Here’s a small selection of photos from the final event in Warsaw on April 26th, mostly between 12 noon and 2.30pm.

Jacek Kauron high school, location of Wonders book launch.Clues in Praga lead to the Bazar…Mentor session, Bambini di PragaMentor session, Bambini di PragaBook launch, Bambini di PragaMentor session, Bambini di PragaMentor session, Bambini di PragaBook launch, Bambini di PragaBook launch, Bambini di PragaOur Lithuanian invigilators…

The Wonders of Warsaw and The Wonders of Kaunas - two model projects each resulting in a publication that was launched as part of the PoWisle i Po Pradze event on 28th April.

 Click here to download information panels about the Wonders projects.

Young deaf people in Warsaw share their wonders of the city.

This film was created by Brendan Jackson and Paulina Paga with pupils attending the Jakuba Falkowskiego Deaf Institute, premiered at the ‘PoWisle i Po Pradze’ event, in Warsaw on 26 April, 2008.

Presentation to pupils and staffPresentation to pupils and staffScreenshot from filmProjection at final event

Why work with a deaf group? Well, I kept seeing a lot of deaf people on the bus from the centre to Praga, and often would see groups of people signing at Wilenski. Here was a group of people that no-one from cultural animation had any experience of working with.  I wanted to invite them to participate in the project, to use their beautiful visual language of hand movements to tell us about their Wonders of the city and to document this on film for a wider audience. Simple and straightforward, yes?  But how to communicate with this group of people as a non-Polish speaker? I made some drawings of their hand movements on the bus and showed them to the signers. They shrugged and smiled and probably thought I was a little crazy. I needed a Polish speaker with me to explain the idea  – as some of them would no doubt be able to lip-read.  Paulina offered to help and we were put in touch with the Deaf Institute and met with the Director. He agreed to participate and showed us round the Institute. It turned out they had a group of teachers and students interested in film-making – mostly documenting events or making some films to promote the work of the Institute. Paulina met with them for two workshops,  to make a powerpoint presentation about the context of the overall project and to encourage them to think about what they would choose as a wonder and storyboard this. The third session was the actual filming. Ideally, we would have gone to each location that each individual described, but we had limited time with the group. So we agreed that they would each choose a location in the vicinity of the Deaf Institute as the backdrop. The filming session took about 2 hours. They had rehearsed the presentation of their idea and all contributions were filmed in a single take – except one when the group wanted to edit the contribution from Michał. He had about a dozen wonders he wanted to share on camera. They agreed on two at the end.

We had a discussion about whether or not to have any explanation of the signing –  the group decided that there should be sub-titles after each person, in Polish and English  and provided  the text to accompany their signing. The background track is a recording of  the ambient sound in the vicinity of the Institute, with all the sounds of the city in this particular locality.

One or two people attending the event and viewing the film asked us if the group were singing – due to the speed of some of the hand movements. Now, there’s an interesting idea to pursue….

Cuda: With students from - Udział wzięli uczniowie
Instytutu głuchoniemych im.Ks. Falkowskiego w Warszawie
Thankyou to - Specjalne podziękowania dla Pan: Moniki Dobrowolskiej, Joanny Łachety, Małgorzaty Czajkowskiej-Kisil oraz Pana Dyrektora Tadeusza Adamca.

 The video is below but you can also go to youtube and view it full screen.

Here is some photo documentation of the Wonders project in Kaunas.

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The Wonders project in Warsaw
Where are the Wonders of Warsaw? What, where or who within the city do you find memorable, special and unique? We are working on a publication to document this project, so please continue to propose your personal Wonder of Warsaw. We’ll post them all, and in Polish and English. Visit the specific page and Nominate your Wonder now!

The Wonders project in Kaunas
Students of the The Art Institute at Vytauta Magnus Univeristy in Lithuania searched for the Wonders of Kaunas in November and December. Visit the Kaunas page and nominate your Wonder.

Gallery of images from the Praga Warsaw Breakfast added to post: With Batman between Gotham and Paris. Click here to view.

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?

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A lot of activities in Gozdowo seemed to revolve around children. In many ways, these are the easiest group to provide activities for or to involve in activities.  I have worked with a lot of community arts projects where playschemes for children and young people – usually under 14 – are poupular ways to engage with a community. Providing creative activities for this age range is a a guaranteed way to win the approval of parents and elders. Some of the most successful activities (in the UK) have worked around a theme of some kind (Treasure Island/Rock’n'Roll Week/Around the World in 80 Days/Hip-Hop Special and so on…); but the point was to use this as a starting point in building a relationship with an existing community group, or an unorganised group of adults.

Bearing this in mind, I discussed with Ania Rogozinska from Katedra Kultury how we might engage with adults in the community. In Gozdowo, the cultural organisations (if we want to describe them in this way) that exist are the school, the church, the library – places where people gather, socialise and interact in various ways. We started with the library and met Pani Ania and talked to her (and her staff) about the activities that the students were undertaking. We had the idea to ask every adult we met (and children) two questions. The first: What is your special talent? (Our definition of this was as broad as possible – cooking, sewing, accounting and so on.) We wrote down the answers and asked if we took take a photograph of the person concerned. The second question was (as asked by Ania): Can you give this English person a Polish word to learn? These were also written down. Both questions prompted a conversation. People took both questions equally seriously, and spent some time considering their answers. Only one person we asked said they did not have a talent, though they later relented and told us when we saw them another time. Pani Halina’s insert real name of librarian talent was ‘lace-making’; one of the cleaners at the school ‘drew and painted small animals’; and so on.

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A group of individuals, with diverse skills and experience, descended
on Gozdowo in June to both enjoy the hospitality of Dom Wiktorscy and engage with local people. Gozdowo is a village of around 1000 inhabitants near to Płock and Sierpc.

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I’m posting an essay as a resource for you to download. (It’s only about 12000 words.) The essay - Reflections on creative practice – Artists working in the context of community consultation - formed one part of a substantial report (‘Do You Know What You’re Asking?’) produced at the beginning of this year for Nirex as part of an ongoing discussion about stakeholder involvement in decision-making.

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