5616 x 3744 px | 47,5 x 31,7 cm | 18,7 x 12,5 inches | 300dpi
Aufnahmedatum:
30. Januar 2010
Ort:
Warsaw, Poland, Eastern Europe, EU
Weitere Informationen:
Praga has preserved its pre-war architecture and offers a completely different atmosphere. Only a decade ago it was an outlying district with a distinctly criminal reputation. On the right bank of the Vistula and a ways from what might be dubbed the centre, it was comparatively unscathed when central Warsaw was devastated in the Second World War. The former vodka factory offers theatre, and in the summer the brick walls become screens for art films. The early bird in the transformation of the Praga borough was Fabryka Trzciny. Opening in 2003, it was the first non-governmental cultural centre in the city. Wojciech Trzciński, a well-known composer, musician and TV producer, was its creator. Like the Koneser, Fabryka Trzciny is a former factory. Built in 1916, it manufactured marmalade and later the popular Polish gym shoes known as pepegi. The industrial atmosphere remains; knots of pipes and ventilators have not been removed. The owner tells us that everybody thought he was crazy to try to start something in Praga... but the move is now seen as the thing to do. One of the gems at Fabryka Trzciny is the bar and concert hall Denaturat, where Cesária Évora once performed. The bar itself is a gigantic metal pipe, and one of the walls is lined with 4000 turpentine bottles. They don't actually contain turpentine, we are told, but in the violet light of evening this place is a performance in of itself. The Fabryka Trzciny hosts exhibits, concerts, performances, photo sessions, music festivals, and the University of Free Time. This last is a project created by people who have nothing to do with official Polish educational institutions. The idea is to create a completely new and free form of culture, art, entertainment and education - a platform for spending free time with a kind of constructive awareness. The factory also takes a contemporary approach to Polish cuisine in a quaint green wooden building, with the ambience of a home kitchen.
