Ways to Co-exist: Art and Education at the Manhattan Gallery in Łódź between 1991 and 2016
The Manhattan Gallery, which operated in Łódź from 1991 to 2016, owed its uniqueness to its location and program. Its phenomenon resulted from the co-existence of two, seemingly far-removed functions. On the one hand, its activity was oriented to a local audience, the residents of the housing estate...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Miejsce |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://miejsce.asp.waw.pl/en/sposoby-wspolistnienia/ |
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| Summary: | The Manhattan Gallery, which operated in Łódź from 1991 to 2016, owed its uniqueness to its location and program. Its phenomenon resulted from the co-existence of two, seemingly far-removed functions. On the one hand, its activity was oriented to a local audience, the residents of the housing estate where it was located. This aspect resulted from the institutional frames that determined the status of the venue as a local cultural center. On the other hand, the program and aspirations of the Manhattan Gallery were set by the curatorial concept of Krystyna Potocka-Suwalska, focused on the presentation of progressive art. The goal of the article is to reconstruct the history of the Manhattan Gallery against the background of the changing conditions determined by the city’s policy and the political regime transformation alongside reforms of educational and cultural policies. Attention is mostly devoted to the first decade of the new millennium. During that time, the artistic program and the program of the venue as a community and cultural center became combined in activities carried out in urban space, situated at the intersection of art, science, and activism. Actions, research, and performances held outside the gallery often thematized its immediate surroundings: the city, the estate, the block of flats. Local residents, invited artists, and researchers in the fields of sociology and ethnology participated in pioneering urban projects in which the cultural center function – previously a burden for the gallery – became its integral value. The research results presented in the text are based on archival materials and conversations with individuals who collaborated with the gallery in various periods of its functioning. |
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| ISSN: | 2956-4158 |