[28 September  – 30 November]

This joint German-Polish project encompassing exhibition and publishing activities entitled Structure and architecture. Postindustrial heritage of Upper Silesia has resulted from the collaboration of the German Forum of Culture of Central and Eastern Europe  (Deutsches Kulturforum östliches Europa) in Potsdam, the Europareportage initiative and the Silesian Museum in Katowice, the House of Polish-German Cooperation in Gliwice as well as numerous partners, both Polish and German.

The Forum - together with Berlin-based photographers of the Europatronage initiative - has been implementing a documentary and artistic project related to the postindustrial heritage of Silesia, the objective of which, according to the original idea and manifesto of the Forum -  is the recording and taking care of "the common asset of European culture that has already partly vanished from the contemporary panorama", that is the industrial and urban-planning complex established in Silesia in various periods of its industrialisation.

The exhibitions will present the fruit of the joint German-Polish photographic project: about 60 large format colour photographs picturing the modern face and functions of postindustrial heritage in Upper Silesia seen from the perspective of two young German photographers, Anke Illing and Thomas Vossbeck. The project is conducted by Deutsches Kulturforum Ostliches Europa  and the Department of Mechanical Documentation of the Silesian Museum. As an element of the project, the exhibition was shown for the first time in Dortmund as a part of Ruhr2010 in the autumn of 2010.

 The Structure and architecture project has focused on chosen industrial establishments set up before 1945 and still functioning today or such establishments whose remains reflect their industrial potential. The authors mainly concentrated on industrial architecture showing both the interiors of the works and the buildings' silhouettes as well as accompanying details of the industrial and natural environment.

The assumption of the catalogue is to reach both the Polish and German reader, hence it contains a bilingual map of historical Upper Silesia that facilitates identification of the spots pictured in the photographs.

The industrial architecture of Upper Silesia was erected at the turn of the 20th century, thus it is a part of common Polish and German heritage. That is why popularising the architecture as the  common asset for European nations makes it possible to retain its valuable elements that contribute to the contemporary identity of our region. This is also how the architecture may find its proper place in the overall cultural legacy and heritage of Europe.
The exhibition and album will have their premiere in the Silesian Museum on 28 September 2011.

Curator in Silesian Museum: Danuta Kowalik-Dura

Organizator:

www.kulturforum.pl

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