One of the most striking experiences of the past few months I have spent in Poland, was our little class excursion to Nowa Huta - an industrial district just on the outskirts of the city of Krakow. The area has gained notoriety for its embodiment of the old Soviet notion of a socialist utopia. The whole town was built around the steelworks, which where then a central part of the Communist industrial endeavours, and the associated ideology. Perfectly symmetrical, the area is a show-piece of the Communist style of building - with little grey blocs of identical flats lining the geometrically set out roads.
For me, it was an extremely revealing and eye-opening experience in that it amounted to my first encounter with the concepts of culture, art and architecture being used so overtly as means to an end. Because Nowa Huta is a place where culture was employed as tool (and was even explicitly described as such by Lenin). The objective was to infuse a newly created population with an ideology and a particular way of life deriving from that. The idea of achieving this goal directly through architecture was entirely novel to me, and I was very much struck by how much of an impact it can evidently have, as demonstrated by Nowa Huta’s ongoing search for a clear identity now that the presence and power of communism is no longer, and the void that has been created as a result.
This is not to say that the identity and culture of Nowa Huta was ever entirely clear-cut and consensual. In fact it was witness to ideological battles played out through symbolic means, for example by the desecration of vandalism of monuments celebrating or glorifying communism and its leaders. Presumably, such actions demonstrated a symbolic challenge to the power structures they represented, one imposed from above. Yet it is hard to miss the futility of such forms of resistance, disconnected from reality to some extent, since damaging effigies obviously does not harm the individuals, or the system that they are part of. Surely the most powerless and futile form of rebellion is that which is acted out against symbols made of stone.
The Square where Lenin's monument once stood
And yet, there is something inspiring and romantic about the story of Nowa Huta. About the way there was always tension and resistance bubbling beneath the surface, understandably given that people from across the country came here and were crammed into tiny spaces together and instructed that they were now part of the great Socialist narrative, each and every one of them now living incarnations of the "new Socialist man" - an archetype perfectly envisioned in the minds of all dedicated communists, and which they tried their best to construct through creating the conditions which might bring about this social transformation - in architecture, other forms of culture, and ideology generally. However, this conversion of rural Polish peasants into dedicated members of a socialist workforce staunchy adhering to the tenets of Communist ideology was hardly a seamless one. Because it required them to give up all the out-dated & incomptable remnants of their old existance - the most consequential of these prohibitions being of course against their Catholic religion.
It is scarcely surprising then, that perhaps the greatest challenge to the power system in place was presented by the struggle of the inhabitants to build a church in their district. I have never come across such powerfully symbolic architecture as that of the “Arka” church, the result of a long and arduous struggle between residents and authorities. It is an absolutely overwhelming place that leaves one dumbfounded and humbled by its sheer scale and imposing silhouette.
The motif of the ship or ark which is floating above the barren townscape below creates a very strong impression. Inside the church is equally striking, the most impressive feature being an enormous figure of Christ, exageratedly arched forwards like a sail in the wind, face turned upwards towards the roof, as if trying to detach himself from the invisible crucifix and rise upwards. Much as I tried, there was no vantage point within the church from which I could get a view of his face.
These symbols are extremely powerful and imposing, and through them one can appreciate the importance of the place that symbolism has occupied as a means to creating and having identity in Nowa Huta. These symbols were the arms used in a battle for dominance over public space, which may sound like something too empty and abstract to be worth fighting over, but in the case of Nowa Huta clearly was not.
In this way, throughout its history Nowa Huta was a place of contestation, of ideological battles over its true identity. This can be seen also through the way monuments were removed and replaced, and streets and buildings have been renamed over time. Today Nowa Huta appears to be struggling with its mixed heritage, the difficult legacy of Communism which is very divisive and sensitive – but this is not something that is limited to Nowa Huta, rather it extends throughout the entire region where Communism was present, in varying incarnations depending on where you go. And even beyond the reaches of Communism, perhaps it is a universal phenomenon, the way the outline of a city changes, and its streets and squares are named & renamed - as power games are played out and change the images we wish to remember, and those we now want to forget.
Where Solidarnosc St meets Ronald Reagan Road
Nowa Huta seems, however, to be a rather exceptional case due to the fact that it is a place dominated by its own material form, the architecture which is immediately evocative of a certain period of time, and a certain ideology. Dissociating itself from these connotations and forging a renewed identity is not an easy task, without razing all structures to the ground and starting from scratch, but many inhabitants seem to be hopeful that renewal and regeneration can be achieved without such drastic measures, and that somehow Nowa Huta can escape its founding principles and its past.
One such attempt is being made by the founders and staff of the Laznia Nowa theatre, who regard their position in the area in terms of assets rather than limits. For them, it is a place that is liberated from the stringent cultural pre-conditions and limitations of a place such as the old town area of Krakow. The fact that it lies on the outskirts is a good metaphor for this mentality of being at the “fringes” of cultural expression, and having a more open and adventurous approach to culture. They regard their project as a challenging and exciting alternative to the cultural offerings of Krakow’s centre, which are rather more stale and conservative in nature.
Visiting the Theatre was a fantastic and unique experience, as well as a rather haunting and at times quite unnerving one, as it resembled no theatre I have ever been to. The forms of artistic expression are not limited to performances on the stage, they have flowed out into the corridors and rooms of the building, which house installations which can be listened to, watched, and touched. We were taken around the dark corridors of the theatre's basement, with dim neon lights and paint peeling of the walls, in which was a series of installations which tricked the eye into initially thinking that someone is sitting in a corner, or a homeless person sleeping on the ground. On closer inspection these forms are revealed to be clothes stuffed and propped up to resemble a human figure, sometimes partially obscured by blankets or cardboard. These figures are unconscientiously scattered around the rooms and hallways, which are furnished or unfurnished in such a way that they are reminscent of rather sinister scenes from any city, such as an abandoned, dimly lit underpass or a creaky tram compartment on the verge of falling apart.
It is around these installations that the "play" is acted out. There is nowhere to sit, and no division of the space, so the audience is compelled to stand "inside" the scene. Surprising and sometimes frightening, it is certainly a unique setting for showcasing new and experimental forms of culture, and hopefully will serve as an inspiration for members of the community, and a catalyst for developing new talent of young artists.
What is most impressive about the place is that Lasnia Nowa is so profoundly in contact with, and dependent upon its surrounding, for its very relevance and form. And far from taking anything away from the theatre's image, its significance and symbolism are greatly enhanced by the context. For the director of the theatre, Bartosz Szydlowski, this is the greatest challenge for a cultural institution – not to be “knotted in its own monologue” but rather responding dynamically & reacting, listening to the realities surrounding it. The Theatre was recently relocated from the trendy Jewish district of Kazimierz to Nowa Huta, where it could find more space and lower prices. But it gained something else aswell. Szydlowski speaks of the "power of anonymous grey space" that is "present but not participating". According to him, there are "energies and heroism present in Nowa Huta", even likening it to Greek mythology.
Another Church in Nowa Huta - this one appears to have been inspired by the chemical structure of molecules
Perhaps Laznia Nowa has caught onto and harnessed a key method for Nowa Huta to discover and define itself anew – experimentation. Subversion of classical, typical and expected forms of culture, to replace it with unexpected and challenging new forms, seems like a means through which new inspiration and meanings can be uncovered. In this way perhaps Nowa Huta can create a new cultural frame of reference, leaving behind old associations and turning itself into something that has never been expected of it.
