15.06.2010
A futuristic vision of the city
This morning, on Benedyktyńska Street, near Wawel, the construction of LEM Monument, that is the work of the German artist collective Raumlaborberlin.
The starting point for Raumlaborberlin was the analysis of Krakow’s identity today and also in the near and distant future. In the age of alternative tourism, which looks for new and fresh points of view and places on city and regional maps, the classic tourist attractions, Krakow’s architectural pearls, may become obsolete in only a few decades.
With the future in mind, and without depreciating the city’s historical heritage, the Raumlaborberlin group draws attention to a wonderful citizen, who also brought glory to Krakow. We are talking about Stanisław Lem. Just like German artists, almost everybody read and loved his books as a teenager. Lem’s works are known worldwide and act as a sort of universal platform of agreement. The group was also fascinated by Lem’s incredible ability to reflect on the state of the modern world by sketching screenplays for the future. This is why the quotation from the novel Solaris: “We don’t need other worlds. We need mirrors” became Raumlaborberlin’s inspiration for their work on the city installation project at the 2nd ArtBoom Tauron Festival in Krakow.
LEM Monument is above all a temporary landmark and a generally accessible site which commemorates the great writer, who lived and worked in Krakow from 1946 until his death in 2006. Through this abstract mass, made out of yellow doors, and also due to its position within the Old Town, next to the Royal Castle on Wawel, the LEM Monument reflects the relationship between historical and modern levels of meanings and ideologies. However, the group’s proposal also turns our attention towards the future. Their piece not only comments on Krakow’s heritage and present, but is also a brave and futuristic proposal of how the city can look in the future and what message it will give. Will we always want to boast about Renaissance and Baroque monuments? We probably will, however, we may also discover that we desire a bit of modernity and people like Stanislaw Lem and their heritage will become a reference point in the urban development of the city of Krakow.
The site is made of up three masses of different shapes, properties and meanings. They have been connected into a spatial configuration, a game between what is inside and what is outside, between covering and uncovering, access and exclusion. You can enter this monument, especially seeing as the “no walking on grass” sign has been removed. Raumlaborberlin invite the residents of Krakow to discover the object, to approach it as a moment of reflection and meditation in order to stimulate discussion or organize a meeting.
We see the group’s project as a spark for further contemplation.
The starting point for Raumlaborberlin was the analysis of Krakow’s identity today and also in the near and distant future. In the age of alternative tourism, which looks for new and fresh points of view and places on city and regional maps, the classic tourist attractions, Krakow’s architectural pearls, may become obsolete in only a few decades.
With the future in mind, and without depreciating the city’s historical heritage, the Raumlaborberlin group draws attention to a wonderful citizen, who also brought glory to Krakow. We are talking about Stanisław Lem. Just like German artists, almost everybody read and loved his books as a teenager. Lem’s works are known worldwide and act as a sort of universal platform of agreement. The group was also fascinated by Lem’s incredible ability to reflect on the state of the modern world by sketching screenplays for the future. This is why the quotation from the novel Solaris: “We don’t need other worlds. We need mirrors” became Raumlaborberlin’s inspiration for their work on the city installation project at the 2nd ArtBoom Tauron Festival in Krakow.
LEM Monument is above all a temporary landmark and a generally accessible site which commemorates the great writer, who lived and worked in Krakow from 1946 until his death in 2006. Through this abstract mass, made out of yellow doors, and also due to its position within the Old Town, next to the Royal Castle on Wawel, the LEM Monument reflects the relationship between historical and modern levels of meanings and ideologies. However, the group’s proposal also turns our attention towards the future. Their piece not only comments on Krakow’s heritage and present, but is also a brave and futuristic proposal of how the city can look in the future and what message it will give. Will we always want to boast about Renaissance and Baroque monuments? We probably will, however, we may also discover that we desire a bit of modernity and people like Stanislaw Lem and their heritage will become a reference point in the urban development of the city of Krakow.
The site is made of up three masses of different shapes, properties and meanings. They have been connected into a spatial configuration, a game between what is inside and what is outside, between covering and uncovering, access and exclusion. You can enter this monument, especially seeing as the “no walking on grass” sign has been removed. Raumlaborberlin invite the residents of Krakow to discover the object, to approach it as a moment of reflection and meditation in order to stimulate discussion or organize a meeting.
We see the group’s project as a spark for further contemplation.
