souvenirs

I came up with a new way to engage the residents and encouraged them to talk. I bought their souvenirs, but also their stories. On the web, there were many ads created by the inhabitants of Nowa Huta, a district considered the most uninteresting, sad and dangerous in Krakow. Research collaboration with an anthropologist. I am an owner of the whole collection.

The green layout of olx.pl inspires hope. The local classifieds platform with the option of personal collection brings millions of Poles together day after day. They cross the borders of their warm homes, travel by car or public transport, and are often forced to leave their comfort zone. They travel tens of kilometers to pick up a trinket, a souvenir, a shiny object, a scent, a trinket, a fan for travelers. They get lost in unfamiliar housing estates, ask people at bus stops for directions, enter the location into google maps and end up in a green forest. The seller considers the item to be unnecessary. It is lingering in the basement or attic, and during the renovation process they come to the conclusion that listing ballast, junk and trash on olx.pl can help to improve the household budget. I recommend souvenirs shown in the photo. Persons interested, please contact me. Personal collection. The person interested describes himself as a collector. She is fascinated by the aura of the objects, told by them silent stories of some absence or past travel ecstasies. The seller and the interested party meet in the seller’s apartment or at a local parking lot. Is it appropriate to bargain over a non-functioning clock?

Nowa Huta
People living in Nowa Huta travel all over the world. They cross borders by train, bus, car and plane. By sea and by land. Afterwards, they are always eager to return to their estates, neighbors, trees and the tamed. They bring with them not only stories, but also objects, often useless and spontaneously bought at crowded bazaars, flea markets, junk shops, and stalls. What if we collected them all and put them in one room?
53.51°N, 35.24°E, Nowa Huta, Osiedle Sportowe
This is where the story begins. A journey to find and give new life to objects brought to Nowa Huta over the years. A meeting with a young girl who moved here from Rybnik and quickly appreciated the familiarity of her new home. The spirit of socialist dreams, which have taken root in the monumental buildings and are now trying hard to turn back the river, whose current in this case is galloping alienation, with a stick. It is evening, autumn, the first week of Krakow’s smog. The girl takes out a medallion from her purse, which cannot be seen in the light of the street lamps of Osiedle Sportowe. When the person in question lights it up with her phone’s flashlight, she notices a well-preserved steel ball chain. On one side of the medallion, a convex silver likeness of Stonehen- ge and the inscription STONEHENGE ROCKS! On the other side, the image of Stonehenge is imprinted in black. Just behind it you can see the red sky and the sunset. A resident of Nowa Huta has travelled around Britain by coach. She says she has never worn the medallion, but put it up on olx.pl to ignite a passion in someone for crossing borders.

Text by Mateusz Górniak