Many initiatives we have supported were held at a local level as we will open the fifth year of Microgrants soon. Three calls for proposals for 2022, which took place in March, May and September, resulted in support for 115 projects from 373 proposed in three different paths. We can easily admit that the residents of Wrocław, with the support of the Wrocław Institute of Culture and the Umbrella Foundation, were highly interested in integration activities whose common denominator was interculturality and multigenerationality. The most popular pastimes were crafts workshops and outdoor activities on ecology and the environment. Together, we created a tapestry in Ołbin, a book on insects, a mock-up of Szczepin and musical instruments; we learnt about the velodrome in Wrocław and Slavic games, and we practised medieval dances. There were plenty of unusual ideas, and the creativity of local leaders did not fail us. We were thrilled that a lot of migrants and refugees participated and were able to carry out their projects.
Also, the Wrocław Publishing Programme was supervised by the Wrocław Institute of Culture – the programme supports publishers of books and magazines on Wrocław and Lower Silesia in a way that exceeds the commercial publishing market. During the spring recruitment, we received 26 proposals, and 14 books and magazines received funds. Most of them are available in paper form. Among them are poetry, stories on Lower Silesia, his- and herstorical books and specialist magazines for various art fields. In November, there was the second recruitment, and we received 28 proposals – we will learn its results soon.
Our operations also try to reach outside Wrocław and Lower Silesia and allow for artistic exchanges exceeding local levels. Last year we managed to help organise international residencies of Wrocław artists and invite foreign creators to Wrocław to find their place here for creative activities. Again, thanks to the well-known programme, the Culture of Mobility, nine artists made four individual and two group visits to Sweden, Spain, France, Germany and Indonesia. There they could participate in independent art fairs, workshops, and festivals and continue with their research and art. Watch out; the next call for proposals launches in February 2023!
Next, in autumn, within our long-term partnership between Dresden and Wrocław, we had two exchange meetings for artists specialising in fine art printing. During the four-week-long stay in the Dresden studio Grafikwerkstatt, Anna Chlebowska – a graphic designer from Wrocław – focused on learning and presenting an urban architectural landscape. At the same time, Aleksandra Müller visited Wrocław, where she developed classical printmaking at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design and Domek Miedziorytnika (Copperhead House) and created a graphic zine and aquatints inspired by the Wrocław architecture.
In September, we hosted a Ukrainian duet: Margo Reznik and Anton Malinovski, who, for their AIR Wro residency, worked on their project “Ukraine will be.” From the beginning, their residency was based on hybrid cooperation: Anton was working remotely from Kyiv, and Margo was creating in Wrocław. The artists decided to present futuristic visions for the future of Ukraine through the means of absurd memes. The culmination of their residency was a meeting where we could meet the creators, see their cooperation results, and learn the backstage info of their artistic vision.
The last year’s novelty was the commencement of cooperation with MagiC Carpets – a European platform connecting cultural organisations. It was the beginning of a three-year project which will help create a network of people entering their careers as curators and up-and-coming artists while integrating the local community through artistic activities in the urban space. In the first year of the project, three artists were invited to Wrocław by the emerging curator Paulina Brelińska-Garsztka. All the artists actively cooperated with the residents of Wroclaw. We began with workshops with an Italian artist, Davide D’Angelo (URKA), who, with a group of teenagers, created a unique library telling a story of experiences of being a migrant. Next, the participants of the workshops organised by a Ukrainian artist, Mariia Yakymako, used their collages in a collective zine, “Portable House,” telling the stories of experiences of moving houses. We are still waiting for the performance, “Lucidity,” organised as a culmination of a series of performative workshops organised by a Lithuanian artist, Arnis Aleinikovas.
We also have to mention the two-year educational project “Re-imagine your city,” which allowed us to start cooperation with institutions from Germany, Ukraine and Georgia. Thanks to it, we managed to create an international design lab for one hundred young practitioners of urban planning, architecture, art, culture and activism. Besides many meetings, the participants learnt how to research, design and change cities. During the winter workshops in Berlin, 15 people could see and study various approaches and strategies resulting from the grassroots initiatives, which allowed for reclaiming of public spaces in the city.
