Forced to name only three cultural events, I chose them with great difficulty. I had to choose from several dozen exceptional concerts, films, performances, outdoor events and exhibitions held in our city, which may be small in area, but is culturally great.
I was not able to attend all the events during the past year. I did not see Ray Wilson’s concert at the Ceramics Festival, so I am all the more pleased to be going to his concert at Forum in January (24 January 2013). Nor did I see all the performances at the Old Theatre and on the Forum stage. Such a large number of cultural offerings is a true feast for an “intellectual” like me.
It is with great pleasure that I will share with you my personal ranking of cultural events in Bolesławiec, and then invite you to take part in a poll so that you can decide what was the most popular event of 2012.
Wybierz najważniejsze wydarzenie kulturalne 2012 roku
The best DKF in Poland
I greatly enjoy attending screenings of the Film Discussion Club (DKF) at Forum. It warms my heart to see the full auditorium and club members buying season tickets sight unseen, knowing they will not be disappointed. Attracting a regular audience for ambitious cinema is an art. It succeeds only in large university cities and… in Bolesławiec.
I remember when I began reviving the DKF in 2005. We watched films in the unheated and dilapidated Orzeł cinema. A dozen or so loyal devotees of the seventh art came, which I considered a success. The club members persevered and even watched to the end the mistakenly delivered film “Naked”. I had ordered a German comedy with an erotic theme, but received a dark English psychological drama with the same title.
This year, the DKF programme deserves recognition for the film “The Swerve” – winner of three individual awards (screenplay, debut and supporting actress) at the 36th Polish Feature Film Festival – and the film “Amour”, directed by Michael Haneke. The film is described as one of the great masterpieces of contemporary cinema.
In 2012, the Council of the Polish Film Institute honoured our DKF by recognising it as the best in Poland (an award for 2011). The high-quality DKF in Bolesławiec is a reason to be proud of the level of cultural offerings in the city.
Leszek Możdżer – a world-class phenomenon
After Możdżer’s concert at Forum (BOK MCC), people leaving the hall asked how such a musician of that calibre had been brought to small Bolesławiec. Tickets for the pianist’s concert had sold out several months earlier. Możdżer was also pleased with the concert. The musician liked the Forum hall and praised it during the concert, which was an exceptional compliment and, at the same time, a positive assessment of the city’s main concert hall.
It was not the only excellent concert at Forum. In March, Anna Maria Jopek arrived with a band of exceptional musicians and Lisbon rhythms. The excellent Mirosław Baka, fascinated by Vysotsky, sang for us. In autumn, Dorota Miśkiewicz pampered us with jazz. And ballet lovers once again filled the Forum hall to the brim to see “Swan Lake” by the Royal Russian Ballet.
The sad and nostalgic Magda Umer also came to Bolesławiec (Old Theatre, District Starosty Office and B.P. Perfekt). Blues fans could savour the final concert of Blues nad Bobrem (BnB Association), featuring, among others, Jarosław Śmietana, Keith Dunn, G. Wolf and HooDooBand. It was an extraordinary event with musicians of world renown. Lech Dyblik’s charity concert at the Old Theatre and the workshops he led were also interesting and important events (BSA Przemiana, B.P. Perfekt, MDK).
A first-rate collection at the Museum of Ceramics
The Museum of Ceramics has the world’s largest collection of seventeenth-century Bolesławiec vessels. In Poland, there are only two vessels of this class: one is located at Wawel Royal Castle, the other at the National Museum in Wrocław.
“Now Germany and its rich museums can hide –” the museum director, Anna Bober-Tubaj, said happily. Her statement did not express hostility towards Germany or Germans. It was the joy of surpassing a country that takes exceptional care of its culture.
With the support of the mayor and donations from local companies, Anna Bober-Tubaj accomplished something momentous for culture and for this ceramics-based city. As an art historian, I can sing its praises at length. Although the collection of seventeenth-century Bolesławiec vessels at the Museum of Ceramics will not draw crowds like the Ceramics Festival or appear on “Dzień Dobry TVN” like the Glinoludy, it is priceless for a city that grew from ceramic roots.
The collection raises the Museum of Ceramics to a world-class level, of course among cultural institutions specialising in ceramics. Now researchers will send requests and letters to us to consult the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec while conducting their own research into European pottery.
Once again, while extending our congratulations, we publish the list of donors: Zakłady Ceramiczne „Bolesławiec” Sp. z o.o., Zehnder Group Bolesławiec Sp. z o.o., EKOCERAMIKA Sp. z o.o. in Suszki, PWiK w Bolesławcu Sp. z o.o., Gerresheimer Bolesławiec S.A., MZK Sp. z o.o. in Bolesławiec, ZEC Sp. z o.o. in Bolesławiec, Bolesławieckie Stowarzyszenie Kolekcjonerów i Miłośników Historii Miasta, „Ceramika Artystyczna” in Bolesławiec, PPUH Elektros Sp. z o.o. in Bolesławiec, BONITEX S.A. in Bolesławiec.
The opening of the theatre in Bolesławiec
The momentous opening of the Old Theatre cannot be overlooked in the city’s cultural life. The theatre functions well in the city and is gradually building its own audience. And all this despite the theatre’s poor advertising. It is promoted with banners on the district office and theatre buildings and with a small board placed in front of the district office. Someone writes the “theatrical menu”, that is, the current programme, on the board in chalk, like dishes in a restaurant. I seem to be the only one who notices the board, and this poorly chosen idea for promoting high art irritates me greatly.
My anger disappears in the theatre. In the beautifully renovated foyers there is an atmosphere of anticipation of exceptional art, while the stage hidden behind the curtain promises a good performance. The Old Theatre is unique, and I warmly invite everyone to visit it. No promotional stunt by officials of the district office or the MDK director can spoil its charm. I do not know exactly whose.
I saw two performances by the theatre from Legnica (The Misanthrope and Orchestra), and both were very good. It is a great pleasure to watch Jacek Głomb’s company in Bolesławiec. I hope that the grand assurances made at the opening—that the theatre from Legnica would visit us every month—will finally be fulfilled. I also know that, apart from the performances I saw, the theatre’s programme was very rich this year.
Small, great events
I would also like to mention the excellent idea of combining a biographical film about the Polish rapper Magik with a concert by his friends. At the Forum cinema, Pokahontaz’s concert and the film “You Are God” attracted crowds of delighted young culture-goers.
The exhibition of Kazimierz Kalkowski’s paintings at the BOK-MCC gallery was one of the most important exhibitions of the past year. Mysterious and enigmatic compositions, seemingly chaotic and deformed, are a metaphor for the “theatrum mundi”, where the drama (comedy?) of our civilisation unfolds in successive scenes—this is how the poet and art critic Władysław Zawistowski wrote about Kalkowski’s works.
BOK-MCC gave its youngest audience the valuable play “Peter Pan and the Pirates”. On St Nicholas’ Day, actors from Wrocław’s Teatr Klinika Lalek performed at Forum and took the children on a journey during which the fairy tale could be explored like distant lands overseas. Children raised on performances like these will grow up to become loyal audiences of the Film Discussion Club, concerts by outstanding pianists and plays at the Old Theatre.
(Grażyna Hanaf)