Image: from presentation and performance from Planet Congress workshop led by Darek Śmiechowski, outside the Basilica on ul. Kawęczyńska.

At a presentation about the Wonders of Warsaw project at Tarabuk Cafe in April, we met with the organisers of The 11th Planet Congress. This is a group of young student architects and urban planners -  concerned with encouraging and nurturing social participation in the redevelopment and regeneration of public spaces. How might we collaborate?

They were organising a series of workshops in September and wanted to participate in the Wonders project in some way. The workshops would be considering social and spatial transformation processes which are taking place in two districts of Warsaw: Praga and Zoliborz. The Congress intended to contribute to these discussions in a creative way – the ideas and outcomes of workshops and discussions will become part of possible transformations of space of Praga and Zoliborz.

With Studnio O we had planned workshop activity in Praga – as part of Warsaw Breakfast – for September and October, so we joined forces to  organise a workshop called Emotional Routes of Praga as part of the Congress event. Our aim was to look at Praga from the point of view of its inhabitants, to try to find places important for them because of memories, emotions, special events – both historical and personal – and feeling of belonging and attachment, as well as sense of place. We wanted to look at which of those places they hope to save, renew, modernize. What wonders might we find in Praga?

Starting with the Museum of Praga (currently in planning stages) workshop participants were invited to explore the area, engage with local residents and create a map, a visual interpretation of the area based on their reflections. For the Museum this was the beginning of a process of building of Praga’s memory and identity by the local inhabitants.

The workshops took place at Wyższa Szkoła Menedżerska (the new Higher School of Management) on ul. Kawęczyńska. The Director of the Museum, Janusz Sujecki, presented participants and an invited audience with a multicultural history of Praga from the 18th century onwards. Participants had the opportunity to interview a range of local residents. Residents then took them on a number of guided walking tours through Praga. Based on these meetings and explorations, the participants created a visual map of the area, which was presented back at a final event at the Faculty of Architecture on Saturday 30th September and at Praga Warsaw Breakfast on Sunday 21st October.

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Emotional Routes of Praga workshop participants included:
Marta Młodożeniec, Tomek Duda, Kasia Kuzko, Pauline Saurei, Clemence Hedde, Joanne Lapujade, Alessandro Busà, Marcelina Chodyniecka-Kuberska, Barbara Marchwicka, Joanna Chomeniuk

The Table
Let me share with you one example of how workshop participants engaged with local people – one small example of cultural animation in a public space. The resources required: one table, paper and paper table mats, pens and pencils. (And the help of a couple of local guys hanging out on the street, who then helped carry the table for part of the day to different location). What was interesting about this was the amount of information gathered in a relatively short time – about what spaces people used and why, which areas were avoided and for what reason – wind tunnel, beautiful park but in shade of blocks of flats all day and a cold place to be…

Marcelina Chodyniecka-Kuberska explains the process: The task was to find out from the locals what are the specific conditions of life, ways of using the particular space, their feelings about the space,social  issues and their private aspirations. In order to avoid the situation of tourists attacking the locals with photographic cameras, and therefore describing only the visual aspect of certain space, we decided to become tourist- sketcher who comes to the space and describes it for much longer time than takes to make a photographic image. So we got the situation of an artist drawing an image for in public space. But this wasn’t enough, because people are used to this kind of activity and usually don’t interact with the artist.

That’s why I used the table. I wasn’t privately sitting and drawing there for myself, but I brought the table that I wanted to share with the locals. We Poles love to sit by the table, drinking fiercely debating the issues of the greatest importance so I used this familiar situation to encourage people to help me with the drawing. You had those naive table cloths looking like Grandmothers masterpiece which also encouraged people to come and talk. So we had a nice response from the people, they were really active and gave us far more information than we expected. I created two drawings-analysis.

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For full details of the Planet Congress in Warsaw (in English and Polish) go to: www.planetwawa.org

Thanks to: Gall Podlaszewski, Katarzyna Kuzko, Marta Młodożeniec, for their involvement and enthusiasm.