them to the string of a kite. Then go to a chosen high point and organise an action ‘To liberate dreams!’”

The project and collaboration has been led by Warsaw University as an action research project and a series of practical student and artist-led projects around a process called Cultural Animation. The notion of Cultural Animation has its roots in 1970s cultural activism in Poland. As an alternative to the State-dominated, centralist vision of culture, artists, dramatists, writers and film makers evolved a way of working and theory of arts practice that was intended to be inclusive and democratic: an authentically artist-led movement that aimed to engage with the masses in order to foster genuinely independent, inclusive grassroots Polish culture.

The modern-day theory and practice of Cultural Animation in Poland has many of the traits of community and participatory arts practice in the UK, in that it emphasises inter-cultural dialogue and participation. More specifically it aims to give people a voice through using the arts and creative activity, thus narrowing the gap between the artist and the people. What marks out Cultural Animation as different to community arts in the UK, however, is that it has a well-documented history and has attracted the attention of academics to the extent that it has a developing body of work theorising and explaining its practice in English as well as Polish.

The Institute of Polish Culture has been an active proponent of Cultural Animation since it developed it as a specialist course of study that students could follow a number of years ago. Their aim, as part of the University of Warsaw, is not only to research and document the practice, but also to actively support the students in exploring the practice through actively engaging in practical projects and collaborating with artists and creative practitioners.

Animator has been a two-year programme funded through the European Leonardo da Vinci Fund. There were a number of strands to the project. One involved study visits to the UK for Polish students to enable them to view and participate in practical projects. These students also attended a week-long residential of practical workshops in Poland with students from Kaunus University in Lithuania. The aim was to enable students to gain skills in a range of media-based participatory workshops. Another strand led to collaboration between Czech and Polish graduate theatre practitioners, which resulted in a book that was launched on the day of events. Two practical ongoing projects that formed the backbone of Animator were ‘The Wonders of Warsaw’ led by Laundry and ‘Warsaw Breakfast’ led by the University itself. ‘The Wonders of Warsaw’ saw Laundry lead a range of practical projects which asked people to name and describe their own personal wonder of the city. The results were turned into a publication also launched on the day. ‘Warsaw Breakfast’ was a series of ten events working with local people, storytellers and musicians from across the city, which culminated in a series of performances in a yurt on the day itself.

Speaking afterwards about the day itself and the whole project, Pamela Wells from Laundry was very clear that one of the most important things for her about the project was the opportunity to publish books about the work and to develop some theory and reflection to serve as a vehicle for learning: “I think to some degree the community arts world in England is a little bit anti-intellectual so I think it is really good to have this kind of kick, to be around people who are really imbedded in the discussions and theory.” Iwona Kurz, the project leader from Warsaw University, also talked about some of the softer outcomes being some of the most important: “Obviously the books are a tangible outcome which document the projects and explain what Cultural Animation is, but equally important was meeting new people and exchanging new ideas.”

For me, as an outsider but involved in debating issues related to the community arts practice, one of the most significant things about Animator has been the dedication to critical reflective learning and sharing practice. The project had a website, which featured an ongoing blog in the three languages, and discussions with key writers and practitioners in all three countries. They have also produced a book called Teraz! Animacja Cultury (Cultural Animation Now), intended as an explanation of the project and a guide to the potential practitioner. All this enthusiasm for debate about cultural practice is genuinely refreshing and such a change from stagnant post-Blair Britain. People seem genuinely interested in not only doing the work but in thinking about why and how they do the work. Warsaw University deserve recognition for the important steps they are making to bring together theory and practice and probably more importantly for the investment they are making in the next generation of Polish cultural practitioners.

Thanks to Iwona Kurz and Anna Rogozińska from Warsaw University and Pamela Wells from Laundry for their invaluable help in writing this article.

www.culturalanimation.com

Writer detail:
Mark Webster is senior Lecturer in Community Practice at Staffordshire University.

INTERFACE

REVIEW

The Wonder of Warsaw

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