One of the hallmarks of the Gdansk City Gallery is dissemination of knowledge about an outstanding citizen of Gdansk, the Noble Prize winner Günter Grass. Since 2009 the yearly festival Grassomania held throughout autumn and winter months is a tribute paid to him. The artists invited to the event relate to the oeuvre of Grass in a subtle, indirect and often surprising way. The festival is accompanied by a variety of events of artistic, cultural and educational character, which are scattered around Gdansk: some are held at Günter Grass Gallery in Szeroka street, while others are moved to the area of his former place of residence – Wrzeszcz borough.
The first edition of the festival was also a launching moment of the Günter Grass Gallery honoured by the presence of the author himself. An exhibition of his artistic activity, entitled: Gdanskomania – literary Gdansk in Günter Grass’ graphics was opened there. Together with the display many other events occurred: a parade of tinker drum players along Dlugi Targ street, a poetry reading, a debate, artistic and theatre performances.
The second edition: Time and Grass found its venue in Wrzeszcz, in a building of a former department store “Neptun” but at that time intended for demolition. Alongside the exhibition the viewers were presented with film shows, artistic and theatre performances and concerts.
Grassomania 2011 took place at the Günter Grass Gallery and was in fact a group exhibition, in which the artists born here but no longer living in Tri-City presented their artworks to the viewers. Like before the programme also consisted of film shows, performances and concerts.
The address of this year’s edition, scheduled for September 28-29 is going to be Gdansk – Wrzeszcz again and strong emphasis will be put on performative art.
Grassomania occurs to be an enterprise of a highly complex nature, involving people operating in the realms of art, culture and science, who gather around inspired by Günter Grass artistic output. This versatile citizen of Gdansk still triggers creativity of young artists participating in Grassomania, and this experience is both intriguing and productive. It is not infrequent that a single sentence coined by Grass becomes a keynote of the festival providing ground for different interpretations. The very inspiration of the starling works resulting from this process often becomes enigmatic, almost intangible. What is more, the festival provides perfect conditions for integrating distinct areas of culture, enriching the city in its artistic offer. It cannot go unnoticed and is therefore frequently visited by many citizens of Gdansk as well as tourists and thanks to the educational programme of the gallery it finds enthusiasts among both adults and youth.
