03.07.2011 - 31.07.2011

"OPEN CULTURE SPA" - Sopot 2011

The Open Culture Spa (OKK) is a concept referring to Sopot's artistic and cultural tradition but it is also an opportunity to reflect over its presence and future. What is Sopot today and what was it once? How proportions between Sopot's former cultural and artistic functions were shaken by the requirements of a modern resort? Can both functions be reconciled? What kinds of tensions result from this clash?
We would like to resort to the town's artistic potential. We want to combine words – stories both true and imagined (anecdotes, legends) – with artistic expression. The artistic projects developed specially for the occasion will carry a strong cognitive load and will be rooted deeply in the reality of the town, giving this way a unique account of its newest history. In order to emphasize the local identity, the program will provide for large contributions from Sopot's institutions of culture.

Reaching beyond the local context, we asked ourselves the question what challenges Poland is facing in comparison with the other member states of the European Union. According to the government program Poland 2030 - Development Challenges, one of the chief challenges is growth of the social capital. This capital can be enhanced through the promotion of digital technologies and strengthening of non-governmental organizations. For this reason our program concept places strong emphasis on free, liberated culture in the context of new technologies (particularly the so-called Open Source). Hence, at the organizational level, an invitation of a wide spectrum of representatives of Sector 3.

The new media – as never before - make it possible to add a social dimension to communication. They give us tools for monitoring and controlling the decisions taken by authorities and officials. The important question is how to use the paradigm of liberated culture in systemic efforts aiming at changing models of thinking and management in the area of culture? How to broaden the scope of art so that it should include new progressive fields such as ecology, civic education, spatial order and urban culture? Discussions approaching the above question will be held within an international seminar Remix Culture. Share / We Remix Culture. The Open Culture Spa is then a place open to ideas, dialogue, debate, forms of expression as well as, most importantly, its participants – both those who create culture and those who only receive it (we would like these two roles not to exclude each other).

OKK is not just a center and a coastal belt where the tourist life of Sopot goes on. OKK is a town where people live and work – they hide away in the high season, giving way to holidaymakers. It is to those permanent residents that we want to turn to, mainly through the organization of numerous workshops as well as by rerouting our artistic paths to cross the residential districts of the town. We do hope, however, that our project will be interesting also to tourists, who will have an opportunity to discover the unfamiliar face of Sopot. OKK will travel to the outskirts of the town, discover its nooks and point to places unlisted in guidebooks.

And so the project provides for changing bus line 187 into a special line of the ARTbus. Along the route of this bus, all the artistic venues of OKK will be taking place. This route will become also a unique outdoor gallery.
10 bus stops will be selected for this new role – they will become the venues of the events organized by particular artists or art groups, who will use their imagination to create artistic projects in their vicinity.
Apart from these projects, there will also be other site-specific realizations spread along this route.
One common feature of the 187 line buses will be their decoration with reproductions of paintings and graphics by Tri-City's artists. The buses will follow the regular everyday schedule, making it easy to reach the particular venues. It will be possible also to watch the events from the bus as it moves along its art route.

In July 2011, the Sopot resort will open its doors to young and ambitious artists, to original ideas and attention-catching projects. The town will invite open-minded people, fans of unconventional artistic solutions and alternative ways of spending summer days.
The Open Culture Center is: use of the town's inherent potential; combination of different forms of artistic expression; use of history, anecdotes, events both important and controversial; creation of space to be shared by both artists and recipients of culture.

Feel invited to watch a clip in which organisers of particular events included in the Open Culture Spa cycle announce their projects. Check what shall July bring to Sopot!

PREPARATORY STAGE of the OKK project (November-December 2010)
The preparatory stage provided for the organization of a meeting with the participation of all the institutions and organizations involved in the project. The aim of the meeting was getting to know the people engaged in the realization of the project and determining detailed schedules for further action. The scope of the organizations' and institutions' particular activities was also decided during this meeting.

In order to integrate better the executors of OKK's projects and to share expertise and experience, selected co-organizers (Fundacja Kolonia Artystów, "Jeden Świat" Pomeranian Association for the Integration of Culture and Art, A Kuku Art Foundation, Stowarzyszenie Kultura Miejska) run workshops dedicated to the program concept of OKK.
Moreover, the organizations mentioned above developed concepts for the following parts of the OKK program: Open Source Art Festival, Festival of World Cultures, Crossactions, and World Café: Democracy – Art.
The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre also commissioned to four artists the development of concepts for artistic works, including the description how they will be executed and how they will be used in the public space of Sopot within OKK in 2011. BSCC will buy licenses for use of the reproductions of works to be displayed on the sides of the ART buses within OKK in 2011.
In December one visit to Norway (Trondheim) was made during which a representative of BSCC met the organizers of META.MORF festival (biennial for art, technology, science and metaphysics!) in order to exchange experience concerning the application of new technologies in art and exploring the possibilities to obtain a new partner for the realization of the Open Source Art Festival.