The curators and project coordinators and advisors of DemArt visited Wroclaw from June 20-23, 2024, to participate in the 22nd Survival Festival. The festival is held at different locations in Poland each year, and this year’s theme was Romanticism, specifically exploring the meanings and values present today that originate from Polish and regional Romanticism, and how they shape modernist perspectives.
Community Art Commissioner Juda from Budapest team writes: “During the visit, the delegates from Budapest were able to reunite with their team members from the International Institute for Community Curated Art, as Polish, Latvian, and even Spanish colleagues also participated in the festival. It was particularly delightful to share the experience with artists from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, creating a truly international artistic community.
At the 22nd Survival Festival, we viewed exhibitions set up at multiple locations, including an abandoned old villa and a water tower. In a screen printing workshop, we could request prints of a reimagined Polish flag design on our own used clothing. The artworks were highly diverse, featuring sound installations, film installations, spatial sculptures, paintings, and photography. Conceptual approaches and unique storytelling were prevalent, and reading the art descriptions often greatly enhanced the experience, as context was crucial. Overall, the artworks were characterized by fresh, serious yet playful, and highly unique perspectives and approaches. The exhibition was absolutely outstanding, far exceeding our initial expectations.
In addition to visiting the festival exhibition, the DemArt team, along with other international participants, attended numerous interesting and inspiring workshops and roundtable discussions on topics such as the intersection of art management and Instagram, and freedom of speech and censorship. Moreover, we explored Wroclaw’s street art culture with the help of local guides and hosts, who showcased their street graffiti, community ceramics workshops, and artistic community space projects aimed at involving and developing the city’s socially and economically disadvantaged, isolated communities.
We were highly inspired, learned a lot, and enriched ourselves with valuable shared experiences. The next chapter for us will be in Budapest, where in early autumn we will also present the final results of our art project and ceremonially hand it over to the public in Budapest’s seventh district. Subsequently, in spring 2025, we will visit Riga to participate in an art exhibition there, concluding the International Institute for Community Curated Art’s 2023-2025 project.”