17 11 2011
– 20 11 2011

Narracje #3

Narracje #3 | Nature of the City | Gdansk Lower City |17 – 20 November 2011

In 2009 Gdańsk 2016, the City of Gdańsk and Gdańsk City Gallery introduced the idea of a night time festival of contemporary art and design in public space. The idea to invite national and international artists and designers to read and comment on the city’s fabric has become an event in which the city, it’s traditions, it’s sites, it’s uses and it’s communities play the central role.

NARRACJE is engaged in the collective imagination of the city. It comprises the idea to reflect the current developments, to skip routines and to be part of a new culture of public space.

NARRACJE: Open Space for Art

The third edition of NARRACJE will present again an ensemble of national and international artists and designers who are dedicated to work in public space. For four days the night sights of Gdańsk’s district Dolne Miasto will become the backdrop of a variety of installations and the canvas of a multitude of interventions. Starting at the Green Gate the series of installations and interventions will stretch throughout Gdańsk’s lower city, where the historical urban configuration is still present. This year’s parcours will link the city’s center with the nearby lower city.

NARRACJE Location: Dolne Miasto

Dolne Miasto has not undergone any urban developments since the end of the World War II. Architectural traces document the Dutch, French, German, Polish, Russian and Swedish influences. The contemporary appearance is dominated by the neighborhood’s development during the 18th and 19th centuries when manufacturing plants and workers housing were built. In the coming years Dolne Miasto will be in the focus of a revitalization program. The next months offer the ephemeral opportunity to witness the transformation of an urban quarter with unique qualities. Looking back its characteristics are minted by the landscape it has been built on and now, in the process of revitalization, the need of infrastructure and the design of the urban landscape are of equal importance. The festival NARRACJE takes the opportunity to focus on the interdependencies of natural and urban landscapes and reflects on the nature of the city (“Natura Miasta”) as part of global phenomena in urban development.

NARRACJE Subject: Natura Miasta / Nature of the City

While the number of people living in cities is growing, architecture, design, engineering and urban planning are facing major challenges. Part of it is the need to reflect on the role of nature and ecology in order to develop the tandem of nature qualities and built form for a city being a living organism. The curator Bettina Pelz invited artists and designers to share how the cross linked relationship of natural, architectural, socio-cultural and digital environments influence their artistic work. Jakub Budzynski and Monika Waraxa, Jennifer Braun, Dominik Busch, Sean Capone, Rob Carter, Alexandra Chomicz and Antonio Xavier, Kamila Chomicz, Elektro Moon Vision – Elwira Wojtunik and Popesz Csaba Láng, Ahmet Doǧan, Marcin Grzęda and Paweł Sasin, Andrea Thembie Hannig, Kobas Laksa, Gionata Gesi Ozmo, RaumZeitPiraten, Rosmarie Weinlich, Ania Witkowska, Tomasz Grzegorz Wlazlak, Marek Zygmunt will change the city’s landscape by night through projections, installations and performances and broach the issue of the changing qualities of public space in the 24-h-social-city as well as issue of the role of the natural in the experience of landscape.

NARRACJE: Open Galleries

In addition the Gdańsk City Gallery will present an exhibition of Magdalena Jetelová and Łaznia Center for Contemporary Art hosts an exhibition of Gilbert and George. They are part of several art institutions which will be open for visitors at night time during NARRACJE.

NARRACJE: Additional Program

The organizers, Gdańsk 2016, the City of Gdańsk and Gdańsk City Gallery together with partners Łaźnia Center for Contemporary Art and Gdańsk Photo Gallery, will provide a festive and educational program, including guided tours and concerts of Spanish artists: Maria Minerva and Summer Recreation Camp, among others. For further information check the website: www.narracje.eu