2024
installation, steel, coke, fire

A brazier is a portable outdoor heater made of welded steel bars. In its raw form, it resembles reinforcing mesh used to strengthen building structures. Braziers burn coke produced by heating coal to temperatures above 600 degrees Celsius. Such furnaces were once a staple of winter urban landscapes, providing not only warmth but also a place for social integration. In Poland, braziers are mostly associated with the period of martial law.

Three braziers designed for the festival by Zuza Golińska reference her 2014 project. Back then, the first brazier she created was placed in Warsaw’s Old Town. Fuelled by herbs such as sage and substances like tree sap, the fire produced smoke with healing properties, encouraging social bonds. In Niedźwiednik, the new braziers are placed at the centre of an amphitheatre-like circle of benches in the playground. Positioned at the top of the hill, the spot acts as a year-round intergenerational meeting place, further enhanced by a spectacular view of Niedźwiednik. As a source of warmth and centre of social interaction, the braziers become an addition to playground furnishings, alongside the swing and sandpit.

The work connects with Niedźwiednik’s industrial past. As recently as the 1920s, lignite was extracted from an opencast pit located near today’s Góralska Street, likely used by nearby households and small industrial plants. The forest ravine between Góralska and the allotment gardens – called Węglisko (from węgiel, the Polish word for coal) – reflects the area’s former lignite mining. Niedźwiednik also has deposits of sand and clay, which once supported a local brickyard.

Today, burning coal or lignite is increasingly abandoned for environmental reasons. Yet, the irritating smell of coal smoke mixed with the heavy, humid air still lingers as an olfactory feature of Polish autumn landscapes. The wafting smoke brings together those seeking warmth, peace, and security.

ZUZA GOLIŃSKA (b. 1990) is a multidisciplinary artist and graduate of the Studio of Spatial Activities at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She explores the impact of architecture and public space on people. Her work seeks to answer how the psychology of space affects individual physical and mental wellbeing in the context of civilisational acceleration and late capitalism. In her art, Golińska often challenges the division between function and aesthetics, analysing the impact of spatial forms on users’ emotions and decisions.