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 idea of a project revitalizing a small green in front of the Institute of Polish Culture was born during photo workshops run by Juliusz Sokołowski for students of cultural animation specialization. The aim of the project was to draw attention to the place that was being taken for granted and not perceived as a social space. As a result students of the photo workshop with help of "Katedra Kultury" Association, Grupa Okołofotograficzna, IKP and university officials created a place encouraging conversations, relax, calm, studying and above all integration of all people involved with the Institute: students, teachers, employees. An important part of the event was also a photo exhibition concerning personal ways of experiencing the flow of time.
The event brought about lasting effects - the red bar stools and umbrellas set around the Institute keep on drawing everyone’s attention. The green space lives its own life now.
Photos by: Agnieszka Pajączkowska, Grażyna Teodorowicz, Jerzy Parfianowicz, Kamil Szuba, Tomasz Kaczor.
"If the word “relationship” has been stamped all over the job description at the task level, or the level of specific professional experience, then it should go without saying that it has to be evident in the way in which culture animation-related tasks and initiatives are presented. If the words “contact”, “person”, “relationship”, “bond” and “communication” are at once the primary key terms and the foundation on which the practice of cultural animation has been built, then they should be present wherever the results of cultural animation projects are exhibited. This is why it was hard to envisage an "Animation Initiatives Market" (AIM) along the lines of a "fair", like a book fair, a job fair, a tourism fair, etc. when planning the ANIMATOR project" - writes Małgorzata Litwinowicz.
And this is why the final event of April 26th was not only a platform for promotion of ANIMATOR’s results but - above all - a pilot event testing a model for exchange of ideas in education and practice in culture animation.
The Art Institute (VMU) invites you to one more finissage of the ANIMATOR project – presentation of the book ‘The Wonders of Kaunas: a field guide’ for Kaunas residents and guests. Come to the gallery ‘Meno parkas’ in the old town at 6 pm on Wednesday 7 May, get your copy of the book, take a glass of traditional punch, chat with co-authors of the book, learn more about cultural animation, meet your neighbors and friends. And don’t forget to bring your own wonder of Kaunas with yourself!
Our last visit to Gozdowo on which we could distribute publications that had been the products of Animator project brought one amazing surprise. It seems that our last year actions managed to bring enough attention to the half-ruined but not yet forgotten Gozdowo train station! There are quite a few trains going to Sierpc and to Kutno so the next time we set off to visit this wonderful place it will certainly be by train!
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.
Sobota, 26 kwietnia Bambini di Praga ul. Jagiellońska 26
Wyjątkowa okazja, aby dowiedzieć się więcej o tym, jak zrealizować własny projekt, o czym pamiętać i czego unikać, od czego zacząć i na czym nie kończyć.
Jeśli chcesz porozmawiać z doświadczonym animatorem kultury, wyślij wiadomość z wybranym nazwiskiem na adres: 1na1animator@gmail.com (do 21.04). Szczegóły i godzina spotkania oraz tematy do rozmowy zostaną ustalone indywidualnie.
Spotkania odbędą się w godz. 13:00-15:00 w księgarni Bambini di Praga. Jedna rozmowa może trwać maks. 30 minut.
1-2-1 with cultural animators: sign up for a conversation with a young cultural animator, graduate of Institute of Polish Culture. Saturday, April 28th, Bambini di Praga, ul. Jagiellońska 26.
here you can read a short research study on cultural animation in post-soviet Lithuania which was presented at the conference "Cultural Animation…?" on 25 February 2008 in Prague.
