Post elections: ‘And that is what Poland is’
Let’s judge this quote from ‘The Wedding’, a Polish drama written by Stanisław Wyspiański in 1901, from the run-up to the parliamentary elections on 9 October. ‘Poland is’ - the world’s only transsexual in parliament or a parliament in which the third major force is a party calling for the legalisation of soft drugs and prohibiting the presence of clergy during national ceremonies. Young Polish politicians looked like Angelina Jolie in Lodz or released viral campaign teasers by screaming out their pledges with the help of heavy metal bands. However the same ovations were not received for the official video promoting Poland’s six-month presidency of the EU (think animated tango in 3D), even if it was created by one of the country’s top directors. ‘That’s not Poland’ - so what is Poland then?
UNPOLISHED: understanding Poland through interior design
The exhibition of Polish design has been touring Europe since 2009. The project aims to define the identity of Polish design between glazed tiles and paper sofas. We notice an abundance of designer couples, a trend of making works from minimal materials and a link to Poland’s past in Paris
Jędrzej Wijas: Polish election candidate’s heavy metal campaign
The PhD graduate from the Polish academy of sciences, 34, is running as a candidate of the left-wing party SLD (democratic left alliance) in the Polish parliamentary elections on 9 October. In a music video ‘A Concrete Message’, he gnarls out his political goals to a backdrop of heavy metal types. Interview
Director Tomasz Baginski: ‘We Polish often lack the ability to distance ourselves from issues’
His mini-film depicted Poland’s six-month presidency of the EU as a passionate dance and cost around 130, 000 euros to make. Poland’s most famous animation producer is a 2002 Oscar nominee in the short animated film category; so why so much criticism?
Poland-Germany exhibition in Berlin: let the neighbours talk
The exhibition ‘Good Neighbours? German Motifs in Polish Contemporary Art/ Polish Motifs In German Contemporary Art’ is showing at the Bethanien art gallery in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district until late October. The works on display reflect the quality of the German-Polish relationship today
Poland October election campaign: vote for Kaczynski’s ‘Angelina Jolie’
Polish opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski was seen as a no-hoper for the upcoming parliamentary elections on 9 October. Yet an unexpected comeback in opinion polls could be down to the conservative law and justice party’s new election campaign, in which seven attractive young women – one standing for Lodz, in particular - give the party a facelift
