1500m2 for rent/do wynajecia

@. Solec 18
architekt.
finished. 2009

One of the newest art/music/performance spaces on the Warsaw scene. It's located in the increasingly hip Powisle neighborhood. From what I understand it's run by a group of 7 young women and is located in an abandoned cartography factory (1951-1992): Polskie Przedsiębiorstwo Wydawnictw Kartograficznych im. Eugeniusza Romera SA (PPWK). They used to print maps for schoolrooms here. The land was about to be bought from the city by a developer but the deal fell through (thanks/due) to the crisis and so this 'non-profit' got a deal from the city to rent it at a very advantageous rate. The city is trying hard to subsidize culture in a bid for becoming Europe's(?) cultural capital in 2016. What's interesting is that these places (and they're multiplying quickly) seem to be classified as non-profits yet they mostly function as bars with almost daily music events, be they concerts or dj's. Hmmm. Nonetheless the space is cool, very rough around the edges, with some miniscule bathroom stalls (there must have been a miscalculation somewhere) and some decent shows and art exhibits. Check them out: http://1500m2.blogspot.com/.

the mural is in the courtyard of 1500m2 and is by Agata Dudek.
the photo is not by me

Central Artistic Swimming Pool/Centralny Basen Artystyczny

@. Marii Konopnickiej 6

architect. ??

finished. 1934

CASP was originally built as the Polish headquarters of the YMCA, after the war it became the headquarters of the Polish Scouts (my great grandmother worked there) and it currently houses the only remaining covered swimming pool that survived the war. Unfortunately the swimming pool is dry, however it is not useless. It currently houses a stage and is one of the most unique venues I've ever seen, on par with the Fireside Bowl in Chicago. Anyway, the building has attracted freethinkers and bohemians for decades and it continues to do so. This is what I love about Warsaw, that behind the facade of the poshest square in town you can find a gray, unimposing building that whose function has been completely rethought, but unchanged and made to be useful in the present. Environmental, creative and accessible: Wow. Oh and check out their website for events, basen, there's even a cafe to quench your thirst.

ps. Leopold Tyrmand, writer, publicist and jazz enthusiast lived here for 9 years.

pic from Basen website

Skocznia/Ski Jump

@. Czerniowiecka 3
architect. Jeremi Struchacki (eng.)
finished. 1959

Ski jumping is a popular sport (Malysz is a national hero) and this ski jump was an important training facility for several decades. This ski jump is beautifully situated not far from Krolikarnia, on the ridge of the skarpa. I can imagine how it must have been to go soaring with the view of half the city before you. It reminds me a bit of the situation of the Olympic swimming pool on Mt. Juic in Barcelona.  However, during the 80's, it lost popularity and fell into disrepair. Despite its state it is currently home to several businesses: a hair dresser, a ski shop and a courier service. Go figure.

PKiN - Public Rooms

Lightgush/Swiatlotrysk

@. Gwiazdista
artrist. Maurycy Gomulicki
finished. 2009 

Lightgush, Światłotrysk, created by Maurycy Gomulicki is an exuberant 17 m (56ft) tall neon set in a park between a neighborhood of communist era apartment blocks and a main artery into the city. Pink bubbles light up irregularly as if they were fizzing in a giant glass of soda. The sculpture is an excellent example of the artist’s admitted obsession with communist era aesthetics. While communism evokes everything gray and drab, this sculpture is happy and light. Gomulicki retells the story of the Polish People’s Republic. Lightgush questions our memory of what was considered a harsh regime, whose symbol, the Palace of Culture, is to this day reviled. The artist dares to ask the city if those could have been carefree, good times, or, even worse, if today’s times so gray that they’ve tinged the past pink?

BYOStory

@. Powisle
artist. Olga Szczepanska, Malwina Konopacka, Mariusz Jonski
finished. 2009

This project deals with urban identity as a reaction to a perceived overabundance of memory in the city. It is a set of commemorative plaques hung on the facades of various buildings in the Powiśle neighborhood; the project is called BYOStory. The context of these plaques are the 300+ small memorials that are found throughout the city, BYOStory has created an alternative plaque for the city. They have taken the stories of ordinary citizens, stories that are part of their everyday life, and memorialized them. Amongst other things these colorful plastic plaques say:

“Here on May 4th 1989 I met my beloved wife Kasia.”

“My best friend from childhood lived in this house.”

“I used to sit on this bench with my grandfather every spring.”

“My first kiss was under this tree.”

“Here my dog Gapsi dug up a gold ring.”

“I’ve bought my newspaper in this kiosk for the last 40 years.”

The artists themselves state that they are interested in reclaiming public space for the citizens of the city. That is only a part of their goal, for they are interested in understanding how a city interweaves memories that are part of the personal narrative of everyday life with the grander narrative of events that go down in history.

Foksal Gallery Foundation. Fundacja Galerii Foksal *

Gallery

@. Gorskiego 1A
architect.
finished.

Yet another funny modernist building. Unfortunately I really havn't been able to find much info about it. On the first floor it houses the 'Fundacja Galerii Foksal' which seems to have some really decent exhibitions going through it. foksal. It is interesting because it's a modernist building in an area that was historically reconstructed after the war. It's right behind Nowy Swiat and sits quite nicely on a little green square.