17.06.2010
Podgórze's payback
11 June, in other words the official opening of the ArtBoom Tauron Festival, was also the beginning of a series of projects realised as part of Fresh Zone. One of these projects is Porachunki [Payback]. Because the receipt rolls especially created by the Łuhuu! group have been used in the shops for a few days, we decided to check out how the initiative was going.
We went to a few shops which are taking part in the project and in order to get to know the opinions surrounding it we questioned shop-assistants and the main target group of the whole initiative, in other words the shopping residents of Podgorze. “Porachunki is a really fantastic idea” – this sentence was repeated most often. The shop-assistants think that thanks to this project normal, boring receipts have become more interesting visually. By putting Podgórze residents’ opinions about the neighbourhood on them the receipts have gained value not only aesthetically, as they have become a source of important information. The shop-assistants added that they were also interesting to read during their breaks from work.
Unfortunately, from what the shop-assistants say, most of the receipts remain in the shop because shoppers are not used to taking them home with them. This is why some employees encourage shoppers to put them into their shopping bags and to read them at home. This is probably where, in the tranquillity of their homes, confrontation occurs between their own opinions and those written on the back of the receipts. There are some shoppers who notice the information in the shop – they usually agree with what is written on the white slip of paper. Everyone agrees: It’s good that someone gave the people a chance to express freely what they think about Podgórze, what they value most about the neighbourhood and what they would happily change.
Porachunki has become a mediator in the conversation among the residents of Podgórze and also a vital source of information about how the residents see the neighbourhood and what would be worth doing to make living there better.





