by Agnieszka Wiśniewska
Inspired by the 2014 ECF Princess Margriet Award Laureates Teatro Valle Occupato and Teodor Celakosi, Agnieszka Wiśniewska reflects on the purpose of culture and the meaning of public space. She also discusses what we should expect from cultural institutions and initiatives, voicing the need for culture to be "made in touch with people, in collaboration with them, together; accessible to as many as possible."
“We need a culture that is inclusive and collaborative, a culture that creates bonds, on a local level and in touch with people.
The current Minister of Culture is about to be succeeded by a new one. This change at the ministerial office is a welcome moment to ask what culture do we need and answer in favor of a culture that’s inclusive, a culture that creates bonds, on a local level and in touch with people.
This year, European Cultural Foundation conferred its Princess Magriet Awards on Teodor Celakoski from Zagreb, and Teatro Valle Occupato from Rome. The former animates protests against privatization of public space, the latter occupy a theatre building.”
Agnieszka Wiśniewska is editor, activist, feminist. She works for Krytyka Polityczna, a network of institutions and activists. Krytyka Polityczna consists of the online daily Dziennik Opinii, a quarterly magazine, publishing house, cultural centres in Warsaw, Łódź, Gdańsk and Cieszyn, activist clubs in a dozen cities in Poland (and also in Kiev and Berlin), as well as a research centre: the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw. They have also launched Political Critique, an international magazine of politics and culture.
Krytyka Polityczna is one of our Networked Programme hubs.