Telephone Exchange/former Artists' Colony

I am a tourist here myself

time and location of the project: 16-17 November 2012 // 5.00-12.00 pm, 1 Doki Str., Building 175 A, Telephone Exchange, Gdansk Shipyard
+ presentation of a video documentation of the project: 20 November – 12 December 2012 // 3.00-9.00 pm

 

Participants:
Michał Andrysiak, Kuba Bielawski, Bogna Burska, Krzysztof Leon Dziemaszkiewicz, Dickie Dreams Soundsystem (Krystian Wołowski + M.Bunio.S), Adam Hryniewicki, Piotr Jahołkowski, Radek Kobus (Decay Sound), Tomasz Kopcewicz, Lipali, Honorata Martin, NAVIGATORGONG (Robert Usewicz + Joanna Jordan), Agata Nowosielska, Anna Orbaczewska, Julia Porańska, PGR ART (Robotnik Sztuki Mikołaj Robert Jurkowski, Robotnik Sztuki Sylwester Gałuszka), Cicho, cicho project (Olimpia Dębska, Ola Fijałkowska, Emilka Garska, Kama Kania, Karolina Piątkiewicz, Magda Małyjasiak, Adam Nagórski, Karolina Szambelan, Iwona Zając), chlebalin/czerkas/łuniewicz project, Queen Bitch (vc kristi), Maja Ratyńska, Maciej Salamon,snake / estern front soundNOsystem, Anna Steller, Studio à Propos, Michał Szlaga, Artur Trzciński, Jolanta Woszczenko, Sebastian Woźniak, Tomasz Wierzchowski, Konrad Zientara, Alina Żemojdzin.

The project relates to the theme of this year’s Narracje Festival: “Art thou gone, beloved ghost”, bringing a long lost place back to life. The shape of the Shipyard changes every day, and the remembered image is confronted with the existing one. During the famous strikes in the Gdańsk shipyard, the Building of the Telephone Exchange became an important place – this is where the direct and uncensored transmissions of negotiations were broadcasted from in August 1980. From 2002 to 2007 the building was home to artists – at that time the Exchange was called THE ARTISTS’ COLONY. Many of the artists have not left the Shipyard and still have their studios in the Directorate Building, which is attached to the Exchange.

Artists will evaluate the place and the time they spent there. However, it will not be a simple profit and loss account – rather an attempt to explain the idea of open, independent studios – filling in cracks, summarizing their existence in the shipyard. The passage of time will allow them to find perspective and assess their dreams and ideas of what the Shipyard will be like before it is annexed, and what it was like in the period when they were part of it.

All artists (whom we have managed to reach) who once shared their studios in the Building of the Telephone Exchange or who currently occupy studios in the Directorate Building have been invited to join the project. More than 40 people responded to the invitation.

The project is processual. The artists will enter the Telephone Exchange Building no sooner than on 16 November at 5 p.m. During the two days of the project, the viewers will be able to see performances, concerts, installations and exhibitions. The majority of the artists did not return to the building after having left it, so it is not only the visitors who will feel like tourists.

ABOUT PARTICIPANTS:

Michał Andrysiak, born in 1986, photographer, creator of multi-media installations and visual settings for theatre performances. He has been connected with the artists working in the shipyard for two years.

Jakub Bielawski, born in 1975 in Gdańsk. Performer, painter, musician and poet. Known mostly from his numerous performances in Toruń, Kraków, Ustka, Łódź, Bydgoszcz, Warszawa, Olsztyn and Poznań. Olsztyn, Gdańsk and Inowrocław also hosted his painting exhibitions. Jakub Bielawski`s experimental photo was on display in Sukiennice in Kraków. Dutch television broadcasted his video in „One Minute” show. He published his poems and works in „Portret”, „Kurier nadbałtycki”, „Luz” and others.

Bogna Burska (born in 1974 in Warsaw; lives and works in Gdańsk). Painter, film maker, photographer, author of many installations. She graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in 2001. First works, painted with fingertips directly on the surface (canvas, wall, glass), made compositions resembling clotted trails of blood. At the same time, the artist does interior design (nurseries, etc.) with a sort of disturbing aura about them, which is achieved by minor interventions: controlled chaos, stained bedspreads, poisonous spiders (Arachne, 2003), creating tense spaces, that throw the observer out of conventional perception schemes. She composes colorful mosaics out of photos, where she, for instance, combines damaged body parts with flowers ( Life is Beautiful, Algorithm 2002). In her videos the artist mixes sequences from popular movies and TV news, engaging in polemics with standard aesthetics and habits embedded in a visual layer of culture. The series Found Footage plays with shifting mirrors (2006-2008) and the late works using this technique (A Thousand Deaths 2010-2011, Battle of Grunwald 2011) show the mechanisms of creating and illustrating of contemporary cultural narratives. She is a lecturer at the intermedia cathedral in the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, where she recieved a PhD in 2009.

Krzysztof Leon Dziemaszkiewicz, born in 1963, performer, choreographer, one of the creators of Gdańsk`s Expression Theatre, since 1995 leader of Look At My Lips Theatre, connected with the Sopot Foundation of Integration of Science, Culture and Art „SFINFS”. Author of many performances, choreographies, happenings. He is who he wants to make of himself, in the name of freedom for all individuals. Transgenic, transsexual work of Dziemaszkiewicz is aimed to link contradictions, looking for borderline between brutality and humanity.

Dickie Dreams Soundsystem are M.Bunio.S and Goodboy Khris
better known from Dick4Dick. In their duo they give vent to their electro- dancefloor inclinations and love for a simple 4/4 beat. On the 23.04.2012 they released their debut mini-disc called: „Not Really Shocking Story About The Whole Universe”, consisting of 7 compositions kept in disco, electro and nu-funk mood. Their inspiration were samples from former Dick4Dick songs, which, accordingly transformed gave harmony and rythm to the new tracks. One of their life performance principles is the reduction of gear to a simple minimum of a laptop, sampler, synthesizer and vocal effects.

Adam Hryniewicki, born in 1976 in Białystok, studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, in Edward Sitek`s cathedral. Audio-visual artist, drummer, producer, former member of Dick4Dick (as Dick Dexter), Gypsy Pill, Uniform, Trismegistros, Super Girl & Romantic Boys, Cavalleris. Music maker for TV programmes, art installations and theatre performances („Hamlet”, directed by Monika Pęcikiewicz in Polish Theatre in Wrocław and „Women from the Past”, directed by Ewelina Marciniak in Baltic Drama Theatre in Koszalin.) Involved in the shipyard from the beginning till this day.

Piotr Jahołkowski, born in 1959 in Sopot. Studied at the Academy of Physical Education and Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, sculpture cathedral. He has studied japanese zen under the guidance of Jakusho Kwong Roshi SMZC Santa Rosa CA for 15 years. He is the co-founder of Fahrenheit- Artist`s Union and Multimedia Academy of Gdańsk where he was a lecturer for two years. He has lived and worked in the shipyard as part of the Young City- a community of artists conquerring post industrial spaces for seven years. Among many of his sculptures there is, for instance, The Statue of a Porpoise in Gdynia, at Kościuszko Square, he had his painting solo exhibitions in Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot, Ostróda, Dortmund, Mendocino (San Francisco), and has shown at numerous collective exhibitions; Detergenty94, repeatedly at the Museum of Curiosities, he has been co-working with Sfinks, Sopot for 12 years creating shows presented in Warsaw, Vilnus ,Riga, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Gdańsk and Sopot, his performance (ultraviolet body painting) was presented to a wide audience in Wrocław at Mandala2007, New City art festival, The Night of Transvision 5th anniversary of Modelarnia, Wyspa Institute of Art.
He collaborated in stage design and took part in various theatre performances: Beladonna, Cafe Domino, Variete Cameleon of Look at My Lips Theatre and other theatres: Znak, Delikates. He was an art director and performed in: Out of Control, Kings of Caramel, Pink Freud and other videos by Maciej Szupica. His late audio-visual happenings are: Tropem Traserów – synchronous etudes in the Two Windows Theatre, Nagła Wykończeniówka – in Modelarnia (shipyard), PetOpera and Petummobile in the Philharmonic as part of Globe Forum and Globe Award (2011), alongside the artists linked to the Young City: Adam Hryniewicki, Tomek Wierzchowski and Konrad Zientara.

Radosław Kobus (Decay Sound), born in 1978 in Częstochowa. He went to college in 2001, studied fine arts and graphic desing in Gdańsk. He has a diploma Dyplom w pracowni prof. Macieja Świeszewskiego oraz aneks w pracowni prof. Marii Targońskiej w 2006 r.
He does canvas painting and mural, does graphic design, interior design as well as installations and music. He has been a part of the Artist`s Colony since 2002.
His musi cis inspired by roots reggae, dub, industrial music and electro. He participated in numerous cultural events and festivals such as the Berlin dub festival, for the last five years he periodically performer at the Ostruda reggae festival, he also organizes Dab Sound Camp which, among others, aims at production and sound engineering education. He runs 2net label www.deathbird.pl/getdub i www.deathbird.pl/trinityrec where you can download his productions. You can also find his publications on the french label website: http://kingdubfamily.com

Tomek Komar Kopcewicz, painter, film maker, creator of objects, occasional guitarist. Part of the local art scene, co-creator of „Znajomi Znad Morza“ group (Kuba Bielawski, Malina Tomaszewska, Anna and Adam Witkowski, Sebastian Woźniak). He was a resident of the Artist`s Colony in Gdańsk. At present he lives and works in Warsaw. His videos are usually short, repeated forms, shot with a static camera, and in context with his paintings. Presented together, they provide an extra narrative to the paintings, and even though most of the time they are their integral part, they could easily be treated as separate works. Kopcewicz often does periodics, painting many variations on one motif („grates“, „rails“, „busses“). In „On the way“ and „Grates“ the artist paints what he sees, literally, going through town. That is the subject of his obsessive re-painting or static video shots. While multiplying architectural and public transport motifs, he reveals certain mechanisms, such as creation, respect for regulations and suppression of the social potential. These works delikatnej undoubtly are critical, in their intriguingly delicate form, that contradicts the voice of a heated debate or propaganda. The artist makes his forms unreal, takes elements of urban architecture out of their context, and working with certain motifs simplifies their shape to a complete dissolution and abstractification.

LIPALI are:
Tomek “LIPA” Lipnicki – vocal, guitar
Łukasz „LUK” Jeleniewski – drums
Adrian “QLOS” Kulik – bass, vocal
The band was formed in 2003. Rhythmic section are: Adrian „Qlos” Kulik (former TUFF ENUFF) and Łukasz „Luk” Jeleniewski (former IMTM). First album of the trio was released in 2004, it was called LIPALI „Pi”. Material from that record refers to the musical fascinations of the leader. So it`s an interesting mix of psychedelia- core and grunge, full of ragged dark melodies typical for hc („Unsinkable”), thrilling, almost lyric vocals in L. Stanley`s style, („If”, „Wishes”), which, paradoxically, make quite a cohesive mix. The compositions are also directly kept in rock stylistics, and refer to the classics of the genre and not as much to new metal, that is so trendy right now. The ensemble is classic as well, since LIPALI is a perfectly tuned hendrix-esk trio, that goes by one of the oldest theories: Ockham`s razor placing simplicity and purity of form and content above pointless cacophony. Lipa yet again proves that he`s one of the best rock singers in Poland. Since there aren`t many native rockmen who can combat breakneck vocals as easily as he does. Especially since he sings in Polish, which, as we know, is pretty out there and in our country it`s an eccentricity. Their second album „Bloo” was released in 2007 by FrontMusic label. In 2008 the band was nominated to 6 Fryderyk awards. The ceremony took place on the 7th of April and Tomek „Lipa” Lipnicki got one of the 6 awards as the vocalist of the year. This year the band got singed in Lemon Records with their „TRIO” album. In 2010 Tomasz Lipnicki was nominated to the Golden Beak of Wawa radio Award and got 7 Fryderyk nominations. Yet again Lipa took the best vocalist of the year title.

łuniewicz/chlebalin/czerkas project
Bartłomiej Łuniewicz –contemporary music composer, with a laptop as his tool, improvisor and theorist. Experimentalist and initiator of „free laboratory”, was a part of „drum and brass” project with Chlebalin that played their own, minimalistic compositions.In 2003-2004 resided in the Artist`s Colony, and in 2011 he has returned to the Shipyard.
Siergiej Chlebalin – born in Kaliningrad, saxophonist, composer playing jazz and contemporary music, creator of music for theatre performances, orchestral musician. The artist resided in the Artist`s Colony in 2003-2004. He was a part of „free laboratory” and „drum and brass” projects together with Bartłomiej Łuniewicz.
Jovan Czerkas – musician based in Germany, saxophonist, improvisor. He recorded an album in Poland with Marek Rogulski „Rogulus”, Tomasz Szwelnik and Michał Gos. He was involved with the art community in the Shipyard in 2003-2004.
They will present their compositions built on saxophones, vocals, laptop and drums. They will search for extreme contrasts, using characteristic for forms opened sorces. The concert during Narracje 2012 will be dedicated on one hand to the „free tonality” of serialism, and on the other hand to music that explores vocalism and polyrhythm – it`s a project that aims to bring back the spirit of „free laboratory”, once more exposing this crash of three different aesthetics of three exploring improvisors to the critic.