Curators: Radek Ćwieląg, Stanisław Ruksza
trips, film screenings, picnics, bicycles, games, education, turbo-golf, concerts, books and maps…
ALTERNATIVE SILESIA develops the “Alternatif turistik” program begun by Bytom’s Kronika in 2009 and continued in the following years. Over one hundred trips have been carried out since that time, several alternative maps have been created, and there have been a music show, a book, a free bicycle rental place created, and many new works of art dealing with the postindustrial and social consequences of the issue. Alternatif has penetrated many Silesian cities and with its “magnetic” approach has managed to draw new enthusiasts and contributors from the region, Poland, and even abroad.
The point of departure was Indunature, edited by Marcin Doś – a visual adventure book, a guide encouraging an alternative look at Upper Silesia, and an attempt to explore the lifestyles of the region, with its subculture potential.
ALTERNATIVE SILESIA is a participatory undertaking made up of trips, meetings, concerts, workshops, picnics, aimless drifting about forgotten areas, idleness…
Our emphasis has been the creation of parallel maps of Silesia, using places that are generally overlooked, tracking down postindustrial architecture and its “silent” users. It presupposes that the region has many overlapping sub-regions, functioning on various levels, and tries to restore their marginalized significance. To regain the public space, to restore history and significance that is often overlooked…
What, then, is this “sightseeing”? As Marcin Doś writes in Indunature: “This is a different form of encountering the world. Not just through the places, but through the people as well. As a tourist, I can often visit monuments, cities, and regions. There is a fuller picture, however, in meeting people – the locals who are an inseparable part of the reality. Through people and their lives I learn more, I get a better feeling for the ambience of a given place. I can hear what they have to say about the world they live in. I learn about their problems, interests, the different ways they look at them, I can build a relationship. This goes both ways – people visiting Silesia and the Basin often call my attention to something that I see as ordinary, where I see nothing unusual. Visitors have some distance from what surrounds me. We talk, we think, we compare, and we draw conclusions. It brings positive surprises. Through meeting new people I learn about the future of the place they live in. Some come from regions where there were similar problems with space or industrial sites. I find out how they solved them, I have the chance to go to those places. The role of ‘guide’ is reversed. This interpersonal way of discovering the world takes on various forms of activity.
“Although we visit the same places, I can confidently say that every indutrip is different. Sometimes it’s a walk through Będzin, Bytom, and other cities, sometimes we visit the Cement Plant in Grodziec, the Royal Kościuszko Factory in Chorzów, we play Turbo-golf together. We go places on foot, by car, bus, or minibus, by tram or train.
“The Upper Silesian Industrial Region is a special place. The whole thing seems like one big city with various districts. Visitors have trouble figuring out where one city ends and the next one begins. Traveling from Będzin to Bytom, for example, we go through Sosnowiec, Katowice, and Chorzów, the borders marked by signposts you pass along the way, which ‘outsiders’ can easily miss. When they find out we have left Katowice and we are now in Chorzów, you can see the astonishment on their faces.”
ALTERNATIVE SILESIA is egalitarian. It pays regard to our times of crisis and it is for everyone’s pocketbook. It is no accident that many trips use ecological bike transport or public transit. The “cheapest and most accessible means of getting around the Indunature is generally by public transit (…) you can ride around the whole day and reach almost everywhere. Parking ceases to be a problem, you needn’t worry about your vehicle, you don’t have to go back, you just keep on traveling. You decide where to get out, based on what interests you.”
ALTERNATIVE SILESIA is also critical. It supports social revitalization, and not gentrification. The fashion for all things postindustrial has a flip side, as arts activities serve to raise the value of a site or architecture, and can lead to the eviction of residents. This alternative does not serve developers, it is aimed at all people. The authors were not hoping for mass tourism, but for creating a society and reinforcing civic activity. This year’s program primarily focuses on the shared public space of industry (above all that which already exists), and public transport.
Kronika’s activities and its alternative tourism program have never sought to promote in the ordinary sense. We do not promote regions, cities, and villages, or take part in the competition between cities. We feel it would be dishonest to adopt competitive criteria in a field that aims to introduce other values.
The Alternative Silesia Program is not meant to merely aestheticize the existing reality as design tends to do, but rather change it, affect it, and draw attention to the extant counter-culture resources.
ALTERNATIF TURISTIK is a long-term, multidiscipline program, incorporating alternative lifestyles and cultural strategies for the region. Further plans include campsites, squats, a postindustrial hostel… And so – Haile Silesia!!
See: www.alternativesilesia.com
ALTERNATIVE SILESIA
TRIP REGISTRATION
+ Monday to Friday, 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., telephone: 536 370 006
+ e-mail: radoslaw.cwielag@kronika.org.pl
ATTENTION! DECLRING PARTICIPATION IN AN EVENT ON FACEBOOK DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE REGISTERED!
MAY
26 May (Saturday)
JADWIGA COKE PLANT – bike trip
+ FEW QUIET PEOPLE live
Start: CSW Kronika, Bytom, Rynek 26 12:00 p.m.
Concert: CSW Kronika 6:00 p.m.
Number of bicycles limited
If you have a bike, bring it!
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JUNE
3 June (Sunday)
KUNSTKAMERA BYTOM – “Bicycle” exhibition
Guide: Stanisław Ruksza
Start: CSW Kronika, Bytom, Rynek 26 3:00 p.m.
Number of bicycles limited
If you have a bike, bring it!
9 June (Saturday)
RUMB PICNIC AT THE ZGORZELEC CAMPSITE – bike trip
Volunteers needed to operate the RUMB!
Guide: Radek Ćwieląg
Start: CSW Kronika, Bytom, Rynek 26, 11:00 a.m.
Number of bicycles limited
If you have a bike, bring it!
16 June (Saturday)
ZAWIERCIE GLASS WORKS – journey by train
+ camping on the Jura
Guide: Radek Ćwieląg
Start: CSW Kronika, Bytom, Rynek 26
Space limited!
20 June (Wednesday)
ROUNDHOUSE IN KATOWICE – participants arrange their own transportation
Start: Katowice ul. Raciborska 48, 4:00 p.m.
Space limited!
24 June (Sunday)
BOBREK MINE – participants arrange their own transportation
Start: Bytom Bobrek, ul Konstytucji 76, 7:00 a.m.
Space limited!
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JULY
7 July (Saturday)
WĘZEŁ – bike trip
Guide: Stanisław Ruksza
Start: CSW Kronika, Bytom, Rynek 26, 11:00 a.m.
Number of bicycles limited
If you have a bike, bring it!
14 July (Saturday)
MARCIN DOŚ TAKES YOU ON A TRIP
Start: 11:00 a.m. CSW Kronika (Bytom, Rynek 26)
21 July (Saturday)
ROMAN ŁUSZCZKA TAKES YOU ON A TRIP – bike trip
Start: CSW Kronika, Bytom, Rynek 26, 11:00 a.m.
Number of bicycles limited (deposit 50 zł)
If you have a bike, bring it!
28 July (Saturday)
SZCZYTOWO POMPOWA POWER STATION – transport currently being arranged
+ KOZUBNIK (camping in the ruins)
Guide: Radek Ćwieląg
Start: CSW Kronika, Bytom Rynek 26,
Space limited!
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AUGUST
01 August (Wednesday)
Conbelts RUBBER WORKS IN BYTOM – bike trip
Start: CSW Kronika, Bytom, Rynek 26, 4:00 p.m.
Number of bicycles limited
If you have a bike, bring it!
Space limited!
11 August (Saturday)
TRAIN TRIP
Guide: Krzysztof Duda
Start: Bytom, train station
Space limited!
18 August (Saturday),
ŁAZISKA POWER STATION – minibus trip
Start: CSW Kronika, Bytom, Rynek 26
Space limited!
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APPLIED NOMADOLOGY
Guide: Radek Ćwieląg
Date to be established with participants
SURPRISE CONCERT – date currently being established
Financed through funding from the Museum of Polish History in Warsaw in the framework of the “Tomorrow’s Patriotism” program.