Experience of culture workers’ migration. Conversation with ZA * Group

The City Culture Institute invites you to a shared reflection and discussion on the migration and life of foreign artists in Poland: matching, domination, changing and hybrid identities. The reason for the meeting is the publication of ZA * ZIN, the main aim of which is to present foreign artists from various countries in Poland. Speakers: ZA * Group – Yuriy Biley, Yulia Krivich, Vera Zalutskaya, host: Marta Siciarek, Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Online event on City Culture Institute’s Facebook page, May 6th at 18.00.

The topics that will be touched during the discussion include: visibility / invisibility of foreign artists in Polish field of art, perception of one’s own identity and belonging to the context of countries of origin / residence, experience of migration and work in Polish art field.

– Immigration to Poland is taking on a settlement character, immigrant communities are becoming more and more diverse and at the same time looking for a space to express their observations on life in Poland. Artists – immigrants – create art in Poland, often critical of their marginalized position in Polish society: the inability to participate in elections or the stigmatizing language. They raise questions about the issues of (auto) representation of immigrant artists and curators in the broadly understood sector of culture and art, or the role of cultural institutions in integration processes: do institutions only “show diversity” or are they gradually becoming diverse themselves? Do artists in Poland have to assimilate to be part of the “art market” or are we able to build a society of integration – and how? – says Marta Siciarek from the Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Za*Zin vol. 1

photo by Yulia Krivich

ZA * ZIN is available for download here. ☺ Download

Experience of culture workers’ migration. Conversation with ZA * Group

Date: May 6th at 18.00. City Culture Institute’s Facebook, Online Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/213830750167573/.

Speakers: ZA * Group – Yuriy Biley, Yulia Krivich, Vera Zalutskaya, host: Marta Siciarek, Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship

Organizer: City Culture Institute

Partners: Marshal’s Office of Pomeranian Voivodeship, Gdansk – Sopot – Gdynia Metropolitan Area.

ZA * ZIN is a publication dedicated to foreign artists living in Poland. It is the first project organized by ZA * Group whose main goal is to present foreign artists from different countries. The common experience of migration and assimilation in Poland was chosen as the topic of the publication. Zin is a form of discerning, careful “examination of the area”, without introducing strong and unambiguous assumptions and definitions. It is the result of an open call organized by ZA * Group, during which they received about 70 applications. Based on the data collected from all applications, a group of foreign artists has been pre-mapped and information about them is presented in the form of graphs. The publication also includes 10 selected artistic works. In the interview conducted with ZA * Group by Joanna Warsza, the authors’ own experiences related to life and work in Poland were discussed. The publisher of ZA * ZIN is the City Culture Institute in Gdansk.