The 2008 Summer Arts Academy was a challenging creative 10-days program of exploration of the urban environment, engaging with people and using various media and artforms. The program of the Academy was build on the theoretical and practical platform of cultural animation. Summer Arts Academy took a form of a creative project lead by cultural animation practitioners & artists Ania Bas and Alicja Rogalska (members of Laundry).
The working languages of the Academy were English, Russian, Belarusian and Lithuanian.
The project started with short visit to Kaunas, where Linara Dovydaityte (from Vytautas Magnus University & CAC Vilnius) did a talk about cultural animation and Kaunas based project: Kauno Stebuklai.
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…
Watch these wonderful photos taken by Tomek Kaczor and Janek Mencwel on the day of the event (April 26th) in all its many locations on both sides of the Vistula river.
As part of the "5 Zloty Projects" action at Bazar Rozyckiego, Dan Roberts and Pamela Wells co-operated with Katedra Kultury and students from the Institute of Polish Culture to meet people waiting at the bus stop, asking "Where are you going?" and "Where would you like to be going?" Responses were written on small pieces of paper that were hung onto a washing line. These were then moved over people’s head via a pulley that went from the bus stop into the market enclosure. In exchange, participants received a badge and alternative abstract ‘directions’ for their journey.
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.
Dzień pełen wrażeń, działań, opowieści, cudów i wędrówek po Powiślu i Pradze. Oba brzegi Wisły połączone nie tylko liniami autobusów 174 i 162, ale także akcjami animatorów kultury z Warszawy, Litwy, Czech i Wielkiej Brytanii wspólnie prezentujących swoje pomysły na akcje w przestrzeni miejskiej.
Day full of events, activities, stories, wonders and wandering around Powisle and Praga. Both banks of Vistula linked not only with bus lines 174 and 162, but also with actions of cultural animators from Warsaw, Lithuania, Czech Republic and England, presenting their ideas of animating urban spaces.
Thanks very much to Patka, Gosia & Lukas. This is a pretty rough translation. Please forgive us if we made mistakes. We figured the most important thing was to get the basic ideas out there.
Video made by Blue Group: Vilma Baltrušaityt, Silvija Burokait, Ernesta Stackevičien, Violeta Mikutaityt, Aidis Stuck and Beata Godlewska, working with Brendan Jackson.
Jeśli chcesz spełnić swoje marzenia, a do tego podzielić się nimi z innymii… - bez ogromnych sum piedniędzy - bez sponsorów - bez wypełniania stert papierów - bez oficjalnego wsparcia żadnych (jaki wkolwiek) instytucji…
Dołącz do dyskusji na temat „D.I.Y. – Do it Yourself (Zrób to sam)"
If you want to make your dreams come true And to share them with others… - without great amounts of money - without sponsorship - without filling in stacks of paper - without official support of institutions
then please, join the discussion on the topic „D.I.Y. – Do It Yourself (Zrób to sam)"
WHEN: 3 February, 2008 (Sunday), from 14.oo-16.oo if you are in POLAND or 15.oo-17.oo if you are in places like Lithuania or 13.oo-15.oo if you are in ENGLAND
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