art-e-conomy _ reader - marko stamenkovic

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become one of the first victims of the neo-liberal system. Many of the workers who
fought for democracy and economic change are now unemployed. The Shipyard is
much smaller in terms of ship production because ship production is down globally.
The shipyard is a triangle, beautifully located in the center of the city between the
waterfront and the main train station. Today it has become a very valuable piece of
land. Now the shipyard area is fenced off and operated by two major owners. One is
still the shipbuilding plant, and the other is a Polish-American real estate developer.
So the developer started a new project called the “Young City,” by inviting different
artists and art organizations to settle down there.
MARINA SORBELLO: So what is unique about Wyspa?
ANETA SZYLAK: Wyspa is the little building in the middle [shows image]. Wyspa is
trying to be a completely new kind of art institution. First of all, we are known as the
Wyspa Institute of Art, but there is no such organization registered in the county. It is
an intellectual construct. It has a location and a program, and it is strongly oriented
towards the social, political, and economic context. It is also one of the major cultural
operators in the country, pushing, in intellectual terms, public art institutions. Virtually
no one knows that we don’t exist in a legal sense. We exist in cultural terms. A new
means of artistic cultural production was created by our foundation. Therefore, it
was important for us to win a space in the public sphere and to debate the condition
of artists and artistic institutions in this completely new political situation. Since
our system is completely corrupted, it is very much dependent on political ups
and downs. So now we will have a new Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. I hope,
since there are very qualified people working on it, that it will be a good institution.
However, because of the fact that it is not independent it will still be a medium for
political representation… What we are trying to do is to be a sort of troublemaker
who is there as a very political and highly politicized place. Next to us will be the
Solidarnosc Central Foundation which will be a major commemorative project.
There is a memorial dedicated to the fallen ship builders. The entire Shipyard and
its surroundings is the scene of different forms of political recuperations. So being
there and asking difficult questions about what is happening in the public sphere in
terms of cultural production is very important. We see the role of Wyspa as a sort of
intellectual think-tank for analyzing this specific situation. At the same time we operate
in a very broad international network. We have very important major intellectual
organizations in Europe and the United States who work with us and this gives us a
lot of visibility in artistic and intellectual terms. At the same time we have managed
to be very local. So it really attracts audiences from the city and from the Shipyard
itself. For example, we made a project about memory and history in a way that was
completely different from the official image made by politicians and by the media.
We also give space to those who have been pushed outside of the official political
representation of memory and history. It doesn’t mean that we identify with them,
but we see it as important that all the voices connect. As long as it makes sense, it
will be released. So it is like an open platform for different ideological positions.
MARINA SORBELLO: So in a way we can say that Wyspa is an example of a doit-yourself
institution: if there is no institution by which you feel represented, just
make one yourself…