The question mark in the title of the debate concluding this year’s edition of the conference is intentional. After all, we do not know if the meetings within the “City and Culture” let us define compromise and determine to what extent it is important for the cultural sector. Compromise in culture is a very liquid concept, which actually depends on the working model of a given organisation or institution, their financial and administrative status and, above all, on their programme profile. Nonetheless, we are convinced that we should discuss it and try to work together to determine in which areas we are willing to make concessions, when reaching an agreement is more important than artistic autonomy and, finally, how our experience in creating a cultural offer in cooperation with others translates into our attitude to compromise.
We analyse the topic among Polish cultural managers, who have significantly influenced its shape over the last decade. We would like to refer to their experience, knowledge and opinions, pointing to the question in the title as a potential – perhaps misleading? – direction of changes, which we have been observing in Poland for several years. On the one hand, we observe them with anxiety about the future of Polish culture and, on the other hand, with curiosity and fascination – after all, these transformations have an impact on our environment by generating processes related to self-organisation and cooperation at the level closest to the inhabitants of our cities. Above all, in the face of increasingly visible divisions, we wish to initiate talks, mediation and cooperation transcending conflicts and ideological differences.
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Without a compromise? – a debate concluding the “City and Culture” conference
19.10.2018, 16:30-18:00 | Barbara, Świdnicka 8B | the event will be held in Polish
Participants: Joanna Kiliszek (The Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw), Viola Krajewska (WRO Art Center), Magdalena Sroka, Aleksandra Szymańska (The City Culture Institute), Michał Merczyński (Malta Festival)
Moderator: Jakub Szreder (The Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Streaming: pik.wroclaw.pl
Registration to the “City and Culture” conference – HERE
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Joanna Kiliszek is an art historian and curator specialised in the contemporary art. Since January 2016 she has been a PhD candidate and researcher at the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network: New Approaches in the Conservation of Contemporary Art. Assistant at the Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art in the Interdepartmental Division NOVUM for Care and Conservation of Modern and Contemporary Art. Kiliszek holds a Master’s degree in Art History from the Art History Department at the University of Warsaw. She also studied at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne. Deputy Director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (2008-2014), Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in Berlin (2001-2007) and director of the Polish Institute in Leipzig (1996-2001). Initiator, researcher and coordinator of the Polish nationwide project Visual Invisible: Visual Arts in Poland: Condition, Role and Significance, conducted at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Member of the Polish Section of the International Association of Art Critics AICA. Lives and works in Berlin and Warsaw.
Viola Krajewska is the director of the WRO Art Center, exhibition curator, author and editor of publications on contemporary art, creator of cultural programmes for TVP2 station, co-founder of the independent artistic initiative Open Studio/WRO (1988) and the WRO Festival (1989), as well as co-founder and programme director of the WRO Biennale (from 1993 until now), director of WRO Art Center (since its foundation in 2007) and author of the institution’s programme, exhibition and educational goals, following the principle of free participation in culture implemented at WRO under the motto: Art Mediators, Not Watchmen. She graduated from cultural studies at the University of Wrocław (theory of culture) and finished postgraduate studies at the National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre (production management). She conducted a media seminar at the Cultural Studies Institute of the University of Wrocław (2003-2009). As an editor and producer, she has made over 200 TV programmes broadcast on TVP2 channel devoted to issues, people and events in contemporary art. Editor and author of texts for exhibition catalogues, as well as book and multimedia publications on media art history and theory: From Monument to Market. Video Art and Public Space (2005), Józef Robakowski. Energetic Images. Bio-mechanical Recordings 1970 – 2005 (2007), The Hidden Decade: Polish Video Art 1985-1995 (2010), Widok WRO Media Art Reader series (since 2009). As an expert in the field of media culture and information society, she took part in conferences of the Council of Europe and EUNIC, served as a nominated advisor to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in the Artistic Scholarships Committee between 2013-2016, a member of the Wrocław Women's Board between 2014-2016. Krajewska is also the winner of the Laterna Magica Prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture and the Award of the Mayor of Wrocław.
Magdalena Sroka is a Jagiellonian University graduate (Polish studies, specialisation: theatre), cultural manager, producer and coordinator of international projects, expert in culture and art. Between 1998-2003 she was involved in the Krakow Festival Office 2000, responsible for cultural projects organised as part of the European Capital of Culture Krakow 2000. Sroka participated in the development of Krakow’s first City Promotion Strategy for the years 2003-2007 and collaborated with the EXPO 2005 programme bureau. In 2010-2015 she was the Deputy President of Krakow for Culture and Promotion and in 2015-2017 the Director of the Polish Film Institute in Warsaw.
Aleksandra Szymańska is a cultural manager, specialist in cultural policy and event producer. For several years she was active in the Polish music industry (management of Polish artists) and media (e.g. publishing director at G+J Gruner + Jahr Polska). Involved in independent cultural projects. In 2008-2011 she was responsible for the strategy and team of the Gdańsk i Metropolia – the European Capital of Culture 2016 project. Since March 2011 she has been the director of the City Culture Institute in Gdańsk.
Michał Merczyński is a Polish cultural specialist and animator, and manager of cultural institutions and festivals. He graduated in cultural studies from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and received the European Diploma in Cultural Art Management. In 1984-1989 he worked as a manager of the Orkiestra Ósmego Dnia and in 1991 initiated the MALTA International Theatre Festival (in 2009 renamed Malta Festival Poznań), taking the position of the festival director. Merczyński also ran the Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society in Poznań, Rozmaitości Theatre in Warsaw, Dialogue of Four Cultures Festival and the Polish Film Institute. In 2005, he became a director of the Polish Audiovisual Publishers, in 2009 transformed into the National Audiovisual Institute (currently the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute). He was among the experts of the Cultural Programme 2007-2013 conducted by the European Commission and developed the Polish artistic presentation at Expo 2000 in Hanover, as well as coordinated the Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency.
Kuba Szreder is a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. After graduating in sociology from the Jagiellonian University he worked as an independent curator of interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of art, public action, critical reflection and social experiment. He is an editor of numerous books and catalogues, and author of texts on sociology and art theory published in Poland and abroad. His first book "ABC Projektariatu" was published in 2016 by the Bęc Zmiana Foundation. In 2009, he initiated the Free / Slow University of Warsaw, where he conducted a number of research programmes on contemporary systems of cultural production. In his theoretical work, he analyses current forms of cultural production in the context of late capitalism. In 2015 he defended his PhD thesis on the political and economic aspects of independent curatorial projects at the Loughborough University School of the Arts.
