Recently I witnessed very interesting debate in which one of the arguments was about a stereotype of Kraków being a center of many cultural activities. According to the speaker the glorious days of marvelous Bohemian youth, the symbol of Kraków’s peak of cultural performance, went away with the art splendor of the interwar period known as Mloda Polska. Therefore the question remains whether in the new century Kraków’s became a cultural desert, temple of artistic mediocrity or blooming center of fearless creativity?
I am sure the opinions are as different and antithetic as prices of beer in lovely open-air café-restaurant on the very center of the city and minimalist-designed, half-legally run bar in one of Kazimierz’s basements… simply because the opinions of what actually is a culture differs accordingly. Therefore to estimate if Kraków is one of cultural centers depends on what you expect to fulfill your intellectual, cultural needs. I’m sure most happy group of people are simple beer drinkers for whom noticing the colors would take place only when suddenly, while watching the football game, they wouldn’t be able to distinguish the players of both teams due to same outfit colors of every single player if something go wrong and the device would show only black-and-white picture. Although I’m sure in some cases that would also take a while…
For people, let’s say, more “sensitive” to the delicate nuances of color mismatches and the followers of newest fancy art-world trends Kraków seems to fossil at the point in history when its renown ranged to all bigger European capitals and sort of … not moved forward since then… ‘We still got the name but we’re no longer in the game’- would be a perfect slogan for Kraków’s-culture-skeptics. And yes, I can agree to some of their postulates, like lack of big music events or simply poor quality of those which kindly come to the king’s old residence. I would like to focus on them, because apparently to the speaker mentioned abouve, those are one of the determinants of the contemporary cultural prestige.
Best evidence can be easily supported by… Empik’s store concert board hanging right there next to the info stand in which barely any serious music events leaves the capital of our beautiful country, Warsaw. In this particular case the city deserves its title. However accusations ware made not only due to the comparison with Warsaw but also with other major polish cities like Wrocław, Łódź or Poznań. And that’s true that maybe those cities are better prepared for having an international stars. But who resists the temptations of spending 4-10 hours in a barely holding train, having fun with your friends and simply preparing yourself for this spiritual experience? This is like a purifying pilgrimage to a holly place-what matters the most is how you actually get there: in the spiritual ecstasy or in morose boredom. Look at it from the other angle-what kind of pictures you usually see on facebook? The once that should speak to a viewer of my profile ‘I finally went to an excited and posh event so that I can post my pics on fb so that everyone can see that I’m so awesome and cool’ and which are given usually shorter name like ‘Random [yeah right] Fall 2010’ or ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers15.05.2010concert’. And the most fascinating thing about them is that… they show everything but the concerts! [The main two causes of that are: primo, in some cases your camera might be seized, and secundo: the light is so shitty that you won’t get the hell out of those pics still wondering what was I making picture of?]. The things that are showed are other people and crazy things that you done during your trip THERE. Again: not the GOAL, but the WAY you got there. Another very important aspectconcerts being far away: have you ever thought of how many family members and “friends” you spoke to literally 3 times before, you renew your contact with only because they live in a city with a music hall? This truth of music connecting people is know from like ancient times but I don’t believe none of you reading this nonsense article now, won’t blush while memorizing this friendly poke or ‘disinterested’ ‘what’s up?’ small talk with a ‘friend’ or a cousin of an aunts grand-daughter sister happening to own an apartment right next to Warsaw’s Fabryka Trzciny or Katowicki Spodek… And you know what? It’s nothing wrong with that! It became our ritual of liking the people we actually don’t know… but what the heck! And you know what Kraków citizens? Prepare yourself for nice small talks and lovely ‘how are you’ chats coming… Selector festival tickets are on the agenda at this time of the year… who knows, maybe some old (what’s his name again?) friend will come for a visit… cuz he MISSED Kraków so much.., and yeah! You too, bro.
So if you ask me, if in the ‘concerts terms’ our l’ambiance city is a place of ‘groundbreaking international events’ I would say: we might be far behind the others. But once again: what the heck! You know how many extra facebook friends you will get thanks to that? Not mentioning honing your communication skills and gaining priceless time to actually prepare yourself for something that most of the people treats as a good topic for another facebook photo coverage. And as for me, I don’t might Kraków letting to wait all those pop culture international events on the threshold… Usually only legendary dignitaries were welcomed to the audience hall and made an epic sensation.
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