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18 - 29/06/2021

photo by  Maciej Zakrzewski
Galleryphoto by Maciej Zakrzewski
  • 19.05, 17:00 – zine launch, performative actions
    19.05, 19:00 – concert
    ROD im. gen. H. Dąbrowskiego 

    Reflection on the shrinking access to land in cities and the growing need for food sovereignty accompanied by the impending climate disaster have brought us to the Henryk Dąbrowski Urban Allotment Gardens in Poznań threatened with partial liquidation. The conservation and protection of urban family allotment gardens is of immense importance to the sustainable existence of large cities.

    On the premises of the Urban Allotment Gardens Joanna Pańczak (Malta Generator curator) and Agnieszka Różyńska (Course in Urban Rest & Relaxation curator) brought together ideas that have been endorsed and promoted by the Malta Generator for years but have never been merged this way. The curators decided to give the floor to young people who will speak about and creatively interpret socially- and politically-relevant issues, urban farming and the concern for areas inhabited by plants, insects and birds. They will also strengthen and inspire grass-root movements of the residents of the city working towards the common good.

    The Course in Urban Rest & Relaxation is an ethnobotanical project aimed at building “reciprocity” in the relationship between young creators and activists and the green and edible part of Poznań and its community. The project participants studied with permacultural flair the different forms of rest and relaxation in one of the oldest urban allotment gardens in Poland.

    Visual, textual and performative recordings of the process were collected into a grass-root zine. The project participants listened to and recorded the stories told by an inter-species community living together on planet Earth that was sadly covered with concrete by humans. They also paid close attention to the vegetables and fruit ripening in the centre of a large city under the watchful eyes of their caretakers.

    Through intergenerational cooperation the project participants improved their competence in natural ways of growing plants, irrigating the soil during draught and counteracting the imminent consequences of the climate disaster. By digging in the ground, replanting plants, exchanging their labour for know-how and the personal stories of the allotment owners on barter terms, the young adults discovered new levels of sensitivity and strengthened their need to be around others.

    Everyone in need of some rest and relaxation on the grass in front of the Altana studio and longing for a short break from the buzz of big city life are invited to the gardens close to the Pestka stop where they can learn more about socially and ecologically engaged art. The ecosystem of rest and relaxation has the properties of curing pandemic-induced anxieties, alleviating depression, and preventing headaches and cardiac diseases.