For five years, preparing the annual events connected with the Festival of World Cultures, we have been asking ourselves these fundamental questions: how to grasp the whole world? how to discover it? how to talk about it? And we have been trying to find answers through the following projects: “Ryszard Kapuściński. Meetings” (October 2007), “Happenings. Clashes. Cognition” (October 2008), and “Meetings with the World,” which is this year’s motto.
Ryszard Kapuściński assiduously attempted to build up the world image from the diverse “fragments” of knowledge, although he used to say, with typical modesty, “I cannot grasp the world.” And we understand his attitude as an obligating message and a source of unceasing inspiration.
Wojciech Jagielski – the reporter
Tuesday 13 October 2009, 17:00 The Old Town Hall in Gdańsk
The Festival of World Cultures „Window on the World” Prize Award Ceremony. An outstanding Polish reporter, Wojciech Jagielski is the prizewinner. Although the Festival continues its five-year tradition, it is the first time we decided to award the prize which would single out the people who open the window on the world for us.
We award the Festival Prize to Wojciech Jagielski for:
- making a notable contribution to the development in the awareness among the Poles of problems in Asian and African countries;
- writing about other cultures, nations, communities with a great sense of their individuality, uniqueness, autonomy, and identity;
- the wisdom of being among people he travels to and the ability to listen to them;
- risking his life to become the witness and chronicler of a foreign war;
- the books that keep us absorbed.
The discussion of Maria Przełomiec with the reporter
Tuesday 13 October 2009, 17.30
The discussion about the world that is familiar and unknown, unrecognized and untamed. About the present days which are full of contradictions and undergo constant change. About the reflections of the person who was the witness of the most important political events at the turn of the 21st century.
The evening of the readers of Wojciech Jagielski
Tuesday 13 October 2009, 18.45
This evening will provide a space for the readers to exchange their thoughts and experiences. It will also offer the opportunity to share with Wojciech Jagielski one’s insights, astonishment, and questions concerning his literary technique and issues that he writes about.
We welcome you to join the discussion revolving around the following topics:
- the reading of Jagielski’s books and the readers’ knowledge of the world,
- journeys – reflection upon the meetings with other cultures and nations.
The meeting will be conducted by: Magdalena Horodecka i Agata Bachórz.
The “Wojciech Jagielski – journalist” exhibition
12–17 October 2009, 10.00–18.00 The Great Hall of the Old Town Hall
And those who do not accept the responsibility for anybody usually suffer from loneliness.
W. Jagielski, Towers of Stone
The exhibition of photographs by Krzysztof Miller, the reporter’s travelling companion, is a unique documentation of Jagielski’s work. It is a record of many things – of his journalistic observation of the real world, of information that he collected and interviews that he conducted, of unceasing discussions and notes gathered in the Swat Valley, Nairobi, Kabul, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Uganda. Jagielski always takes up anew the difficult challenge of travelling to places where “the world is seething,” becoming the direct witness of injustice. The witness whose objective is to write a new chapter in the history of the world and also, or maybe even above all, not to let us become indifferent.
The world-picture in the press photography of Krzysztof Miller and Damian Kramski
Wednesday 14 October 2009, 11.00
The meeting with the photojournalists and their reportage – slide show presentation.
The double narrations – the word and the picture, the shared and the parallel: Wojciech Jagielski and Krzystof Miller, Marek Wąs and Damian Kramski.
The discussion with the photojournalists and reporters will be led by Adam Mazur.
Photography – the dialogue of looks, panel discussion
Wednesday 14 October 2009, 17.00
Photography has always been an accumulation of looks, and a photographer has always acted like a recorder of the surrounding world. At present, the committed photojournalists and documentary film-makers do not limit themselves to the observation and presentation of the objective reality, but they want to describe the things that are happening around them. They take a stand on the world affairs in order to, for example, sympathize with the sufferers and victims, to speak on the behalf of those who cannot. They do not “simply take pictures” – as was thought as early as in the first half of the last century by Henri Cartier-Bresson, the great father of the modern photojournalism. In fact, currently, a photographer uses a camera to create “photo essays” (the term coined by Sebastião Salgado), presenting his or her relationships with other people.
The discussion about the contemporary documentary photography that is socially committed will be held between: Marianna Michałowska (moderator), Weronika Łodzińska-Duda, Martin Kollaŕ, Adam Mazur, Sławomir Sikora, Zbigniew Treppa.
Maiden rooms – the exhibition of photography of Weronika Łodzińska-Duda
24 September – 15 October 2009, 10.00 – 18.00
The Gallery of the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre, the Old Town Hall in Gdańsk
Moqattam is a Coptic district in Cairo. It fills many people with disgust. An average citizen does not visit this place, even taxi drivers refuse to go there. The reason why the people “from the outside world” come here is the performing of Thursday exorcisms. Father Samael casts out evil spirits from the possessed. Moqattam is the waste dump of a city of 12 million inhabitants. Uncountable ragbags are piled up in heaps as high as the fourth floor of the brick slum houses. All the district inhabitants live by dump segregation. The hospital waste is the worst. Women separate used needles from rubber tubes containing blood remnants with their bare hands. The smell of the pile built from the needless is always recognizable. Those who are better-off melt plastic into hangers and ice-cream spoons. Others export the recycled raw material to China. The haze of stench and acid in the air makes it hard to breathe and stings the eyes.
When I was visiting the houses of people who live there, I photographed the “maiden rooms” of their daughters – girls who had yet to get married. Some of them wear golden bracelets to show they were promised to the men chosen by their parents. Usually, these men are their cousins.
Weronika Łodzińska-Duda
Finale – the interpretation of the works of Weronika Łodzińska by Marianna Michałowska and Sławomir Sikora
Wednesday 14 October 2009, 18.30
The twelve stars – the European Parliament – the exhibition of Martin Kollaŕ’s photography
24 September – 15 October 2009, 10.00 – 18.00
The Old Town Hall in Gdańsk
The first thing that comes to mind when most of us, ordinary people, think about the European Parliament is probably the enormous architectural complex of glass buildings. Despite the transparent texture of windows, it is difficult to see through the walls and notice what is inside it. Our curiosity is aroused. Since most of us do not have access to the inside, we have to build up our own unreal image of this place, based on the hackneyed pictures and coverage provided by the official reports in the media.
The outcome of my project is a series of portraits of people who have the ambition and power to lead countries and take decisions that shape our lives. Photographs vividly depict the environment in which these personages work – its rituals and order, which give us all the sense of security.
The Parliament itself consists of the representatives of 27 member states. The cooperation and coexistence of countries that have so different expectations and interests cannot do without slighter or greater, but frequently unpredictable, tensions. One of the most important characteristics of my work is an attempt at capturing and revealing the subtle and often concealed humour of these situations.
Martin Kollaŕ
Finale – Adam Mazur will talk about the photography of Martin Kollaŕ
Wednesday 14 October 2009, 19.00
The idea and realization of the project: Bronisława Dejna
The curator of the exhibitions: Olga Miłogrodzka
Scientific consultants: Magdalena Horodecka, PhD, Marianna Michałowska, PhD
