Plac Defilad: A step forward
9th edition of the WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION festival
The main exhibition of this year’s edition of the festival WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION presents various faces of Plac Defilad shaped by history and transformation processes.
The identity of the site has been determined by occasional large-scale events. The most significant of them included the World Festival of Youth and Students (1995), Władysław Gomułka’s address during the political “thaw” (1956), holy mass celebrated by the Pope (1987) and the modern-day annual concerts organised to celebrate New Year’s Eve and the Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.
The exhibition looks at this centrally located public space through the lens of activists, urban planners and architects; it offers an account of several decades of planning and heated debates. The show also reports on the moments when – instead of the subsequent unimplemented concepts – the reins in the square were taken over by spontaneous urban life, free trade, triumphant cars and failing incompetent spatial management. The energy of taking matters in one’s own hands without regard for the good of the community as well as a blind eye turned to wild reprivatisation of properties came well ahead of the establishment of an urban square with a democratic space. The development of the site according to the needs of the inhabitants was postponed indefinitely several times.
The exhibition is underpinned by the question concerning potential changes at a time of crisis of hitherto formulated visions of planning based on collaboration between the authorities and architects without sufficient participation of the inhabitants.
The show organised in the interiors of Studio teatrgaleria at the Palace of Culture and Science features the results of works of four research teams that analyse various aspects of the functioning of public spaces. Research into Post-Soviet squares demonstrates the directions of changes that occur after the collapse of totalitarian systems in spaces built for the needs of ludic spectacles of the Communist era.
A special feature of the festival is the presentation of research devoted to thirty squares in Warsaw and abroad as well as the possible forms of co-management of space by coalitions of local hosts. The artists invited to participate in the exhibition present their point of view by asking questions about the square and social processes that shape it.
Curators
Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie: Tomasz Fudala, Szymon Maliborski
Galeria Studio: Dorota Jarecka, Barbara Piwowarska
Project curators
Constellations of coincidences: Fundacja Bęc Zmiana i Fundacja Puszka (placewarszawy.pl), curator: Bogna Świątkowska, research design and coordination: Magda Grabowska, Aleksandra Litorowicz, Elżbieta Petruk, Kuba Snopek, photography: Maciej Krüger
Spectacle Square: curators: Kuba Snopek, Tomasz Świetlik
Possibility Space: Amateur Cities – Ania Molenda, Cristina Ampatzidou
Local Stewards: Artur Jerzy Filip
Authors of a three-dimensional installation situated on Parade Square and the exhibition design
BudCud – Mateusz Adamczyk, Agata Woźniczka
cooperation: Joanna Ryś, Aleksandra Krupa, Anna Eckes, Lea Moreau, Sławomir Pucek
Artworks and architectural designs by
Adam Adach, Akademia Ruchu, Kazimierz Bendkowski, Daniel Brailly, Daniela Brahm, Michał Buczek, Piotr Bujak, Zuzanna Czebatul, Maciej Chodziński, Piotr Chuchla, Jacek Damięcki, Rafał Dominik, Karolina Filip, Yona Friedman, Michał Frydrych, Alfred Funkiewicz, Józef Gałązka, Jan Goots, Oskar Hansen, Kickspin, Grzegorz Laszuk, Dominik Lejman, Jan Lubicz Przyłuski, Michał Mioduszewski, Tomasz Patryka, Jerzy Piasecki, Marjoris Pirela, Julia Popławska, Cezary Poniatowski, Antoni Prokop, Igor Przybylski, Mariola Przyjemska, Krzysztof Pyda, Grażyna Rutkowska, Mykola Rydnij, Tomasz Saciłowski, Anna Siekierska, Jan Smaga, Jerzy Sołtan, Stach Szumski, Szumowiny, Karolina Wojciechowska, Patrycja Wojtas, Wojciech Zamecznik, Zuzanna Ziółkowska/Hercberg
Researchers
Constellations of coincidences: Barbara Drewiczewska, Magda Grabowska, Piotr Jończyk, Igor Łysiuk, Karolina Matysiak, Anna Mikołajska, Anna Nauwaldt, Karol Nowak
Spectacle Square: Petro Vladimirov
Possibility Space: Bora Baboci, Yulya Besplemennova, Panagiota Mavridou, Xabier Sagasta Lacalle
Consultants
Konstelacje przypadków / Constellations of coincidences: prof. Sławomir Gzell, dr Krzysztof Herman, Simone De Iacobis i Małgorzata Kuciewicz (Centrala), Kuba Snopek, Aleksandra Litorowicz, Martyna Obarska, dr Marek Ostrowski, dr Monika Wróbel, prof. Andrzej Zalewski
Production
Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie: Szymon Maliborski, Aleksandra Nasiorowska, Dominik Skrzypkowski
Muzeum Warszawy: Julia Kern-Protassewicz, Agnieszka Najder, Klementyna Świeżewska, Katarzyna Koślacz
Galeria Studio: Igor Sekuła
STUDIO teatrgaleria: Magda Bałycz, Przemysław Szulczewski
Project manager
Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie: Joanna Żarnecka
Muzeum Warszawy: Julia Kern-Protassewicz
Typography
Piotr Chuchla
Visual identification of the festival
Piotr Chuchla, Ludovic Balland Typography Cabinet
Communication
Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie: Zofia Czartoryska, Bartek Stawiarski, Kacha Szaniawska, Anna Tryc-Bromley, Daniel Woźniak, Iga Winczakiewicz
Muzeum Warszawy: Dagmara Mazurek, Katarzyna Szacińska-Szymeczko, Dominik Witaszczyk
Educational program
Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie: Marta Skowrońska-Markiewicz & Zespół Użyj Muzeum: Aleksandra Antoniuk, Marta Bielska, Martyna Ciszewska, Szymon Gotowski, Aleksandra Górecka, Marta Maliszewska, Marcin Matuszewski, Katarzyna Niewczas, Marta Przybył, Agnieszka Sinicka, Mary Szydłowska, Zuzanna Wesołowska, Zuzanna Zasacka, Jolanta Żubrowska
Muzeum Warszawy: Radosław Adamski, Teresa Łempicka, Anna Kwiatkowska
Accompanying program
Artur Jerzy Filip
Authors
Cristina Ampatzidou, Artur Jerzy Filip, Tomasz Fudala, Dorota Jarecka, Szymon Maliborski, Anna Molenda, Kuba Snopek, Bogna Świątkowska, Tomasz Świetlik
Translation
Jan Szelągiewicz, Arthur Barys, Łukasz Mojsak, Joanna Figiel
Editing
Barbara Anioł-Ossowska, Arthur Barys, Meagan Down
Exhibition installation
Jakub Antosz, Marek Franczak, Piotr Frysztak, Szymon Ignatowicz, Artur Jeziorek, Paweł Sobczak, Marcin Szubiak
General contractor
„JA-HO” ROBIMY TO… NAJLEPIEJ
Acknowledgments
Adrian Antoniewicz, Renata Balewska, Sarmen Beglarian, Jacek Bochiński, Dominika Dragan, Magda Drągowska, Anna Gajek, Paweł Gawlikowski, Mateusz Gigon, Katarzyna Grinberg, Werner Huber, Kamil Jóźwik, Tomasz Kaczor, Aleksandra Kędziorek, Jerzy Kopytowski, Agnieszka Kosela, Rafał Kośka, Michał Kożurno, Katarzyna Król, Małgorzata Kuciewicz, Zuzanna Mockałło, Adela Matczak, Beata Mielcarz, Dariusz Misiejuk, Grzegorz Lewandowski, Adam Olczak, Tomek Opęchowski, prof. Vladimir Paperny, Danuta Pawłowska, Wojciech Radwański, Agnieszka Rozciecha, Dagmara Rykalska, Teresa Schreyer, Marta Styczeń, Anna Topolska, Żaneta Urbaniak, Iza Wanat, Konrad Wojewódzki, Darek Zabiegałowski, Magdalena Zoń, Michał Ziętek
Constellations of coincidences: Tomasz Andryszczyk, Ada Banaszak, Justyna Chmielewska, Matylda Dobrowolska, Arleta Dudzińska, Marta Galewska, Marlena Happach, Jan Jakiel, Teatr Improwizowany Klancyk, Monika Komorowska, Karolina Kulis, Dorota Lubańska, Mikołaj Pieńkos, Witold Pietrusiewicz, Łukasz Puchalski, Anna Pytlewska, Maja Skibińska, Katarzyna Stakuń, Tomasz Szymański, Wojciech Wagner
Spectacle Square: Siemion Aleksandrowskij, Andrii Bashtovyi, Konstantin Budarin, Anastasija Grigorian, prof. Vladimir Paperny, Nikołaj Piesoczynskij, Przemysław Witkowski
Local Stewards: profesor Danuta Kłosek-Kozłowska, Adrian Benepe (NYC Park Commissioner), AV Goodsell (Friends of the High Line), Alyssa Cobb Konon (NYC Economic Development Corporation), Majora Carter (The Point CDC), Tim Tompkins (Times Square Alliance), Tupper Thomas (Prospect Park Alliance) & Erika Svendsen (NYC Urban Field Station).