The WELCOME SIGN is placed at the entrance to Przeróbka from the south. It is a contemporary city gate that fulfils administrative functions, a welcome that fulfils social functions, a decoration that fulfils aesthetic functions, a reference to the district’s industrial heritage that fulfils educational functions, a totem that fulfils symbolic functions, a…

What does the WELCOME SIGN mean to you?

Paweł Żukowski: In my mind, Przeróbka brings instant recollections of the first holidays I remembered – in the 1980s, my parents took my sister and me to a camping site in the nearby Stogi. Przeróbka was on the way from the seaside to the city, and my parents would stop here to do some shopping every time we vocally voiced our childlike needs (“Dad, I’m thirsty!”). Today, I cannot separate what I saw as a kid from what I see now, almost forty years later. This combination of different times and images inspired me to create a local totem out of coloured metal. When designing it, I was inspired by the sign of Spawmet, one of the workshops located in Przeróbka. I used its industrial font, colour and form but gave it a decorative rather than informative function. The WELCOME SIGN does not express any specific motivation – it may be interpreted in many ways. I would love it to stay in Przeróbka after the festival – is there a local organisation or institution that would like to adopt it?

Paweł Żukowski graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) and the University of the Arts in Poznań. His artistic practice is centred on changing the contexts of pre-existing gestures, situations, objects, and ideas. To this end, he usually uses recycled materials. Żukowski is the author of several actions in public space, such as the “LGBT TO JA/LGBT IS ME” campaign in front of the Gazeta Polska newspaper and “DAMY RADĘ/WE WILL MAKE IT” from the pandemic times. He co-authored “LETTER”, an action protesting plans to hold a postal vote in Poland.