SOFT CITY
Soft City er et toårigt samarbejdsprojekt, mellem aktører i Aarhus og Gdansk, der sigter på at udfolde en kritisk og kunstbaseret refleksion over byudviklingen på havnefronterne ved Sydhavnen i Aarhus og det gamle skibsværft i Gdańsk. I august-september 2024 introduceres første del af projektet med udstilling, seminar og workshop i forbindelse med Symposium2024 på Udstillingsstedet Spanien19c.
Projektets formål og ambition:
Gdańsk Skibsværft og Sydhavnen i Aarhus rummer væsentligt social og kulturel arv på grund af områdernes industrielle og politiske samt det forhold, at områderne har været arbejdspladser for kunstnere og skabende aktører i mange år. I de sidste årtier er intensive byudviklingsprocesser blevet planlagt og implementeret. Derfor står kunstnere og uafhængige kulturorganisationer både i Gdańsk og Aarhus over for beslægtede problemer — de frygter, at de gradvist vil forsvinde fra disse rum.
I denne situation ønsker de at blive agenter i disse beslutningsprocesser. For at styrke deres potentiale og lære af hinanden etablerer kreative fællesskaber fra Gdańsk og Aarhus et tværfagligt samarbejde. Målet er at udvikle alternative, inkluderende visioner for rumlig transformation og at sikre kontinuiteten af alternative kulturelle og kunstneriske aktiviteter i post-havne- og post-skibsværftsregionerne.
Denne ambition realiseres i begge byer gennem: studiebesøg mellem partnernes repræsentanter for at skabe forståelse af de lokale situationer og problemer; kulturel kortlægning af de nævnte områder for at skabe en fælles vidensplatform, der præsenterer deres lokale karakterer, identiteter og ressourcer; kunstneres forskningsbaserede interventioner, bestilt af partnerorganisationer, under hensyntagen til ægte specifik interesse og lokal ekspertise; en online konference med deltagelse af danske, polske og britiske forskere og kunstnere; samt fremme af udvalgte problemstillinger ved brug af forskellige medier og kunstneriske aktiviteter.
Projektet gennemføres fra august 2024 til november 2025.
SOFT CITY #1
Første del af Soft-City afvikles som anført på Spanien19c I august-september 2024 i forbindelse med Symposium24 på Udstillingsstedet Spanien19c. Nedenfor finder du samlet program for Symposion24 (Indlejret billede) og derunder uddybende beskrivelse og præsentation af de kunstnere og projekter der repræsenterer Soft-City.
Soft City is a two-year collaborative project, between partners in Aarhus and Gdansk, which aims to develop a critical and art-based reflection on the urban development on the harbor fronts at the South Harbor in Aarhus and the old shipyard in Gdańsk. In August-September 2024, the first part of the project will be introduced with an exhibition, seminar and workshop in connection with Symposium2024 at the Exhibition Venue Spain19c.
Motivation and ambition of the project:
Gdańsk Shipyard and Sydhavnen in Aarhus are important social and cultural legacies due to their industrial and political past and the fact that they were places of work for artists and many creative ventures. In last decades intensive urban development processes have been planned and implemented there. Therefore, both in Gdańsk and Aarhus, artists and independent cultural organizations face similar problems — they fear that they will be gradually removed from these spaces.
Faced with this situation, they want to become agents in these decision-making processes. To strengthen their potential and learn from each other, creative communities from Gdańsk and Aarhus are establishing interdisciplinary cooperation. Its goal is to develop alternative, inclusive visions for spatial transformation and to ensure the continuity of alternative cultural and artistic activities in the post-port & post-shipyard regions.
These intentions will be realized in both cities through: study visits of partners’ representatives to familiarize themselves with the local situation and problems; cultural mapping of the mentioned areas to create a common knowledge platform presenting their local characters, identities, and resources; artists’ research-based interventions, commissioned by partners’ organizations, taking into account genuine specific interest and local expertise; an online conference with the participation of Danish, Polish, and British researchers, and artists; as well as promotion of selected issues using various media and artistic activities.
The project is being implemented by a group of international partners from August 2024 to November 2025.
The first part of Soft-City will take place as stated at Spanien19c In August-September 2024 in connection with Symposium24 at the Spanien19c exhibition venue. Below you will find the complete program for Symposion24 (embedded image) and below that a detailed description and presentation of the artists and projects that represent Soft-City.
KUNSTNERE / ARTIST
Kamila Chomicz:
"Bees on My Way” & “Breakfeast from pollinators”
Kamila Chomicz er biolog og fotograf, hun har studeret på Gdańsk Universitet og Film- og tv-akademiet i Warszawa, dertil er hun forperson for MI-RO-RO-Foundation. I sit arbejde forsøger hun at skabe bånd og platforme for forståelse mellem mennesker og de steder de bebor. I den forbindelse indsamler og præsenterer hun menneskelige historier, promotorer lokale kunstnere og skaber sociale og kulturelle begivenheder, der understøtter kvinders rettigheder, miljøbevidsthed eller kulturarv. I de senere år har et særligt vigtigt emne i hendes aktiviteter været beskyttelse af miljøet og biodiversiteten.
Fotoophængningen "Bees on My Way" præsenterer billeder af bier, der er sjældne i Europa. Hovedsageligt solitære bier, specialiserede bier og parasitære bier. Gennem udstillingen vil Kamila gøre opmærksom på faren for generaliseringen af hele gruppen på over 470 polske arter eller 290 arter af danske bier, til kun én honningbi. De fleste bier er ikke honningbier, de lever ikke i bistader, men i jorden, og deres primære funktion for miljøet er bestøvning. Vilde bier er opdelt i kategorierne solitære, parasitære og sociale. Udstillingen vil fremhæve anderledesheden og mangfoldigheden af arter og ofte smukke og fantastiske vaner hos vilde bestøvere. I udstillingen understreges nødvendigheden af vilde bestøvere for opretholdelsen af biodiversitet og menneskeliv. Også truslen mod bestøverne fremhæves såsom kemikaliseringen af landbruget, der tvinger os til at reflektere over hvordan vi kan integrere bierne i byen.
"Breakfeast from Pollinators"
Bordet er frem for alt et symbol på binding og opbygning af fællesskab. Med overdådige kugler formet af insektbestøvede afgrøder vil installationen “Breakfeast from pollinators” nødvendigheden af de vilde bedste insekter, samt illustreret en skønhed i forbindelsen mellem Jordens økosystem menneskets livsverden. Samtidig fremkaldes billeder af vores bord og verden blottet for smagen af krydderier og frugt, blottet for morgenkaffe og chokolade, en alarmerende vision, hvor vores kost begrænser til vindbestøvede græsser som majs, ris og hvede.
Magdelena Zakrzewska-Duda:
Magdelenas professionelle aktiviteter og interesser er fokuseret på kunst for social forandring og kunst for bæredygtig udvikling. Nuværende stilling: Senior Specialist i Strategic Partnerships ved Baltic Sea Cultural Center (BSCC) i Gdansk, Polen. Hun har været leder eller medleder af mange internationale og lokale projekter såsom "Baltic House LAB 2015 – City closer to Water", "ARTmosphere" (2016), "Shared History" (2016-2018), "Memory of Water" ( 2019-2020), "UrbCulturalPlanning" (2018-2021).
Magdalena Zakrezewska-Duda, Roman Sebastyański, Agnieszka Wołodźko og Blanka Byrwa: Præsenterer ideerne bag og resultaterne af det internationale projekt "Memory of Water". Formålet var at indlede en offentlig debat om udviklingen af det tidligere Gdańsk skibsværftsområde af Gdańsk-kunstnere og -aktivister og at introducere en social dimension heri. De medvirkende kunstneres projekter skulle henlede offentlighedens opmærksomhed på de vigtigste aspekter af den forestående transformation af havnefronten ved Gdańsk skibsværft og forbindelsen til lokale erindringer og traditioner.
Kamila Chomicz:
"Bees on My Way” & “Breakfeast from pollinators”
Kamila Chomicz is a biologist and photographer, she studied at the University of Gdańsk and the Academy of Film and Television in Warsaw, and she is also the face of the MI-RO-RO-Foundation. In her work, she tries to create bonds and platforms for understanding between people and the places they live. In this context, she collects and presents human stories, promotes local artists and creates social and cultural events that support women's rights, environmental awareness or cultural heritage. In recent years, a particularly important topic in her activities has been the protection of the environment and biodiversity.
The photo exhibition "Bees on My Way" will feature images of bees that are rare in Europe. Mainly solitary bees, specialized bees and parasitic bees. Through the exhibition, Kamila will draw attention to the danger of generalizing the entire group of over 470 Polish species or 290 species of Danish bees, to just one honey bee. Most bees are not honey bees, they do not live in hives, but in the ground, and their primary function for the environment is pollination. Wild bees are divided into the categories of solitary, parasitic and social. The exhibition will highlight the otherness, multitude and diversity of species and the often beautiful and amazing habits of wild pollinators. The exhibition emphasizes the necessity of wild pollinators for the maintenance of biodiversity and human life. The threat to pollinators is also highlighted, such as the chemicalization of agriculture.
"Breakfast from Pollinators"
Above all, the table is a symbol of bonding and community building. With sumptuous balls shaped from insect-pollinated crops, the installation "Breakfeast from pollinators" will show the necessity of the wild pollinators, as well as illustrate a beauty in the connection between the Earth's ecosystem and the human life world. Evoking the image of our table and the world devoid of the flavors of spices and fruit, devoid of morning coffee and aroma chocolate, we are faced with an alarming vision in which our diet would limit to wind-pollinated grasses such as corn, rice and wheat.
Magdelena Zakrzewska-Duda:
Magdalenas professional activities and interests are focused on „art for social change” and “art for sustainable development”.Current position: Senior Specialist on Strategic Partnerships at the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre (BSCC) in Gdansk, Poland.She has been leader or co-leader of many international and local projects such as “Baltic House LAB 2015 – City closer to Water”, “ARTmosphere” (2016), “Shared History” (2016-2018), “Memory of Water” (2019-2020), “UrbCulturalPlanning” (2018-2021).
Magdalena Zakrezewska-Duda, Roman Sebastyański, Agnieszka Wołodźko and Blanka Byrwa present the assumptions and results of the international project "Memory of Water". Its aim was to initiate a public debate on the development of the former Gdańsk Shipyard area by Gdańsk artists and activists and to introduce a social side to it. The role of the engaged artists’ projects was to draw public attention to the most critical aspects of the potential transformations of the water front of the Gdańsk Shipyard and the related sphere of human memory and tradition.
Agnieszka Wołodźko:
Kunstner, kurator og kulturforsker. Studerede på Academy of Fine arts, Gdansk: Faculty of Interior Architecture and Industry Design; Faculty of Painting og Graphics (MA) and A. Mickiewicz University in Poznan: Faculty of Social Sciences (PhD). Producerer kunst i offentlige rum, engageret kunst, fotografi, installation, keramik, lydværker og aktioner, herunder også workshops for forskellige sociale grupper. Forfatter af tekster om samtidskunst og kultur. Siden 2018 har hun arbejdet på bloggen ”Between Art and Life”.https://pomiedzysztukaazyciem.home.blog/.
Forperson for Cultures beyond Culture-Foundation.
https://agawolodzko.wixsite.com/oooo
Pernille Helberg Stentoft:
Kunstner. Studerede Æstetik og Kultur på Aarhus Universitet og Unversidad de Granada. Organiserer kunstneriske projekter i form af gåture med forskellige sociale grupper. Hendes interessefelter er gåture, vandringer, dykken ned i steder, lag af sted, sensationen af sted, registrering af sted, historie for sted, hukommelsen om sted, ord om sted, at dele sted, at give stemme til sted, adgang til sted, opmærksomhed på sted mv.
Pernille og Agnieszka inviterer på en delt psykogeografisk vandring omkring Sydhavnen. Formålet er at give deltagerne mulighed for at udforske dette postindustrielle rum. Pernille vil dele information omkring den lokale arkitektur og dens historie, og samtidig fortælle anekdoter om folk som var associeret med stedet. Agnieszka giver mulighed for at deltagerne, gennem forskellige sensoriske oplevelser, har mulighed for at opdage forholdet mellem krop og sted. Håbet er at rejsen vil være en mulighed for at finde svar på spørgsmål som: hvad har kroppen lyst til at gøre i byen? I hvilke rum føler kroppen sig komfortabel, og i hvilke er den ukomfortabel? Hvad er grænsen for fysisk udforskning i byrummet
Carl Fraser
Carl Fraser er arkitekturforsker, hvis arbejde udforsker den kulturelle og sociale fremkomst af alternative praksisser. Hans interesse ligger i, hvordan disse praksisser kan informere vores forståelse af byrum og kulturel udveksling. Med fokus på sammenhængen mellem offentlige rum, vidensdeling og forhandlede rum identificerer hans arbejde mønstre for social, politisk og økonomisk adfærd i neoliberale samfund og ekstrapolerer disse konstruktioner for at teoretisere deres forhold til andre byer og omgivelser.
Han har undervist og forelæst i arkitektur ved institutioner på universitetsniveau, herunder Central St Martins, London Metropolitan University, Coventry University, Kingston University, Oxford Brookes og University of Sheffield.
Roman Sebastyański: Charrette
Roman er arkitekt og byplanlægger, han har i 20 år været engageret i den postindustrielle fornyelse af havnefronten af Gdansk skibsværft. Her har han samarbejdet med myndighederne i Gdansks; den nye ejer af området og det lokale netværk af kunstnere og aktivister som er engageret i den juridiske beskyttelse af dette områdes kulturarv. Han koordinerede projektet "Memory of Water/Shipyard Anew" (2019-2020). Som ekspert i Gdansk Skibsværfts arv arbejdede han derefter på Solidarity’s Heritage Institute. Han har været medlem af bestyrelsen for INTBAU Poland (International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism) siden 2018. Han er i gang med at afslutte sit ph.d.-studie om deltagelsesbaseret byplanlægning ved University of the West of Scotland [UK].
“Charrette” er en social, deltagelsesbaseret og dialogisk metode til at finde løsninger på et fælles problem. Charrette er designet og faciliteret af Roman Sebastyanski.
Agnieszka Wołodźko:
Artist, curator, and cultural researcher. Studies: Academy of Fine Arts, Gdansk: Faculty of Interior Architecture and Industry Design; Faculty of Painting and Graphics (MA) and A. Mickiewicz University in Poznan: Faculty of Social Sciences (PhD). Produces art in public space, engaged art, photography, installation, ceramics, sound works and actions, as well as workshops for various social groups. Author of texts on contemporary art and culture. Since 2018 she has been publishing a blog “Between Art and Life”https://pomiedzysztukaazyciem.home.blog/. President of the „Cultures beyond Culture” Foundation.
https://agawolodzko.wixsite.com/oooo
Pernille Helberg Stentoft:
Artist. Studied aesthetics and culture at the Aarhus University and the Universidad de Granada. Organizes artistic projects in the form of walks with various social groups. Her field of interest is: walk, wander, dive into places, layers of places, sensation of places, registration of places, history of places, memory of places, words about places, sharing places, give voice to places, access to places, awareness of spaces etc.
Pernille and Agnieszka invites for a joint psychogeographic walk around Sydhavnen. The aim will be to provide the opportunity to discover this post-industrial space. Pernille will share with them information about local architecture and history, and tell anecdotes about people who were associated with this place. Agnieszka will make sure that participants, through various sensory experiences, have the opportunity to discover the relationship of their bodies with this place. We hope that this journey will be an opportunity to find answers to the questions: what does the body want to do in the city? In what places does the body feel comfortable and in what places does he feel uncomfortable? Where are the limits of physical exploration of urban space?
Carl Fraser
Carl Fraser is an architectural researcher whose work explores the cultural and social development of alternative practices. His interest lies in how these practices can inform our understanding of urban spaces of cultural exchange. Working within the nexus of public space, knowledge commons, and negotiated spaces, his work identifies patterns of social, political, and economic behaviour in neo-liberal societies, and extrapolates these constructs to theorise on their relation to other cities and environs.
He has taught and lectured in architecture at university level institutions including Central St Martins, London Metropolitan University, Coventry University, Kingston University, Oxford Brookes and the University of Sheffield.
Roman Sebastyański: Charrette
Roman is an architect and urban planner, for 20 years engaged with the post-industrial waterfront regeneration of the Gdansk Shipyard. He cooperated with Gdansk authorities; the new owner of the area and the network of artists and activists, engaged in the legal protection of the cultural heritage of this place. He coordinated the "Memory of Water/Shipyard Anew" project (2019-2020). As an expert on the Gdansk Shipyard heritage he then worked at the Solidarity’s Heritage Institute. He has been a Member of the Board of INTBAU Poland (International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism) since 2018. Currently finishing PhD study on public participative urban planning at the University of the West of Scotland [UK].
“Charrette” is a social, participative and dialogical methodology of finding solutions to a common problem. Charrette will be designed and facilitated by Roman Sebastyanski.
Iwona Zając
Billedkunstner, kurator, underviser, koordinator og vægmaler. Studerede på Academy of Fine Arts: Faculty of Painting (MA) og DFA. Bedst kendt for hendes project Stocznia / Shipyard – en serie af skabeloner på de ydre vægge af Gdańsk skibsværft. Hendes praksis udforsker sociale og feministiske problemstillinger. Hun søger svar på spørgsmål om de menneskelige vilkår, forandrende værdier omkring familie, samt arbejdet i den moderne verden.
Iwona skaber en installation ved brug af aflagte byggematerialer efterladt på Sydhavnen. Hun behandler materialerne, som et spor af et minde om stedets transformerede arkitektur, og de processer der har fundet sted. Iwona Zając ønsker at udnytte dem til konstruktionen af symbolske ankre, der forbinder Spanien19Cs bygning til jorden under den. Herved ønsker hun at udtrykke den tristhed, der opstår som resultat af når sted bliver taget fra en. Med dette forsøger hun at illustrere frygten for en uundgåelige fremtid, men konfronterer samtidig, hvad der må ske for at få en til at føle, man er klar til at forlade et sted man holder af.
Iwona Zając
Visual artist, curator, educator, coordinator, mural painter. Studies: Academy of Fine Arts, Gdańsk: Faculty of Painting (MA) and DFA. Best recognised for her project Stocznia / Shipyard – a series of templates on outer walls of the Gdańsk Shipyard. Her practice explores social and feminist issues. She seeks answers to questions about the human condition, changing values of the family and labor in the modern world.
Iwona plans to create an installation made using waste construction materials left on the construction site in Sydhavnen. She treats this waste as traces of memory about the transformed architecture of this place and the processes that took place there. She wants to use them to make symbolic anchors that will attach the Spanien19C building to the ground. In this way, he wants to express in a mature way the sadness resulting from taking away from us the places we loved, created and where we developed relationships. With this gesture, she intends to illustrate the fear of the inevitable future, and at the same time confront everything that must happen for us to feel that we are ready to part with our beloved place.
Blanka Byrwa
Indretningsarkitekt, curator, forsker i biomateriale. Hun studerede på designinstitutet på Koszalin University of Technology. Hun var i 2019-2023 forperson for CUMY-foundation, medstarter af et makerspace, organisatør af worshops og kulturelle begivenheder, og underviser om cirkulær økonomi af materialer og produktion af bioplastik.
Blanka Byrwa
Interior architect, curator, biomaterial researcher. She studied at the Design Institute at the University of Technology in Koszalin. In 2019-2023 she was a president of the CUMY Foundation, a co-founder of a makerspace, organizer of workshops and cultural events, educator in the field of circular economy of materials and production of bioplastic.
Støttet af / Supported by
Udstillingsstedet Spanien19c, Kalkværksvej 11 A-B, 8000 Aarhus C, mail: spanien19c@gmail.com