‘House of Change’ is one of eight winning projects selected in the Art for Social Change competition conducted by the National Audiovisual Institute as part of the preparations for the European Culture Congress.
Krytyka Polityczna (Political Critique) will organize a series of artistic events that will take place in Dzieduszycki Family Mansion, at Kampinoska Street in Wrocław. A café and a Krytyka Polityczna Publishing House bookstore will be operating in the house.
Does contemporary art have any visible social impact? Can the effects of an artist’s work be seen and verified? Is it possible to engage in a discussion with art – and is it worth doing so? – these were the questions asked by Artur Żmijewski – art editor of the review “Krytyka Polityczna” in his famous manifesto “Applied Social Arts”, issued by our organization.
The House of Change is a project focused on providing a connection between the artistic work and the world. It will allow renowned artists to put their art to work within a significant social context.
The project will take place at the mansion at Kampinoska 23, a house with an artistic tradition, that belongs to the Dzieduszycki family since 1946. The house played an important role in the city’s cultural history, as a meeting-place of Wroclaw’s artists and intellectuals, and later a living symbol of Poland’s difficult reworking of its identity. In the autumn of 2006 it was found out that the host of the house, Count Wojciech Dzieduszycki, a notable member of the city’s cultural milieu and Honorary Citizen of Wroclaw, was for many years a collaborator of the communist secret police. The house closed its venues.
The family, and the whole Poland, took a long time to recover from the shock. Now is the time to confront the spirits of the past. Within the project we will try to re-construct and de-construct the history of the house, opening it to the public – and to some of the most renowned and socially engaged contemporary artists.
The House of Change will bring together a new generation of artists who believe change is possible, combining their work and energy to show how art can participate in history.
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