TRAVEL EXHIBITION
10 YEARS, 10 MONTHS, 10 WEEKS, 10 DAYS …….
A CHRONICLE OF VIOLENCE
OWNER OF THE EXHIBITION
European Solidarity Centre
CONTACT ADDRESS, TEL., MAIL ETC
ul. Waly Piastowskie 24, 80-855 Gdansk. Tel.: (58)308-43-19 E-mail: a.cherek@ecs.gda.pl
CONTACT PERSON
Adam Cherek
WEBSITE
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENT
The exhibition is suitable for both external and internal locations. The display comprises of 21 panels sized 191×130 cm. The images are installed in red frames arranged as isosceles triangles (in total – 7 triangles, dimensions: 2m x 2m x 2m). Such an arrangement creates stability of the installation and reduces the exhibition space, ensuring it does not require constant supervision once assembled. Erecting the display is straight forward and can be completed within 2 hours by 3 people.
LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION
All picture descriptions were prepared in English. Additional plaques in the languages of particular countries have been added to the display.
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS (TRANSPORTATION ETC.)
The European Solidarity Centre will cover travel cost of the technical support person and the curator of the exhibition. The host institution should provide the transportation of the exhibition, prepare an appropriate exhibition space and ensure the assistance of at least two installation crew. Furthermore, we request the host to provide accommodation for the technical support person, and most often, for the curator.
The title paraphrases the words of the British historian Timothy Garton Ash, expressed to Vaclav Havel on 23 November 1989, during the 7th day of the ‘velvet revolution’ in Prague. He had in mind a kind of a ‘domino effect’, apparent during the process of liberation of the Central-Eastern Europe countries from the rule of USSR.
The exhibition begins with a poster, the picture taken on 4 June 2009, showing Lech Walęsa toppling the first oversized red domino, symbolising the fall of communism across Europe. This event took place in the Gdansk Shipyard during the 20th anniversary of the first partially free elections in Poland.
The subsequent boards picture the most important developments, which contributed to the final fall of the communist regime in the countries across Europe, known as the ‘domino effect’.
During the exhibition we would like to propose an award ceremony, presenting medals to foreigners for their help given to the Solidarnośc movement, and also to collect the signatures of important personalities on the ‘Message to The Nations of The World’, prepared by Lech Walesa for the 30th anniversary of creation of Solidarność movement in Poland.
The exhibition, subject to the support of the host institution, can be accompanied by a malleable artistic outdoor project entitled ‘Solidarity Today’. Through this supporting project, arises an opportunity to create an international gallery ‘The Youth of the World about Solidarity’. The prize for the young artists, should they decide to take place in the project, will be a trip to Poland and the opportunity to take part in the ‘Solidarity Express’ (an annual project organised in August by ECS)
The main aim of the exhibition is to chronologically present the final stage of communism in central-eastern Europe. The photographic material will allow the visitors to familiarise themselves with the most important facts of this process and will heighten their awareness and belief that it was Poland where these groundbreaking events took place, which in a meaningful way started the peaceful revolution of 1989. To strengthen the concept of the ‘domino effect’, the exhibition contains a compositional system of characteristic elements, preserving in the mind, the slogan ‘it all began in Poland’.