Activity

Urban Residencies

residency programme focusing on using public spaces as sites of participation and cooperation.

An activity by
partnering with Alexey Salmanov, Roberto Cimetta Fund, Aron Rossman - Kiss, Europe Grand Central, Dina Kobrosly, Radhouan Fiddini, Ryo Ikeshiro, Taisiya Melnyk, Yulia Lashchuk, Viktoria Khomenko, WorkshopsOfCulture

Explores the borders

the local the stranger
neighbor neighbor
cultural producers local community

Why

Urabn Residencies programme is an international interdiciplinary project focusing on using public spaces as sites of participation and cooperation. Throught local community actions, workshops, research and artistic residencies the project aims at building dialogue between the local community living in different districts of Lublin on one hand, and artists and culture animators from European and non European countries on the other hand.

Artists representing different fields of arts and culture/social animators, urbanists, researchers, practicioners carry on activities involving residents of the districts with an active support from local culture animators and organisations.

The project result in carrying out team-based activities that will encourage and inspire local residents to get involved in creating lively public spaces, social and cultural life and local change. The role of the artist as creator will be shifted to that of teacher and guide, while residents will become active recepients and creators of culture instead of being merely passive observers.

The main subject of the residency programme are “Borders” between local and stranger, between neighbours from the same backyard as well as neighbours from another country, cultural managers and citizens, between arts and society. We are trying to make questions and find answers.

What are the realities of the local and the stranger? Is thinking about difference and otherness stimulated most effectively when we think of different countries? Do we tend to make assumptions about these differences too quickly? What are the scenarios where the stranger, in some instances, is treated with fear but in others with curiosity, respect, and willingness to know, to explore, to share the world? Sometimes the biggest stranger lives next door and the real stranger becomes most intimate outlet to confide in. How these connections are made? How these encounters can be explored and facilitated when the scales of analysis shifts from far away lands and mediated, stereotyped representations about ‘others’? Do visiting artists learn about the local context and share something about their own in terms of countries or it is something else? 

 

Location

Lublin, Polska

Characteristics

Area

Lublin is the capital of the Lublin region and is the largest city in eastern Poland with a population of 350,000. It is located 160 km southeast of Warsaw. In 1317 Lublin was granted city rights and throughout the centuries it has played a prominent role as a commercial town, as a seat of political and juridical power, and as a centre of learning, spirituality, publishing and education. After the 3rd partition of Poland in 1795 Lublin was under Austrian rule; after 1815 the region spent nearly a century under Russian rule. When an independent Poland was reconstituted in 1918, the city became the seat of provisional government, a position it held and again following Poland’s liberation in 1944. During the Nazi occupation, Lublin’s large Jewish population was murdered. The former Nazi concentration and death camp Majdanek, now a State Museum, is on the outskirts of the city. Today Lublin is home to a large concentration of public and private universities and institutions of higher learning, with a student population of about 100,000. Although the heavy industry developed during communism slid into decline and liquidation after 1989, there is currently a growth of small and medium scale enterprises; yet, unemployment is relatively high (10%) and the wages are lower than in comparable Polish cities. Ties with the adjacent regions of Belarus and Ukraine, developed after the collapse of the USSR, have been curbed to some extent by the Schengen border regime but at the same time have been reinforced by the EU Eastern Partnership initiative. Lublin’s rich cultural infrastructure and rising growth of the municipal cultural budget ensure an abundance of cultural events and services throughout the year. With a well-preserved and newly restored Old Town, along with a region rich in cultural heritage and natural beauty. Lublin and its surroundings offer tremendous tourist potential. The city is investing over EUR 600 million in the coming years to improve accessibility, including an integrated public transport system, double-lane highways and ring roads, a new airport and a train connection, as well as major cultural facilities.

Audience

The artists invited for the residency programme are coming form different European and non European countries representing different form of arts. They collaborate with local cultural animators and managers who act as guides, compaignons that indorduce the artists to the cultural and artistic environement, communicators between the citizens and artists, supporters and facilitators of activities.

The artists and cultural animators/managers works as tandems with local communities. Each artist propose different project ideas and work with different audiences. There are children (age 9 - 12), seniors (age over 50), people of different age living the specific territory, for ex. one district or one street or one house, mental disabled people, citizens of Lublin who was born here and who came living here for different reasons.

How the audience/participants were reached or discovered

We have experience in working with local communities in Lublin of different age, sex, culture, habilities, disabilities, economic and social situation for many years. We have created a network of contacts (individuals, citizens of Lublin, as well as institutions and organisations) through trust, collaboration and participation. Among them are:

instititions: District Councils, City Council, schools, kindergardens, cultural institutions, libraries, social houses.

individuals: teachers, local leaders, cultural and social workers, people working in services in different districts, neighbours.

We count on collaboration and experienece of organisations and institutions working with sepecific target groups. They are usually open for collaboration.

In some cases we make announcements and open calls for actions.

How it was done

archiving
drawing
exhibitions
film
food
graffiti
interviews
lectures
mapping
making
music
performance
photos
public art
sound
theatre
workshops
writing
Bordr stories

How

Bordr

 

Drawing

Mapping

 

Public Art

 

Mapping

 

Archiving

 

Interviews

 

Sound

 

Food

 

Graffiti

 

Performance

 

Workshops

 

Exhibitions

 

Research, reflection, actions on site for and with the local and cultural communities. Artists representing different fields of arts will carry on activities involving local communities of 4 different districts of the city of Lublin with an active support from local culture animators  using the local infrastructure (libraries, houses of culture, public spaces).

Results

Bordr Stories

As part of this activity, Bordr stories were booked.

View more stories posted with this activity

The project result in carrying out team-based activities (artists + cultura managers / animators) that encourage and inspire local residents to get involved in creating lively public spaces, social and cultural life and local change. The role of the artist as creator is shifted to that of teacher and guide, while residents become active recepients and creators of culture instead of being merely passive observers.

The results depends on ideas, methos and forms of arts used by the artists and managers: .it can be theter, dance or irterdiciplinary performances, shows, walks, meetings, workshops, exhibitions.

The most important resultas are mental ones, it means the influences of people on each other. The artists learn a lot from the people that they work woth, that they meet. They are inspired by the spaces, city, citizens, actions that they ar participate in, some accidencial situations, talks, ect. Thecommunities, people who take part in the artistic processes are inspired and inluenced by experience and knowledge of the artists- their background and the work.

The result is the process, is never archied and finished is ongoing.

How it went

Main lessons learned

It is difficult to categorize the success and failure of the project because each residency and process is different. The biggest success is when the artists are living the city of Lublin with the filings, emotions and stories they will never foreget and the local citizens, audience remens in mind and remind the activities, talks and works with artists and cultural managers. The most importanat are connection and relations.

Inspiration

people and their stories

meeting with cultural organisations all over world

caffee breaks and night talks

travels

Credits

Organisations / Institutions:

Fundacja Teren Otwarty / Open Territory Foundation
Miasto Lublin / Lublin Municipality
Miejski Ośrodek Pomocy Rodzinie / Familly Aid Municipal Centre
Centrum Kultury w Lublinie / Centre for Culture in Lublin
Warsztaty Kultury w Lublinie / Workshops of Culture in Lublin
Galeria Labirynt / Labirynth Gallery
Zespół Ośrodków Wsparcia / Support Centres Association
Ośrodek Wsparcia dla Osób z Niepełnosprawnością “Benjamin” / Support Centre for Disabled People “Benjamin”
Akademia Kreatywności / Creative Academy
Punkt Kultury / Culture Point
Świetlica “Ciuchcia” / “Choo -choo” Club for Youth
Dom Słów / House of Words
Ośrodek Brama Grodzka – Teatr NN / Theater NN – Grodzka Gate Centre
Lubelska Kooperatywa Spożywcza / Lublin Food Cooperative
Roberto Cimetta Fund

Individuals:

Anna Bakiera
Cezary Hunkiewicz
Włodek Pawelec
Tomasz Kulczyński
Mariusz Kulczyński
Alina Bąk
Kamil Filipowski
Marcin Pietrusza
Piotr Brożek
Agnieszka Żółkowska
Sylwia Janasz

local cultural animators/ managers:

Arkadiusz Sławek
Katarzyna Pągowska
Agnieszka Robaczewska
Joanna Mądra
Marcin Butryn
Magdalena Łuczyn
Urszula Piłat
Rafał Dubas

Activity Timeline

2016

  • Participatory Action Research

    Research project running in the Downtown f Lublin by experts: sociologists and antropoligists, cultural workers from Local Activist Centre from Warsaw together with cultual animators and students of cultural studies, urbanism and cultural animation from University of Lublin. The result of the research was a social diagnosis as a base for future cultural activities in the territory of Downtwon of Lublin.

  • Open call

    Open call to the EU and EaP countries

  • Selection of artists

    Selection process

    Revision of portfolio and application of all artists who wanted to participat in the residency programme. Selection of 6 best proposals. Contact with artists through skype to discuss their projects and ideas.

     

  • Selection of local cultural animators/managers

    Meeting with potencial local cultural animators and managers who will collaborate with artists invited for the residency programme. Organisational meetings.

  • From under the city - exhibition

    From under the city is an archive that was assembled to try to answer the question : how does the theme of borders connect with Lublin ? Like every archive, it is polymorphous. It can be explored as a map in which different paths, borders and memories intersect. Where does the city start, where does it end, how can it be divided within ? It can be read as a book : these archives evoke Lublin as a place were people from different backgrounds, homelands and perceptions meet. What makes a Lubliner ? What makes this city different and unique ? It can be considered as an album that documents the suburbs and borders of the city, trying to understand its very essence. These Archives give the opportunity to the visitors to find their own paths among the collected data. To explore their own Lublin.

    Since these archives belong to all Lubliners, it will be distributed amongst them. More than an invitation to visit an exhibition, From under the city thus invites every visitor to become a keeper of the memory of the city.

    The authot of the project is Aron Rossman – Kiss – a young visual artist based in Geneva. Using analog photography, video and text, his current work focuses on sociopolitical issues and questions of identity.

  • Aron Rossman - Kiss residency (HU/CH)

    Project title: “Borderarchiving”

    The artist proposes to run a series of workshops that allow the participants to become archivists, curators, artists and at the same time the subjects of the work. The workshops consist of three parts. The first part involves introductory discussions on personal memories of displacement, travel andOtherness as well as perceptions of border-related issues. This is also when participants ask questions and share reflections about these issues. The second part involves confrontation with the photographic material and the creation of works involving them. This can range from using the photos to illustrate personal or invented stories, through using them as inspiration or basis for artworks or simply archiving them under categories the participants find relevant. (What criteria becomes relevant in the classification of photos presented without any information?). The spaces and ways of exhibiting the works will be decided by the participants during the third stage.

    www.aronrossmankiss.net

  • Dina Kobrosly residency (LB)

    Project title: “Living dolls”

    The project will focus on the subjects of integration, self-acceptance, accepting the different other, and expressing oneself freely and confidently in society, using interactive theater and puppetry as a medium to assist the participants in being a lively and active part of society. The objectives of this project include engaging the participants in the creative process and promoting the well-being of the youth participants through a stimulating performance that takes Lublin’s heritage into consideration.

  • My other Lublin

    Workshops to explore Lublin’s experience of discplacement, borders and otherness to express it through research and art. Different media – video photography, writing, drawing, mapping will be used to share, symbolize and present these perceptions. The outcome of the project will be creation of an archive regrouping the works that will be publicly presented.

    The artist proposes to run a series of workshops that allow the participants to become archivists, curators, artists and at the same time the subjects of the work. The workshops consist of three parts. The first part involves introductory discussions on personal memories of displacement, travel andOtherness as well as perceptions of border-related issues. This is also when participants ask questions and share reflections about these issues. The second part involves confrontation with the photographic material and the creation of works involving them. This can range from using the photos to illustrate personal or invented stories, through using them as inspiration or basis for artworks or simply archiving them under categories the participants find relevant. (What criteria becomes relevant in the classification of photos presented without any information?). The spaces and ways of exhibiting the works will be decided by the participants during the third stage.

  • Ryo Ikeshiro residency (UK / JP)

    Project title: “the Menthal Health Orchestra”

    The aim of the project is to set up a group for sound and experimental music performances. The group will consist of children and young people, and those who may have mental health issues, learning difficulties or hearing or other disabilities, or come from disadvantaged backgrounds. During the workshops, the participants will use various means, such as computers and analogue equipment, other objects or field recordings as instruments to create group performances. There is much potential in the use of noise and experimental music to enrich the lives of everyone through creativity and self-expression. Using non-commercial forms of music with  those that may be excluded from fully participating in the market will also be a worthwhile venture into what is possible outside our usual capitalist environment. In addition, it would challenge public preconceptions concerning persons with disabilities through demonstrating their potential for creativity and experimentation.

    www.ryoikeshiro.com

  • Living Dalls

    Dolls, puppets, marionettes making workshops for children aged 7 – 14 years that summing up with the presentation of dolls and short theater performance.

    Workshops conducted by: Dina Kobrosly (Liban) – theater practicioner, specialized in puppet theater, working with youth in Beirut.

    The project will focus on the subjects of integration, self-acceptance, accepting the different other, and expressing oneself freely and confidently in society, using interactive theater and puppetry as a medium to assist the participants in being a lively and active part of society. The objectives of this project include engaging the participants in the creative process and promoting the well-being of the youth participants through a stimulating performance that takes Lublin’s heritage into consideration.

  • Radhouan Fiddini residency (TU)

    Project title: “Inna Cultivation”

    His project deals with borders as a recurrent theme denouncing its obstructive impact on human condition development.  Radhouan will collaborate with the European Foundation for Urban culture in Lublin to give workshops and share his artistic and sound system management experience with unemployed individuals. Together they will self-produce and present a music event as a way to promote arts autonomy, local culture development and transcend social exclusion.

  • Taisia Melnyk residency (UA)

    Project title: “The body of the country”

    Through examining relationships between people, the project “The Body of the country” aims to strengthen the historical, interpersonal, cultural and ethical ties between Ukraine and Poland. The interactive exhibition “The Body of the Country” consists of video art, installation, photography and performance. This art project brings together the cities of Ukraine (Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, Kharkiv), unites people in the act of creating “bodies of the country” and promotes understanding, unity of the human spirit. It is an examination of reactions and changes on the body of the country. Perception born of allusions is the basis of human nature, as is the body of Christ. Exploring space requires ranging, territory, people, decision, attitudes, the relationship between them.  Despite our hostility, our rampant belligerence and upholding of our own interests, we should keep in mind that we are of the same breed. In the performance, water and flour mixed together, the installation “Body of the Country” has changed.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46LqsnUtbCg
    https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001167202670

  • Mental Health Noise Orchestra conducted by Ryo Ikeshiro

    Experimental music performance which is a summary of collaborative work of music artist Ryo Ikeshiro (UK / Japan ) and people with mental disabilities from the Lublin Support Centres Group.

    The Mental Health Noise Orchestra is a project involving people with mental disabilities and health issues. As well as being community-based, it operates at the cutting-edge of contemporary sonic art, challenging public preconceptions concerning people with disabilities through demonstrating their potential for creativity and experimentation. Through workshops, the participants open their ears to the possibilities of sound and noise through listening whilst exploring an alternative to elitist traditions and the profit-driven music industry which pervade our notion of what music is or should be.
    The project was conceived by the artist Ryo Ikeshiro (UK/JP) who spent a few weeks working with people from the “Benjamin” Support Centre for People with Disabilities. Together, they present the world premiere of the Mental Health Noise Orchestra in Lublin. They hope that by attending the performance, the audience will also be encouraged to open their ears and minds.

    www.mentalhealthnoise.com

  • Yulia Laschuk (UA / PL)

    Project title: “Bord(h)ers”

    The project is about 10 women of different ages and with different background living in Lublin: refugees, immigrants, women with disabilities, victims  of domestic violence, young single mothers, prisoners, women with alcohol and drug problems, old ladies who survived WWII, women who lived in Lublin all their life. They are all different, but all of them have something in common, something deeply hidden – borders. Borders that are already crossed or will never be crossed, borders real and mental, borders created by politics, religion, tradition, fear, social criticism, complexes, discrimination etc. “Bord(h)ers” is an interdisciplinary art and social project,which consists of interviews with women and their own visualization of their stories about the borders made by them. The name of the project describes the femininity of the topic and the perception of the borders from the point of view of a woman born in a patriarchal society. What does a Chechen woman taking off her headscarf in public feel? Why does a well-educated Ukrainian teacherdoctor starts cleaning houses in Poland? Is the district friendly towards people on wheelchairs? Where is the border between patience and personal space when he hits her? Does she like her body? Which superstitions do they have? Or maybe fears? Or beliefs?

    https://www.facebook.com/verkorpert/

  • Body of the country - performance and exhibition

    Photo, video exhibition and performance that summing up the artistic residency pf Tasiia Melnyk (Ukraine)

    Through examining relationships between people, the project “The Body of the country” aims to strengthen the historical, interpersonal, cultural and ethical ties between Ukraine and Poland. The interactive exhibition “The Body of the Country” consists of video art, installation, photography and performance. This art project brings together the cities of Ukraine (Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, Kharkiv), unites people in the act of creating “bodies of the country” and promotes understanding, unity of the human spirit. It is an examination of reactions and changes on the body of the country. Perception born of allusions is the basis of human nature, as is the body of Christ. Exploring space requires ranging, territory, people, decision, attitudes, the relationship between them. Despite our hostility, our rampant belligerence and upholding of our own interests, we should keep in mind that we are of the same breed. In the performance, water and flour mixed together, the installation “Body of the Country” has changed.

    The exhibition consists of video, photos and installations from the performance which was held in Kiev and Lublin within the residence.

    The project started in the home country of the artist – in Ukraine and continues in Lublin as part of the residency program. The residence is to conduct a detailed analysis and adaptation based on the specificity, identity and mentality of the country.

  • Inna Cultivation - Free Culture Zone

    A space full of culture, a space for meetings is how Radhouan Fiddini from Tunisia imagines Lublin.

    On Sunday afternoon visit the backyard at 13 Królewska Street. Within Fiddini’s project, we will meet local craftsmen and artists, try regional, vegan, ecological and international cuisine, buy products made by Lublin’s craftsmen and listen to music inspired by Sound System culture.
    We will see: Aneta Niewęgłowska (vegetables), Mrs Celina (handicraft, herbs, fruit liquors) Zapach Ciszy (cosmetics), Zdrowa Moc (cosmetics/personal care products),
    Bezglutenowedomowe (bread), Boguś Mikita (honeys, olive), Janusz Sawicki (fruit), z Lasu (jewellery), Novita (tempeh), Monika Mincewicz (graphic designs), Jerzy Janiszewski (vinyls), Pomylone Gary (vegan cuisine), Lubelska Kooperatywa Spożywcza.

    Radhouan Fiddini’s project, Inna Cultivation, is carried out in cooperation with Lublin’s local communities, creative individuals and collectives as well as volunteers. Within the project, Radhouan encourages us to join the initiative.

    Full Culture Zone is to create a space for meetings and exchange of experiences for local artists and craftsmen as well as Lubliners. We have invited people forming TuTarg to take part and Radhouan Fiddini is responsible for musical and artistic setting.

     

  • Alexey Salmanov residency (UA)

    Project title: “”

    A series of performances dedicated to the phenomena of graffiti as visual language in public space. First graffiti writers in New York used to mark their neighborhoods and districts with  paints just like animals did it, to divide the fields of influence. The projects aims to research  Lublin districts  and the history of Lublin’s community in order to do a number of performances with inhabitants of  the districts to find a label or a mark for a district.

    http://pinchukartcentre.org/en/exhibitions/21728
    http://izolyatsia.org/en/collection/artwork/Salmanov_3

  • Viktoria Khomenko residency (UA)

    Project title: “Bestiary”

    How real are the stories we use to explain our “world” to others? Maybe, are we caught up in a skillfully spinned net of our own fairytales in some way? Illusions are created by different analyzers. Out of all, visual analyzers appear to be the most potent. It might be a very painful experience  to lose these colorful oases which give us a false sense of reality, but at the same time provide a sense of safety. The artist proposes to make a documentary film about fairytales produced by children in their own lives. Children would take photos of or make short videos about places that are important to them (in town, at home, at room etc), where they gather with friends and play some games. The end result would be a type of town/home bestiary, that would be narrated by local citizens. Children would not only film or take pictures, but they would also choose a place or some objects on the street/home/room where they live and describe them in some mythical way. In this way, the artist aims to collect contemporary myths and fairytales that children create.

    www.facebook.com/viktoria.khomenko

  • Urabn residency programme

    Residencies, workshops, meetings, experiences, experiments…

  • Bord(h)ers - exhibition

    Why does a well-educated girl quit her job at an ambassy and goes to pick up strawberries in Germany? Where is the line between patience and personal space? Do women like their bodies? Do they value their choices? Yulia Lashchuk of Ukraine will try to answer these and other questions through her exhibition.
     
    Yulia Lashchuk (Ukraine / Poland), researcher, curator and artist has prepared the exhibition, which consists of drawings made by women she encountered, recordings of their history and a sound installation. The “Bord (h) ers” project is about women of different ages and coming from different backgrounds. They have two things in common: they all live in Lublin and have deeply hidden, but discovered by Yulia, borders. These are barriers that have already been crossed, or which never will never be possible to be crossed. Real and imaginary, borders set by politics, religion, social criticism, fear, complexes, discrimination and so on.
     
    “Bord (h) ers” is an interdisciplinary artistic and social project which consists of interviews with women and visualization of their borders. The name of the project reflects the femininity of the subject and the perception of borders from the point of view of a woman born in a patriarchal society. What does a blind woman feel when ahe goes out on the street? Why does a well-educated girl quit her job at an ambassy and goes to pick up strawberries in Germany? Where is the line between patience and personal space? Do women like their bodies? Do they value their choices and their freedom when they already exceeded the limit of morality? What are their fears or superstitions? Or beliefs? Yulia Lashchuk will try to answer.
  • RV 3276 - Aleksander Salamnov exhibition

    RV 3276 | exhibition

    RV 3276 is the sum of numbers indicating the colours of the cans which are the colours of the Ukrainian and Polish flags mixed by me during my performances

    “During my residency, I`ve created 4 pieces which stand at the intersection of two media – graffiti and performance. I consider it to be a new word in art. This intersection is very specific because these media have absolutely different natures. As a part of subculture, graffiti doesn`t have any reference to the wide and open audience of such an established thing as art, or even “high art”. The graffiti community is actually a closed group of people who use special language and codes which are clear only inside the community and appeal to members of subculture all over the world. Performance is one of the media in “high culture” that appeals to anyone and tries to be clear for everyone. So graffiti and performance in metaphoric sense could be compared to a sect and official religion, respectively. My goal is to create a new field in art when graffiti and performane can become one language. Standing outside the subculture (I’m not a part of this system), I use graffiti as a pretty expressive tool of communication in public space. At the same time, I put performance in the field of graffiti, doing conceptual research of subculture. Keeping in mind the topic of the residency, I blur the borders between Ukraine and Poland as well as borders between any other countries” (Alekxey Salmanov)

  • The Club - documentary film made by children from "Choo - choo" Youth Club

    Documentary short film is made by 8 enthusiastic kids
    Poland/2016
    curator, film editing: Viktoriia Khomenko (Ukraine)

    Two dozens of kids are on ten square meters. There are nobody outside of this room. From three o’clock afternoon until seven Natalka with the rest of the guys spent her time in the Club. One day, she decides to find out what is situated on rest part of this huge two-storey building – the former House of Culture. It turned out that the door to an abandoned part of the house was always opened…