Chopin in the City

In April Kraków will be changing its face. And this is not down to the spring clearing, although some may fall victim to them. Making an appearance in our city will be... Fryderyk Chopin! We will have a unique opportunity to touch a replica of the piano on which he played; to listen to waltzes, mazurkas or polonaises; to enter (literally) into a world of sound; and even sit at the piano keyboard... And these are only a few of the attractions being prepared as part of the Chopin in the City project. 

A Piano for Everyone!
On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin, at the beginning of April at a few points in Kraków full-scale replicas of his piano (a Pleyel from 1847) will be appearing. In this way the instrument from the museum archives (possession of this piano is one of the factors to which the Jagiellonian University Museum owes its reputation) will be transported to the squares of our city. Every one of the six replicas has been “taken care of” by a well-known Polish artist. These include Bartek Materka, Andrzej Pągowski, Tomasz Baran and Agata Biskup. Materka (born 1973) has invested his efforts in the visualisation of an everyday adventure distorted by the viewer’s consciousness and the imperfection of his/her cognitive apparatus. Pągowski (born 1953) is designing cultural, social and advertising posters, as well as record sleeves, and doing press and literary illustrations. Evident in the works of Tomasz Baran is his interest in painting materials as well as his grappling with the abstract painting tradition, since this artist in a detached and ironic way plays with styles. It is more important for Agata Biskup (born 1982) – the only woman in this circle – to play with the aesthetics which function within and are sanctioned by the community, as well as attempt to pierce their current status.

The effect of combining these artists’ creative passion with the music of Chopin can be seen to the end of the year on the Mogilskie Roundabout, Wszystkich Świętych Square, Matejki Square and Wolnica Square, Virtuoso Restaurant well as on Róż Avenue. The unconventionally painted pianos will be left at these key points in Kraków as an invitation to actively participate in the Chopin Year celebrations.

Take a Shower in the Centre of Town
Mazurkas, waltzes, polonaises, etudes and piano concertos combined with modern technology and out of the ordinary activities – this in one sentence would describe the multimedia sculpture project created by Aleksander Janicki, which will be appearing at four points in Kraków – on the Jana Nowaka-Jeziorańskiego Square, on Szewska Street and in the Planty park not far from the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, as well as on the banks of the Vistula by the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology.

Trams were running along Szewska Street almost to the end of 1952. All that is left of them are the old tracks. Appearing alongside them will be… a tram stop! Even though a tram will not be arriving for expectant “travellers”, they will be able, in unconventional contemporary designer surroundings, to listen to the music of Chopin or make use of a touch screen on which information about the composer will be displayed. Similar multimedia sculptures, drawing on the concept of acoustic showers into which sound (that cannot be heard from the outside) is funnelled, will be assuming the forms of a “Crane” (by the Manggha Museum) a “SAT Sphere” (by the Main Railway Station) and “Fallen Piano” (in the Planty park). The latter, a smashed instrument submerged in an aquarium, is meant to call to mind a passage of verse by C.K. Norwid: “The dumb stones – groaned aloud: The ideal has reached the pavement”.

Relaxing at the Keyboard
The underpass leading from the Main Railway Station towards the Main Square will be undergoing a makeover. This gateway to the city – usually grey, dirty and by no stretch of the imagination elegant – will become a place of education, relaxation and fun. By the ramp along which the largest streams of pedestrians flow will be hung display-boards providing information about the most important Chopin Year events in Kraków. And sound mats will be laid on the stairs, in such a way that it will be possible – by tapping it out – to listen to music. This will mirror people’s behaviour – the intensity of pedestrian traffic, step speed, readiness to have fun... A floor composed of piano keys and benches fused with piano keyboards will be mounted: an invitation to take a rest from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Also due to receive a musical makeover are the Vistula Boulevards. The stairs located by them will turn into musical benches – with stylistic features alluding to piano keyboards – which will conceal information about the composer, his oeuvre and tit-bits from his life.   

And this is still not the end of the interference into the ordinary fabric of the city. Its appearance will also be changed by some of the bus stops. Cube-shaped benches will be appearing in them with imprints representing piano stools, and rubber pulp flooring under the shelters will imitate piano keyboards.

Weiss and Gracz to Chopin
Besides the Chopin. Weiss. Fin de siècle exhibition, which can be seen in the Wyspiański Pavilion until 30 April (see Museums and Galleries), on the Vistula Boulevards by the Dębnicki Bridge will be appearing large-format reproductions of paintings by Jerzy Duda-Gracz. They come from a series in which each of the images is inspired by a different Chopin work. The work on them lasted four years (1999-2003) and Duda-Gracz “made a pilgrimage” to all the places in Poland connected with the composer’s life.

Chopin’s oeuvre was for Duda-Gracz the quintessence of Polishness, the deepest expression of patriotism and of love for the fatherland. He commented that this “Polish malaise” is common to both Chopin and himself and that it is Poland that lies at the base of both of their creative outputs, while at the same time serving as the main source of their artistic inspiration.

Chopin in Blue
Awaiting those also eager to encounter Chopin in a traditional context is a series of concerts. The walls of the Tyniec Abbey will be resounding with mazurkas performed by Maciej Grzybowski. The programme of what is already the second part of the Mystical Chopin cycle will be completed by the works of Mozart, Scarlatti and Schönberg (11 April).

The Academy of Music on the very same evening will be inviting music lovers to attend Chopin in Blue – a concert, during which we will be able to hear jazz arrangements of the Polish composer’s music. Taking to the stage alongside recognised jazzmen – Georges Paczynski, Leonid Chizhik, Wojciech Groborz, Leszek Żądło and Joachim Mencel – will be young disciples of this genre. From 16 to 18 April a genuine Chopin marathon will be taking place: over the course of three days, students and graduates of the Kraków’s Academy will be giving eight concerts jointly titled Chopin Tale. Next, the proposition for 25 April is an evening of rondos and scherzos: a confrontation of a classical form and the most melancholic musical jokes in history.

Also planned is an encounter between the piano genius and folklore, everything taking place in an Eastern art setting: Chopin Ethno on 5 Continents, the first concert in the Chopin 3 Colours series will be taking place in the Manggha Museum on 27 April.

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The provocative, creative and widespread presence of Chopin’s art in the city space allows us to take a glance in the manner of explorers at the oeuvre of this Polish composer who is usually “encased” in concert halls. This time it is not only connoisseurs and regular festival-goers who will have the opportunity to encounter Chopin’s art and feel a shiver of emotion at the sound of those pristine, sturdy, gripping piano chords… (bf)