February 27 marks the end of the "Toy Clinic" exhibition organized by the Museum of Toys in Cracow. The finissage program is filled with activities to better understand the potential of the Sosenk family collection and the uniqueness of the Wesoła district.
This is the last chance to see the unique exhibition that is "Klinika Zabawek". We have already written about the Sosenk family collection on our portal (see here). The creators of the museum and curators of the exhibition decided to use the last days to bring out the potential of the site, which is a former hospital building, for cultural activities.
panel discussion
A panel discussion entitled "Toys and World Design in Wesola" was held on Thursday. Its purpose was to reflect on the wesoła district from the perspective of culture, trying to answer the question: what can culture give to this place?
The participants in the discussion were: Magdalena Doksa-Tverberg (director of the Krakow Festival Office), Professor Jacek Purchla (president of the Society of Lovers of Krakow History and Monuments), Mateusz Okoński (creator of the arrangement andco-curator of the exhibition "Klinika Zabawek", as well as exhibition curators Dr. Katarzyna Jagodzińska (museologist, director of program affairs at the Cracow Toy Museum) and Katarzyna Sosenko (collector, director of the Cracow Toy Museum). The discussion was moderated by Justyna Nowicka.
Facade of the former clinic, which houses the Toy Clinic
Photo: Wojciech Sosenko, © Museum of Toys
The importance of the "Klinika Zabawek" exhibition as a transformative element of the Wesoła neighborhood resounded in the discussion. The panelists emphasized the historical and cultural qualities of this unique site that served a medical function for one hundred and fifty years. Today the city, which owns the nine-hectare site, faces an unprecedented opportunity to develop the center of the historic city. There was talk, above all, of the city-forming role of culture - through the prism of the just-ended "Toy Clinic," which generated movement and ferment here and made Wesoła visible in the media as a space for culture. The discussion also featured the theme of gentrification, brought up in the context of two nearby neighborhoods - Kazimierz and Zablocie.
A recording of the panel discussion will be made available online.
summary
On Friday, February 25, the curators of the exhibition summarized the past two months of work on Wesola at a press conference. They pointed out that "Toy Clinic" broke the traditional format of museums - it's a space focused on quality time, a longer stay, part of which is participation in a workshop or show, fun. "Toy Clinic" shows the history of krakowians in a completely different way. The exhibition is a cozy place where, through a toy, you talk to children about important issues of the modern world, such as overproduction, toys the ubiquity of so-called "fast toys" - toys made of poor quality materials, without respect for the environment, which often spoil quickly, are thrown away and replaced with new ones. It is also important that visitors are always waited for by hosts - collectors, who welcome them as if they were at home and tell them about their collection.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, prepared at the end of the exhibition. It is a visual documentation of the exhibition space, which is itself a work of art created by artist and arranger Matthew Okonski. The catalog includes not only objects from the exhibition, but also the photographic art project "Visit" by Irena Kalicka realized at the exhibition.
Curatorial team, from left: Marek Sosenko, Mateusz Okoński, Katarzyna Sosenko, Katarzyna Jagodzinska.
Photo by Wojciech Sosenko, © Museum of Toys
During the conference, the curators and directors of the museum noted that although the "Toy Clinic" is disappearing, the Toy Museum will continue to operate. This year will see the continuation of the " ToyShowcase " project, which involves creating collection displays with community curators in Krakow museums. The museum plans to continue digitizing the collection and develop cooperation with Krakow institutions, including the Krakow Festival Office, the Malopolska Institute of Culture, universities, theaters, museums and libraries.
last chance
This coming weekend is the last chance to see the "Toy Clinic" in the unique location of the former clinic at 15a Kopernika Street. From February 25 to 27, the museum is organizing night tours - "Night with the Ghosts of Toys" - during which new artworks made especially for the finissage will be presented as a response to the toys and the clinical context. This is the result of a collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts. This is a brand new exhibition at the show open for three evenings only. "Toy Clinic" shows how the initiative of a small but very dynamic group of people is pioneering the transformation of the Wesola space.
Formore information on the night tour, visit the museum's website (see here).
Marta Antoniak's works on display
Photo by Wojciech Sosenko, © Museum of Toys
