Activity

From Under the City

Exploring Lublin's borders through an interactive archive

An activity by
partnering with Europe Grand Central, WorkshopsOfCulture, European Foundation for Urban Culture

Explores the borders

Memories inside Memories among

Why

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From Under the City is a project that questions how, where and why the concept of borders is – or can be – relevant in the city of Lublin. This theme was explored following two main directions: charting the city’s mental or possible borders and exploring how the broad theme of borders is experienced by Lubliners.

Location

Lublin, Poland

Characteristics

Area

Audience

How it was done

exhibitions
making
photos
public art
workshops
writing

How

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This exploration took the form of creative and discussion-based workshops as well as photographing the city’s outskirts and research using historical and online material. The methods and media used were very diverse:the collected and produced material took such diverse forms as photographs, maps, interview transcriptions, drawings,sketches, collages, internet screenshots and historical archives. For instance, participants would answer questions such as which party of the city they never go to and why; Lubliners born abroad were given disposable cameras and documented their days; the list of arrivals to Ellis Island of all people originally from Lublin was compiled; a proposal for a “Memorial of Migration” was sketched…

Results

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The collected material was presented in the form of an archive : the data was cataloged and inserted into envelopes that were then classified in alphabetical order. The exhibited material finally consisted of more than 1000 filled envelopes and around 120 separate photos. This Archive was publicly presented in the House of Words, a cultural institution under the mantle of the NN Theatre. The aim of the project was to materialise and make visible silent, hidden or unconscious memories – stories stemming, so to say, from under the city, like the underground sources from which the city’s water comes.
Created through a cooperative, living process, the Archive had to keep these properties; belonging to all Lubliners, it was to be distributed amongst them. All visitors of the exhibition are able to take home the parts of the Archive they wish to keep. In order to do, they only have to sign a contract, specifying the parts they took and pledging to keep them safe and to show them to anyone who would ask for it. Thus, more than a simple invitation to visit an exhibition, From under the city is an opportunity for every visitor to become a keeper of the memory of the city.

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From Under the City was the first time I used this type of methodology to implement such a project; I hope to be able to implement it in other cities/regions as well and continue exploring its possibilities.

Main lessons learned

Credits

Marcin Butryn (guide&assistant)
All participants to the workshops
House of words&NN Theatre, in particular Alina Bak
Warsztaty Kultury
Marcin Serdeczny (photography)

Activity Timeline

2016

  • Workshop

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    Four workshops were conducted with senior citizens in public libraries. During these workshops, we discussed their personal experiences of migration and travel as well as how they subjectively experienced Lublin’s urban layout – trying to charter its borders, its limits, its open- and closeness.

  • Mapping workshop

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    During workshops, maps of Lublin were used by participants to chart their own experience of the city, sketching its boundaries and limits.

  • Preparation of the exhibition

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    Preparation of the exhibition at the House of Words: classification of the material in alphabetical order.

  • Opening of the Archive at House of Words

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    The Archive was presented to the public on the 27th of July.The visitors were able to take with them what they wished by signing a contract with me.

  • Signing contracts/distributing the archive

    The to-be-completed contract (available in Polish and English) and signing of the contract that makes official the distribution of the relevant parts of the Archive

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  • Young visitors

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    The Archive remains accessible and retrievable in the House of Words

2 comments on “From Under the City

  1. christo September 11, 2016 10:52 pm

    I like this map, it appears to be hand-drawn. What do the different color-shaded areas represent?Reference

  2. Aron Rossman - Kiss September 22, 2016 11:06 am

    Thanks for your comment !
    The image is indeed hand coloured upon a printed map of Lublin; during workshops, we tried to sketch out participants’ personal, living experience of the city. Colours could correspond to various perceptions/experiences : places that they feared or never went to or on the contrary the areas they felt at home in or knew best.
    Using these maps, we tried to understand what borders were to be found within the city and how it could be divided into different areas.

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