Curatorial Concept

NARRACJE #9. Off Season

The unique nature of Brzeźno, a seaside district of Gdańsk, hangs on a number of contradictions and paradoxes. After World War II, this former spa town, which thrived since the 19th century, turned into a grey residential area, where the melancholy beauty of the Polish seaside meets head-on with the triviality of living in a communist housing estate. Today, the surviving historical bathing infrastructure is surrounded with second-hand clothes shops and multifamily buildings painted in patterns of lighthouses and sunsets. In Brzeźno’s old spa park, cute gazebos and pergolas are cropping up on the remnants of Prussian fortifications to attract the eye of citizens and holidaymakers taking a stroll.

The ninth edition of the NARRACJE Festival will follow the dream of holidays by the sea, often recalling the pre-war history of the old spa town, but viewing it from a contemporary perspective. This double shift in time – the decades during which Brzeźno gradually lost its charm of a modern seaside location on the one hand, and moving past the summer season on the other – will allow us to look at the most interesting local stories from a different angle and reveal what cannot be seen in the summer bustle. What is the true face of Brzeźno and its inhabitants?

The story of Brzeźno will be told by artworks hinting at the anecdotes inscribed in the urban tissue and revealing the lyrical potential of seemingly ordinary places. This narrative will be populated by the inhabitants of the district and festivalgoers alike, together with the array of feelings and emotions they will experience during NARRACJE. More broadly speaking, participation in the festival will provide an opportunity to reflect on the tourism developing in Brzeźno, with all its positive and negative consequences.

Anna Czaban

Narracje 9

Narracje 9