Exercising modernity / Modernität üben - Instytut Pileckiego

Polish-German-Israeli interdisciplinary project is a pilot program of intellectual, artistic and academic exchange for all those interested in the history and culture of Poland, Germany and Israel, as well as the ideas of civil social justice.

In the year marking the hundredth anniversary of Poland regaining its independence the program will be centered around the notion of modernity, not only in its historical, but also present meaning, the latter covering also such aspects as the revolutionary impact of new technologies on life, as well as products of these changes: new ways of life and challenges currently faced by humankind.

Bauhaus, Gdynia, Tel Aviv

Ideologically and conceptually, the program is based on three socio-cultural phenomena of the interwar period. The first of them – coming from the Bauhaus school – is the novel approach to the living space and needs of people and to the role a modern artist can play in both satisfying and stimulating them. Then there are the ideas of the interwar Poland, oriented towards progress and laying foundations for a free and democratic state.

Finally, we turn our attention to the way the ideas of modernism were reflected in the architecture of the then-emerging state of Israel: the “White City” is the largest collection of buildings erected in accordance with the modern – often even avant-garde – architectural language of the 1920s and 1930s. The question about the role of art and artistic activities is equally important. Daring and large-scale artistic visions of the interwar period were implemented in long-term modernization projects.

Relying on the Bauhaus, Gdynia and Tel Aviv as symbols of interdisciplinary and universal modernizations, we offer a comprehensive program of courses and a host of accompanying events open to the public, all of which will be devoted to various aspects of modernity. The Ćwiczenie nowoczesności • Exercising modernity • Modernität üben project will be a chance to reflect on how many of these early twentieth-century ideas were put into practice and whether their influence continues to be felt to this today, and also to examine the results of these attempts at designing life.

website: exercisingmodernity.com

Organisor:
Instytut Pileckiego

Partners:
Konsulat Kultury | Muzeum Miasta Gdyni | The White City Center – מרכז העיר הלבנה | Kultura Liberalna | Miasto Gdynia

photo: Grzegorz Karkoszka