EN:

We are writing directly from Fabryka Trzciny. There are two sessions going on at the moment, but we would like to tell something about what happened in the morning.

The first session entitled: "Cultural activism today: democracy, cultural rights and civic participation" was devoted to some general issues. Three panelists moderated by an acknowledged journalist Alan Riding presented their views and experiences related to... culture in general, we dare say. The title of the session might be somehow misleading, however not inappropriate. We heard three different voices rooted in three different traditions. Brigitta Englin from Sweden represented a professional, very Western approach to cultural issues, Lidia Makowska from Poland was more than skeptical about the overwhelming "marketing of culture" and Nidal Al Achkar gave a speech on the uneasy cultural situation in Lebanon. Our impression? It was interesting and educative but no particularly original arguments, ideas or solutions were introduced. Nonetheless, listening to such an exchange of opinions is always worth listening to with attention.

The second session was an Eastern-European-oriented one. We, the Poles are well aware of what is happening in Belarus. It was once again brought back by Natalia Koliada, the Director of Belarus Free Theatre. And it turned out to be, at least in our opinion, one of the most important and ideologically explicit speeches of today. Cultural rights, democracy, European declarations... And Belarus on the other side. There is an extremely urgent need for Europe, no matter whether you call it EU, Council of Europe etc, to pass its activities from the sphere of verbal support to real, tangible help. Maciej Karpiński from the Polish Film Institute talked about a completely different reality. But, Poland in the time of constant transformation still encounters various incarnations of censorship and some lack of artistic freedom, or perhaps more adequately: a lack of effectiveness in that field... A very interesting issue was raised by Bartosz Szydłowski who leads the "New Bauhaus" projects in Nowa Huta, an old industrial, or post-industrial nowadays, part of Cracow. Thanks to his initiative this communist moloch became a place of an original community-oriented artistic activity. Later, we will write something more about that.

OK, we have to go back to the sessions. We will post some interviews and photos in the evening.

Iwona Wyżga and Jacek Drozda