Culture in Poznań

Culture

Finally performing at home!

At the end of last year, Polski Teatr Tańca (the Polish Dance Theatre) moved into its new location at ul. Taczaka 8. Pandemic permitting, the first audience members will be invited over in April. The inauguration of the new Poznań stage - a long-awaited home for a theatre that has gone homeless for nearly half a century - is scheduled to coincide with the International Dance Day on 29 April.

Exhibitions during times of plague

It has been over a year now since the pandemic first struck us. For a big chunk of that time, museums and galleries remained shut. They were also in lockdown at the time this text was written, with slim prospects of being reopened any time soon, certainly not without some form of restrictions. It is nevertheless worth your while to keep track of the exhibitions that remain accessible and at least click to support Poznań's local exhibition organisations.

Display of prominence

Polish 19th-century painting is unique indeed. While the art produced during the country's occupation was thoroughly patriotic, it was also highly diverse, both in its form and in the themes taken up by the artists. As a consequence, works from the period invoke all sorts of reflection: on art, on the role of the artist and on the stances taken by individuals and society during challenging times.

Chernobyl: A chronicle of the present

New Year's Eve in Chernobyl, a tour of the Zone, a game, a novel and a film either inspired by the events of April 26, 1986 or just set in the apocalyptic Exclusion Zone. The significant thread that weaves through and gives meaning to all of the above is Chernobyl and it has been wholeheartedly received by pop culture. In the process of embracing it, did we forget what it really was?

The Two Stories

Marta Buczkowska and Mateusz Kiszka, authors of the book of photographs A Synthesis of Discovery. A Photographic Splicing of Poznań's Histories, interviewed by Karol Szymkowiak

75 years of delight

At the age of eight, Agnieszka Duczmal resolved to take her place behind the conductor's stand, in what heretofore has been the exclusive domain of men. She did this on impulse, galvanised by a symphonic poem by Richard Strauss she had heard at the Poznań Philharmonic. Ever since, her childhood dream has become reality. This year in January, the artist celebrated her 75th birthday. Having spent years appearing on the world's most prominent musical stages, having recorded magnificent albums and created a one-of-a-kind orchestra, she is celebrated as one of the greats of her field.

The Automotive Museum coming back with a bang

A collection of over a hundred remarkable cars, bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles will be on view in Hall 2 at the Poznań International Fair as Poznań's celebrated Automotive Museum is making its comeback. The Museum is being moved from its previous location under the Kaponiera rounabout where it remained until its renovation a few years ago.

Konkurs 30/30 is on!

A call for entries for the latest edition of Konkurs 30/30 (Contest 30/30) was announced on 15 February. The aim is to select the best thirty album cover designs made in 2020. The artwork will be on view in the Contest's summer display to be held in the celebrated Courtyard Gallery (Galeria na Dziedzińcu) of Poznań's Old Brewery.

The Poznań Fotoplastykon

The Poznań Fotoplastykon is one relic of the past whose life has never been easy. Throughout its existence of over a century, it repeatedly changed hands and sites to finally settle down in the Arkadia building. To learn more about its history, it is best to revert to the time when the stereoscopic photograph craze first took off...

Takeaway exhibitions at the Castle

Visit the Castle Cultural Centre (CK Zamek) website (at ckzamek.pl) to virtually explore an astounding nine exhibitions. Featured priminently among them is Poland's cultural sensation of the year 2017: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. The Polish Connection, seen in person by an audience of over 100,000.

Old Grand Orchestra of Christmas Charity, new solutions

Not unlike other events this year, the Grand Orchestra of Christmas Charity had to deal with unusual circumstances. The 29th Finale will be saved by the Internet, streaming on social media and on the website of the Grand Orchestra of Christmas Charity, and by TVN broadcast.

Surface not superficiality

A unique exhibition "Archeology and Art. Scratching Beneath the Surface" is now open to visitors at the Górka Palace venue of the Poznań Archaeological Museum.

Before everything became devilishly alike

"Despite all my scepticism, I too fell for digital photography in around 2000-2005. I can no longer imagine going back to the darkroom and the mix of noxious chemicals that comes with it", admits photographer Piotr Topperzer, whose photo exhibition "Danish Design through the Lens" will remain on view throughout December and January in the Grand Lobby of the Zamek Cultural Centre.

Haute Couture in Poznań

This October, Stary Browar in Poznań, Poland, will become home to Iris van Herpen's avant-garde couture creations. Entitled "Alchemic Couture", the solo exhibition opening at the Courtyard Art Gallery explores the designer's visionary interdisciplinary creative process in which innovation and craftsmanship interlace.

Restoration... but of what kind?

In 2006, Poznań's war-time losses were valued at PLN 10 billion. The city's residents sustained PLN 297 million in property damage. 55 percent of the building stock, including 160 valuable historic buildings, lay in ruin. How did the city ever manage to recover from such devastation after the war ended? How much did it cost to rebuild it? And who decided how to go about the restoration? An attempt to answer these and other questions has been made by Porta Posnania in its exhibition A City (Re)Constructed.

Paderewski (un)known

The open-air exhibition of previously unpublished photographs of Ignacy Jan Paderewski will be opened in December by the Museum of Wielkopolska Uprising of 1918-1919, a branch of the Wielkopolska Museum of Independence.

A base camp for Europe

AGATA RODRÍGUEZ, founder of Rodríguez Gallery celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, interviewed by MAREK S. BOCHNIARZ

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