Wianki (Wreaths) in Krakow is an event that has attracted crowds of residents and tourists for years. Drawing on traditional rituals associated with the summer solstice, this year's celebration also touched on urban themes during the two-day City Reactivation conference.
The conference on revitalizing urban wastelands through culture, as that was its subtitle, took place over the weekend of June 22-23 this year, just like Krakow's Wreaths. The organizers — the City of Krakow and the Krakow Festival Office — chose the space of the Design Pharmacy on Wesola district as its venue. The location was not coincidental, as Krakow's Wesoła, part of which the City bought back from the University Hospital in late 2019, is undergoing a reactivation process. The City's ambition is to transform the post-hospital areas located just off Krakow's Market Square into a creative district. The engine to spur this transformation is the Design Pharmacy operating in the heart of the complex.
City Reactivation conference at the Design Pharmacy
Photo: Katarzyna Kukiełka | Illustrations courtesy of KBF
spaces for people
The event opened with a panel that was a collection of five case studies of revitalizing post-industrial spaces through culture. In addition to Wesoła, which was represented by Carolina Pietyra, director of KBF, participants could hear about the Porcelain Factory in Katowice, which was discussed by Aleksandra Kandzia-Ulrych, and the Athens Technopolis, whose activities were introduced by Maria Florou. An interesting case of the Estonian Telliskivi Creative City was told by Jaanus Juss — thanks to a non-public initiative (Juss, CEO of the district, is also a managing partner in a company operating in the technology sector) over the years abandoned industrial buildings were turned into the most fashionable part of Tallinn today. They focused exclusively on the creative sector and listened to the needs of residents, whose proximity and involvement, according to Juss, guarantees the concept's resilience. Combining rents nearly half the market rate with a thoughtful selection of businesses and reserving space for support services such as restaurants, a kindergarten and stores makes it a lively place. Many applicants can use the space for free, while getting organizational and marketing support for their event. Juss mentioned that there are times when there are more performers on stage than listeners in the audience. But that's nothing — the most important thing is that the space is for the people. This philosophy seems to be working — annually the creative city of Telliskivi receives more than 700,000 visitors.
Panel: Revitalization of post-industrial spaces through music and culture - pictured from left: Katarzyna Jakubowiak (moderator), Jaanus Juss (Telliskivi), Maria Florou (Technopolis), Carolina Pietyra (KBF), Aleksandra Kandzia-Ulrych (Porcelany Factory), Kuba Łukaszewski (100cznia)
Photo: Katarzyna Kukiełka | Illustrations courtesy of KBF.
Gdansk's 100cznia — an initiative of Ala Jablonowska and Kuba Lukaszewski, a pair of urban activists — has a similar mission. The idea of this "city within a city" began with buying 16 containers and setting them up on the site of an illegally operating parking lot — today that number has grown to about 40 and three industrial halls. There are street food pubs, bars, a concert stage, second-hand clothing stores, and events are organized. All in the spirit of reuse, even rainwater is reused, feeding the urban garden that overgrows the area around the containers. This "street community center" is thriving due to its authenticity and inclusiveness — the space is made available free of charge to NGOs and community initiatives that deal with topics related to ecology, migration or support for people in areas of social exclusion.
Panel: Revitalization of post-industrial spaces through music and culture
Photo: Katarzyna Kukiełka | Illustrations courtesy of KBF
experiencing space
The last panel was about experiencing space. Agata Bisping's guests were Wojciech Małecki (MAŁECCY Biuro Projektowe), whose opinion is that architects design scenography for life, and good architecture should evoke emotions; Katarzyna Kronenberg (Koza Nostra Studio), who encouraged the design of simple, open solutions such as, for example, a mirror hung in the park, which will please one, make another sad, but will make us pause at least for a moment; and Magdalena Milert (Pieing), who stressed the importance of creating safe spaces — when this need is provided, we can start thinking about design.
Panel: Space as experience - pictured from left: Katarzyna Kronenberg (Koza Nostra Studio), Agata Bisping (moderator), Magdalena Milert (Pieing), Wojciech Małecki (Małeccy Biuro Projektowe)
Photo: Katarzyna Kukiełka | Illustrations provided courtesy of KBF
And how to invite people into a given space? Taking Wesoła as an example, Katarzyna Kronenberg pointed to ensuring that residents feel part of it, rather than guests invited to subsequent events, while Wojciech Małecki, in turn, suggesting the introduction of mixed-use solutions to the post-hospital area, called for a program competition for the area.
Presentation of a student project - the workshop was attended by Gabriela Wiecha, an architecture student at the Cracow University of Technology, and Agnieszka Puzio and Mikołaj Kawa - students of Acoustic Engineering at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow
photo: Katarzyna Kukiełka | Illustrations courtesy of KBF
The event culminated with a presentation of the student project — a team of three people spent two days preparing a concept for two buildings located in the Wesoła area. Gabriela Wiecha, an architecture student at the Cracow University of Technology, and Agnieszka Puzio and Mikołaj Kawa, students of Acoustic Engineering at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, set as their goal the creation of a space of peace and safety, facilitated by the isolation of Wesoła from the hustle and bustle of the city. Their target group is young people, who in time would attract other groups of users to the area. And what would be waiting for them here? A contemporary media library — Idea House — a space for learning, exchange of ideas and workshops for creative work, and a dance studio — Cracow Dance House. Their vision was evaluated by Ewa Kowacz, a PR specialist, Maria Florou from the Greek Technopolis, Małgorzata Tomczak, editor-in-chief of A&B, and Wojciech Małecki, an architect from the Małeccy Biuro Projektowe.
student workshops
Photo: Katarzyna Kukiełka | Illustrations provided courtesy of KBF
what's next for Wesoła?
Residents of Krakow keep asking — what's next for Wesoła? However, as City Reactivation shows, a preconceived answer is not a solution — we have a unique opportunity to add our three cents to this process, to participate in the dialogue taking place almost every day in the halls of the Design Pharmacy, in order to jointly create the space this city needs — open, safe, inclusive and creative.
