Untitled - Narodowe Centrum Kultury

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Festival of
Wandering
Photo: Project documentation
The Festival of Wandering
is a project run by Odnowica
Rural Revival Association in
cooperation with the town
and commune of Bodzentyn
and Around Bald Mountain
Local Action Group. The
festival combines arts, hiking
and education. Participants
visit tourist farms and artists’
studios, where they take part
in workshops. The Festival’s
route traces a network of
active arts destinations
around the main range the
Świętokrzyskie Mountains,
the Łysogóry. The project
was created by Krystyna
Nowakowska and Jan
Pałysiewicz.
T
he idea of the Festival came
from the desire to help generate
interest in hiking in the
Świętokrzyskie Mountains and promote the
town of Bodzentyn. From the outset, the organisers,
Krystyna Nowakowska and Jan
Pałysiewicz, set themselves the goal of creating
a network of active art destinations
around the Łysogóry Mountain Range, forming
a cultural buffer zone around the
Świętokrzyski National Park. They were
aware of the enormous potential of the cultural
and natural assets of the Świętokrzyskie
Mountains. It was not, however, until the
third Festival of Wandering that this goal was
achieved.
the project
The Festival of Wandering is different every
year. It offers a hike along a route that combines
nature with culture, tourism with theatre
and education. Every year the festival reinvents
itself. Hikers learn about interesting
crafts and take part in art events. They find
their way using a map that shows all hospitable
destinations, each offering a variety
of attractions, meetings with artists in their
studios, exhibitions, concerts as well as art
and handicraft workshops.
All attractions were free of charge.
Festival events were divided into “nonshows”
– small events such workshops and
meetings with artists, and “shows” – events
aimed at a wider audience, such as exhibition
launches, concerts and performances.
This year the festival took place for
the fourth time. Each year we expand list
of workshops which now includes: New Art
Nouveau in the Forest, organic architecture
and art workshops, performances and exhibitions;
Liberatorium, artistic book workshops;
Flax Room, weaving workshops and
bread stove baking; The Hut of the Horned
Witch, herbal workshops held in a witch’s
hut; Świętokrzyski Potter’s Wheel, ceramic
workshops and regional souvenir market;
Kapkazy Gallery, ceramics, painting and
photography exhibitions; Women’s Retreat,
massages, yoga, painting and photography
exhibitions, music sessions; Aniela’s House,
a session with an international animal protection
organisation.
Art events (“shows”) featured the following
artists: Klinika Lalek, Body Snatchers
Theatre, Hasarapasa – Świętokrzyski Band,
Węgajty Theatre, Osjan.