Storms on Sticks

Narracje #9 „Poza sezonem” / Narracje #9 ”Off Season”

 17-18.11.2018 Gdańsk

 

(Photo by: Edyta Steć)

 (Photo by: Bogna Kociumbas)

 (Photo by Jan Rusek - Wyborcza Trojmiasto)

STORMS ON STICKS

happening / 2017 promenade, Brzeźnieńska Street

Diana Rönnberg spent most of her life by the sea. As a little girl, she lived on the west coast of Sweden, where she moved with her family at the age of eight. Later, as a student, she settled in Gdańsk. “Anyone living by the seaside is familiar with the fickle whims of Neptune. The clouds are rarely white, and the sky is only blue on postcards or on a few summer days. The seaside sky is usually grey-brown, it tastes of salt and impending rain,” says the artist. In this context, it seems strange how many people equate seaside towns with non-stop festivities, an extravaganza of colours and smiles – and it is equally bewildering that seaside bliss is epitomized by fast-food stalls, fried fish, ice cream, waffles and candyfloss. Especially the latter has particular connotations: the fluffy confectionery item invented by the Italians in the 15th century that became popular in Poland under communism.

        Diana Rönnberg’s happening for the NARRACJE audience alludes to the market-like atmosphere of a seaside resort. The artist offers festivalgoers candyfloss which, instead of the usual pink or blue, has been dyed grey-brown. Rönnberg’s candyfloss, tasting of liquorice and salmiak, is an autumn serving of sweets, a pinch of melancholy immersed in a cloud of summer memories.

 

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

(curator) 

Links:

Festivals webpage:

http://narracje.eu/narracje2017/en/

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Articles:

First Day (trojmiasto.pl) 

Szum

Wyborcza Trojmiasto Photodocumentation 

Wyborcza Trojmiasto

Trojmiasto.pl 

Trojmiasto.tv

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