Recruitment has begun for the second edition of the Counties project organized by the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism. "Infrastructure of Independence: The Architecture of Polish County Modernization Projects" is a popularization and research project aimed at promoting local history and identity.
The organizers are looking for local curators, organizers, municipal activists and others interested in regional architectural heritage from all over Poland for the second edition of the project. This year's main theme is modernist buildings from the Second Polish Republic in smaller centers.
modernist buildings in smaller centers
Flagship and recognizable architectural symbols of the modernization processes taking place during the Second Republic are elements of modernist buildings in dynamically developing cities such as Gdynia, Warsaw and Katowice. Their prominence is due to both their very good research and a number of popularization campaigns (e.g., the modernist architecture trail).
The aim of the project is to show that analogous phenomena have also occurred in smaller centers, and that the architectural heritage that bears witness to them can become a pretext for better penetration into local history and the construction of a specific, locally rooted identity inextricably linked to the nationwide narrative of so-called "big history.
8 former counties
In this year's edition of the project, eight areas of former counties were selected - one from the territory of each of the eight selected interwar provinces remaining within the current borders of Poland. Due to the nature of the project, the selected county is not the then seat of the administrative authorities of the province - this makes it possible to analyze hitherto less promoted, but very valuable assumptions such as the Directorate estate in Chelm or modernist buildings of the cities of the Central Industrial District.
The selected districts are:
- krakowskie voivodeship - Nowy Sącz district (Krynica, Zegiestow)
- Lviv voivodeship/COP - Krosno district
- Kielce voivodeship - Sosnowiec / Ilzec district (Starachowice)
- Silesian voivodeship - Cieszyn county (Cieszyn, Ustroń, Wisła, Istebna) / Pszczyna county / Rybnik county / Tarnogórski county
- Białystok voivodeship - ostrowski county (Ostrów Mazowiecka) / łomżyński county / suwalski county
- Poznań voivodeship - Bydgoski powiat
- Warsaw voivodeship - wyszkowski district, Włocławek district
- Pomeranian voivodeship - open call excluding Gdynia, Toruń, marine district
training workshops for superintendents
The next stage is to select, through a competition, eight participants, if possible related to the region, who will be invited to training workshops organized especially for them on promoting knowledge of local heritage, building its attractive image, education, methods of presentation. The workshops will also be a prelude to the preparation of modest and tailored to the local organizational capacity exhibition and educational projects implemented in the counties concerned - locally and online.
architecture of the interwar period
During the research phase, thecurator-organizers will work to identify and authenticate the architectural and infrastructural traces of the modernization processes of the interwar period. This will include identifying typical projects completed at the time, such as schools, train stations and standard residential buildings - including those made of wood. During the work on local heritage, there will be maps - guidebooks or postcards with attractive photos of local architecture - distributed for free. The activities will also be reported on the project's sub-site that is part of the NIAiU website and on social media. The substantive and iconographic content of these regional presentations will be coordinated from the outset in such a way as to build from them a coherent scenario for a joint exhibition, which will make it possible to present the completely unknown scale and effects of modernization activities throughout the country. The collective exhibition is tentatively planned for early 2021.
The deadline for submissions is June 21 this year. Recruitment regulations are available on the NIAiU website.
