varia 269 Dietrich – wchodzi w bezpośredni kontakt padki przełamywania społecznych tabu. Pro- z publicznością, siadając na kolanach jedne- dukcja ta tworzyła swego rodzaju alternatywny mu z mężczyzn, namiętnie całując go w usta, wąski obieg. Jest bowiem rzeczą niezmiernie a w chwilę później zrywając z głowy blond mało prawdopodobną, by podobnie śmiała perukę, aby zaprezentować się widzom jako pod względem obyczajowym scena z przyczyn mężczyzna. Autor etiudy zdokumentował tutaj cenzuralnych mogła się znaleźć w jakimkolwiek coś, co w tamtym czasie mogło funkcjonować ówczesnym fi lmie fabularnym bądź dokumen- jedynie na obrzeżach życia obyczajowego w Pol- talnym w szerokim rozpowszechnianiu. sce, ale – jak widać – torowało już sobie drogę, przynajmniej w widowisku estradowym. Na zakończenie studiów reżyserskich w łódz- Zaskakująca śmiałość opisanej sceny wykra- kiej PWSFTviT Michał Tarkowski zrealizował – cza daleko poza konwencję estradowego spekta- oceniony przez opiekuna pedagogicznego klu erotycznego. Pod tym względem dokument prof. Wojciecha Jerzego Hasa na notę celują- nakręcony przez Tarkowskiego i Szarka stanowi cą – znakomity fi lm absolutoryjny pt. Przerwane niewątpliwy ewenement obyczajowy w kinie śniadanie Braci Montgolfi er (1979–1980). Orygi- polskim dekady lat 70. Obaj ukazali i zanoto- nalność i klasa artystyczna tego utworu, który wali ślad dokonującej się niepostrzeżenie prze- w niczym nie przypomina ćwiczenia warszta- miany obyczajowej. W etiudach powstających towego, będąc pełnoprawnym dziełem sztuki w łódzkiej Szkole Filmowej niejednokrotnie fi lmowej, zasługuje po latach na uważne przestu- natrafi amy na tego rodzaju graniczne przy- diowanie i analizę w formie osobnego artykułu.

Surreal Dreams of a “Creative City” (or: How Camerimage Festival Tried to Convince Łódź to Stop Worrying and Love Modern Architecture) konrad klejsa Uniwersytet Łódzki

In January 2012, the New York Times pub- congress center with an avant-garde, building-block lished a tourist report entitled “45 places to go.” shape.[] It included the city of Łódź, which was intro- In 2015, it is already clear that neither Lynch’s duced in the following words: studio nor Gehry’s congress centre will come Th e movie-making headquarters of the country into being due to major shift s in the city’s cul- (with a fi lm school that started the careers of Roman tural policy, which has been widely comment- Polanski and Andrzej Wajda), Łódź has seen its ed upon in both local and national media. Th e labyrinth of textile warehouses and industrial-era following paper presents the most important relics repurposed for artistic and entrepreneurial events and critical voices raised during this ventures. Th e latest is by director, David Lynch, debate, drawing primarily on an analysis of who has a deal to establish a major fi lm studio in a former 19th-century power plant in the city. Its documentary content (newspaper articles and makeover - which will also include a planetarium, a studies on the cultural policy produced by var- library, an exhibition space and a theater – is sched- ious public and non-profi t entities). uled to be shown to the public in 2014. Additionally, [1] R.B. Doyle, “Th e Hollywood of Poland recla- the architect Frank Gehry, whose grandparents ims its industrial past”, Th e New York Times, 2012, were from Łódź, is in talks to design a festival and no. 6 (January 8, 2012). 270 varia Th e setting: HollyŁódź and fi lm culture more as a stigma than a development asset. In With over 710,000 inhabitants, Łódź is the interviews with local fi lmmakers and cultural third largest city in Poland, although its demog- policy makers, one statement was frequently raphy and economics were severely impacted repeated: “Nobody knew what to do.”[] Th e by the decline of the textile industry during premises of the former Fiction Film Production the 1990s. Compared with the rest of Poland, Studio was divided into several sub-sections: Łódź is still predominantly a worker’s city, one was purchased by Opus Film (now one of where middle and high-income groups form the leading fi lm and commercial producers in a small minority. Th e city faces signifi cant so- Poland), and one became the headquarters of cial problems: rising unemployment, a strong Toya Group (which operates a sound-recording sub-urbanization of higher-income families to studio, as well as being a local TV broadcaster peripheral districts, and a consequent social and internet provider). Two buildings remained imbalance, especially in the city centre. state-owned, and up till today have served basi- Th roughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s cally as a storage facility – either for fi lm stock (and up to the mid-1980s), the city was un- (a department of the National Film Archive, deniably the centre of Polish fi lm production, with its headquarters in Warsaw) or for props with quite a few state-owned institutions: the and costumes (a company called the Łódź Film Fiction Film Production Studio (Wytwórnia Centre which now belongs to the city of Łódź). Filmów Fabularnych), where the majority of Studios dedicated to animated (Se-Ma-For) and Polish full-length movies were made, the An- educational fi lms (WFO) underwent similar imated Film Production Studio (Se-Ma-For) transformations: the fi rst became a private com- and the Educational Film Production Studio pany in 1999 and is still struggling to survive by (Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych). Th e decline providing services for foreign companies, while of “HollyŁódź” started in the mid-1980s and the former almost ceased to exist, and in 2012 was caused both by poor management deci- was fi nally taken over by the Marshalls Offi ce. sions and the lack of a national policy towards In the late 1990s, Łódź’s eff orts to overcome fi lm production (Th e Polish Film Institute in its stagnation engendered a discussion concern- Warsaw was created as late as 2005). ing the arts and cultural activity as amenities In the early 1990s, the remnants of the city’s for economic development. It was observed that fi lm production studios started to be thought of while fi lm-sector employment in the city had faltered, the number of small fi rms and com- [2] In 2013 and 2014 a research group from the panies had increased. Th is observation led to University of Łódź and the Polish National Film the creation of the Media Cluster initiative. In School conducted 50 in-depth interviews, each June 2007, a letter of intent was signed by over 90 minutes in length. Although there was some variation in the questions depending on the 50 institutions – both commercial (almost every subject, key questions focused on the respon- private company operating in Łódź decided to dents’ views on the following: the most impor- join) and public (including Th e National Film tant projects for fi lm culture in the city, the key School, Th e University of Łódź, Th e Technical issues, events and people that infl uenced the city’s University, and Th e Academy of Fine Arts). Th e approach to cultural policy, and the challenges key objective of the Media Cluster was to “en- they encountered. Th e outcomes of the project hance the effi ciency and competitiveness of the will be presented in an edited volume, which is to regional media industry by reinforcing the net- be published in 2015. [3] List intencyjny – deklaracja współpracy z 26 works linking local entrepreneurs, business and marca 2007 (Letter of Intention, March 26, 2007), professional bodies, research and development available at: Unfortunately, the Media Cluster initiative [accessed: September 14, 2014]. has not been developed into a wider concept, varia 271 mostly due to the fact that it coincided with It is the 23rd of January - minus eighteen degrees. yet another project which has been successful- Th ere are not many cars on the streets of Łódź, as ly pushed forward by city offi cials: Th e New the majority of them have been blocked by banks Centre of Łódź, which was aimed at the rede- of snow. Th e ice-covered streets shine in the bright sunlight. Th e notary’s offi ce on Żwirki street is still velopment of the old industrial area and was empty at 10 a.m. Journalists and press photogra- to be carried out in conjunction with the city’s phers slowly arrive, and fi nally the heroes of the day general urban planning policy, which includ- appear: American director, David Lynch, architect ed a new railway station as its most important and businessman, Andrzej Walczak, and the chief investment. Th e so-called EC1 will material- of the Camerimage fi lm festival, Marek Żydowicz. ize on a vast four-hectare area surrounding a Th ey disappear behind closed doors, which in fact former power plant (built in 1906, it supplied are glass, but the crystal cut distorts and blurs the almost the whole city with electricity until it image, and as a result, not much can be seen. Th e atmosphere is tense and time spent waiting in the was closed in 2005). Along with the New Centre cold air passes slowly. Finally, the doors open. Smil- of Łódź project, new ambitious objectives were ing men are sitting at the table – the three of them set: “now it will become a source of cultural have just set up a foundation.[] spirit and will generate artistic energy” – prom- ised acting mayor of Łódź Tomasz Sadzyński Th e triumvirate seemed attractive and extraor- dinary, each of the founders had a good track in 2010.[] Such statements were in-tune with the “cre- record of original and successful enterprises. Mr ative city” concept, which by the late 1990s had Żydowicz headed (and still does) the Camerim- become popular in a variety of contexts and age Film Festival organised in Toruń from 1993 interpretations, such as Richard Florida’s “cre- to 1999; aft er his confl ict with city authorities, he moved the Festival to Łódź, where the event ative class” theory.[] Within this theoretical framework, culture is increasingly being seen was held from 2000 to 2009. (Since 2010, the as a magic substitute to policy makers for the Plus Camerimage Festival has taken place in loss of factories and warehouses in deindustri- Bydgoszcz). Lynch was a guest at Camerimage alized areas, with the presence and concentra- a couple of times; the outcome of this cooper- tion of artists and bohemians being linked to ation was the movie Inland Empire, which was co-produced by Żydowicz, who selected out- the city’s economic development.[] With the aim of exploiting the potential for stimulating door locations in Łódź, the cast, and also played artistic experimentation and improving their a small part in the fi lm. Th e third participant in overall image, cities have shown a strong in- the meeting was Andrzej Walczak – one of the terest in becoming “creative” in hosting major richest Poles, an architect, and a businessman – cultural events and in planning “cultural quar- ters.” As Jamie Peck observed, “Be creative – or [4] A. Pawłowska, “Ec1 start: politycy włączyli betoniarkę”, Dziennik Łódzki, 2010, no. 148 (June die – is the new urban imperative: cities must 30, 2010). attract the new ‘creative class’ with hip neigh- [5] R. Florida, Th e Rise of the Creative Class and bourhoods, and art-scene – or they’ll go the How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community way of Detroit.”[] (Th is remark is particularly and Everyday, Basic Books, New York 2002. important in the case of Łódź, where debates [6] See for example: A. Scott, Th e Cultural Eco- organized by local think-tanks usually mention nomy of Cities: Essays on the Geography of Image- Detroit as a symbol of the “fallen city”). Producing Industries, SAGE, London 2000. [7] J. Peck, “Struggling with the Creative Class”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Rese- Th e protagonists: art, economy and politics arch, 2005, no. 4 (29), p. 740. In early 2006, there was hardly any news [8] Un-authored public relations material [on- that attracted local media more than the event line], [accessed: December 20, 2014]. 272 varia co-founder of the Atlas Group (manufacturer nology. One sixth of the factory premises (0.7 and seller of building materials). Since 2003, he ha – so-called “EC1-East”) was purchased in has run Atlas Sztuki, which is considered one of 2008 by the World Art Foundation (Fundacja the best Polish non-commercial galleries. Sztuki Świata) for just PLN 3,982 – the Foun- In the local media, the cooperation between dation made use of a 99.9 per cent discount Lynch, Żydowicz, and Walczak was associat- because EC1 was to have been redeveloped and ed with a somewhat similar venture by the fa- dedicated to serve “unique cultural functions.” mous trio from Th e Promised Land (a novel by During his stay in Poland in Spring 2010, Władysław Reymont and a movie by Andrzej Lynch described EC1-East as “a space for cre- Wajda). Th is narrative could be traced even in ativity and an exchange of ideas” that “would some statements by local offi cials. As Minister inspire the residents of Łódź as well as artists Grabarczyk pompously said at the offi cial start living in the city and all over the world.”[] In of construction works in June 2010: local newspapers, however, the project was no- Th e history of this place is material for a good toriously described as “David Lynch’s studio”, adventure movie. It was an abandoned area. Yet which led the public to believe that EC1-East the saviours arrived. Łódź was lucky to attract Mr would be dedicated to fi lm production. Th is was Żydowicz, who came to Łódź from far away and certainly not the case, since the project itself is, invited David Lynch. Both of them developed a to put it mildly, heterogenic to the extreme. It good understanding with Mr Walczak, a local pa- will include a 3D cinema, “a theatre of sound”, triot. Together they discovered treasure. Now city i.e. a studio for recording symphonic movie residents will be able to see the diamond in its full scores, a planetarium, exhibition spaces, stu- glamour.[] dios for diff erent types of artistic activity (in- Yet, the paths of “the saviours” soon diverged. cluding wood and plaster sculpture), a small Aft er a confl ict with the creators of Camerimage, hotel for workshop participants, a jazz club, a Walczak withdrew his shares from the Founda- library, and a “lake of memory” (a place where tion and Lynch delegated the authority to act residents of Łódź could record their memories on his behalf to Żydowicz, who thus gained a for future generations). In an interview for the decisive voice and became the only person de- web portal wprost.pl, Żydowicz explained this ciding about the World Art Foundation (apart brave concept in the following words: from his Tumult Foundation, which organizes Owing to David’s connections and the Camerimage Camerimage). Th is institution played a crucial Festival, we wanted to attract large international role in a scandal surrounding two architectural movie and music projects. In addition, we decided projects that were supposed to be symbols of to designate a few dozen rooms as artistic work- the New Centre of Łódź. shops covering diff erent fi elds of art. We wanted to help young, talented artists to be noticed by a Th e EC1 building: “David Lynch studio” global audience.[] EC1 was owned by the city, which is in Th e agreement assumed that the city would in- charge of redeveloping fi ve-sixths (4 ha) of the vest its own funds and EU funds to revitalise the building area where facilities (known as “EC1- building, while the Foundation would fi nance West”) will host an interactive museum of tech- its fi ttings. Th e realisation of that plan turned out to be [9] Pawłowska, op. cit. more complicated than both the Foundation [10] “Zanurkować w głąb siebie. Z Davidem Lyn- and the City might have expected. In April 2010, chem rozmawia Dariusz Stańczuk” (interview), Zwierciadło, 2010, no 4. the Foundation asked the city (acting as the pro- [11] Żydowicz: prezydent Łodzi celowo ukrywa ject leader) to allocate 21.5 million PLN in the nadużycia [online], [accessed: December 20, 2014]. response, the city authorities – aft er a row with varia 273 Mr Żydowicz which resulted in the Camerimage ing up the local media and web forums – es- Festival leaving Łódź – decided to redeem its pecially aft er Zdanowska confi rmed that she rights to EC1-East; the reason they gave was the “hadn’t been able to organise this trip without Foundation’s failure to fulfi l the earlier agree- Mr Żydowicz because neither the promotion ment and to raise suffi cient funds. When the department, nor the cultural department, nor Foundation refused to return the property, the even the investment department of City Hall city fi led a lawsuit, and lawyers representing had Mr Lynch’s contact details.”[] the city stated that the city had reserved the un- Furthermore, Lynch took the City’s deci- conditional right to redeem the building within sion personally, and in May 2010, sent an open fi ve years. Th e Foundation’s attorney claimed in letter to Prime Minister Tusk relating to the turn that this option was applicable only if the case.[] Th e Government Information Cen- Foundation wanted to sell the facility to another tre replied that there was no legal basis for the entity, which was not the case. In addition, the Prime Minister to intervene with the authorities Foundation repeatedly emphasised that the de- of Łódź in regards to the redemption of EC1. It cision to redeem EC1-East would lead to the loss is now (2015) owned by the City and run by the of 90 million PLN from an EU subsidy granted company “Ec1 – Miasto kultury” (initially the to the project (according to the city no such decisive voice within this company belonged to problem existed). Finally, Łódź City Hall won the Foundation. In December 2014, aft er a long its litigation against the Foundation. Th e district legal debate, the City agreed to assign almost court in Łódź upheld the judgment of the lower 5 million zlotys to the Foundation in order to court and allowed the city to redeem from the gain control over the Ec1 company). Th e EC1 Foundation the land on which the redeveloped building itself has been renovated according to heat and power plant was located. Th e City Hall the plan provided by the Foundation – which was to pay 4,000 PLN for the property i.e. as also means that in years to come the city will much as the Foundation had paid to the city. be forced to sustain a huge building, although Over the course of this two-year legal bat- its purposes remain unclear aft er Lynch had tle, the World Art Foundation published an pushed out of the project. excerpt from a conversation between Hanna Zdanowska (City Mayor), Tomasz Kacprzak Th e CLC building: Frank Gehry (Chairman of the City Council) and David extravaganza Lynch, held in May 2011 in Los Angeles. Mr In numerous interviews, Żydowicz repeat- Kacprzak commented on this recording in the edly stated that the festival – which used the following statement: facilities of the local opera – needed a new building exclusively for its own purposes. In It’s only a pity the whole record of the meeting with Mr Lynch is not available, as we talked for 90 a resolution signed in Autumn 2008, the City minutes, maybe 2 hours, while the video is only Council expressed its intention to provide sup- 2 minutes long. (…) Th e point is that City Hall [12] J. Sobczyńska, “Zdanowska i Kacprzak na- cannot invest in assets belonging to private people grani w studio Lyncha”, Dziennik Łódzki, 2012, no. or institutions. Had the World Art Foundation al- 160 (July 24, 2012). located the agreed funds, the city would not have [13] “Mam wątpliwości co do intencji Żydowi- had to do it, and the issue of redemption would have cza. Z Hanną Zdanowską rozmawia Marzena never been raised. We said that Mr Lynch would Bomanowska”, Gazeta Wyborcza Łódź, 2011, no. be able to use the building for his purposes even 148 (June 3, 2011). if it was owned by the city. But he did not accept [14] List Davida Lyncha do Donalda Tuska z 15 the off er.[] maja 2010 (Letter from David Lynch to Donald Tusk, dated May 15, 2010), available at: [accessed: Lynch were the “talk of the town” in 2011, heat- December 20, 2014]. 274 varia port for the Camerimage festival and to involve for 19 years of using the brands, at the level of – the city in the building of the festival centre. respectively ca. 135 mln. and ca. 27 mln.”).[] In return, Żydowicz promised that Camer- World famous architect Frank Gehry was image would remain in Łódź for the next 19 commissioned to sketch the concept for the years. In June 2009, the company, “Camerimage festival centre. Th e building was to be the ar- Łódź Center” (CLC) was established to build chitectural icon of the city. According to sup- and manage the new festival-congress centre, porters of this idea, Łódź would become “a which, above all, was to be the headquarters second Bilbao”; in the same way that the Gug- of the Camerimage festival. Th e company was genheim Museum of Modern Art, which was created by the city of Łodź (represented by Dep- also designed by Gehry, became the architec- uty Mayor Tomaszewski) and two foundations tural icon of the city and still attracts crowds associated with Żydowicz: the Tumult Foun- of tourists. Th e concept for the festival centre dation, which organizes the Camerimage fi lm was presented at the last Camerimage in Łódź festival, and the World Art Foundation. in December 2009. Th e facade would resem- Th e CLC’s initial capital was ca. 11 mln. Th e ble a big movie screen, whereas the inside of city contributed 5 mln. and this was the only the building – 37,000 square meters in total – real money that was brought into the compa- would include a 3,000-seat theatrical-concert ny. Both foundations made “a non-fi nancial auditorium, four screening rooms and an ex- contribution”: the trademark of Camerimage hibition space. (valued in the contract at 4 mln), and the “Da- Despite the endorsement Żydowicz gained vid Lynch brand” (2 mln). Żydowicz tried to from fi lm circles (letters of support sent by convince the public that this was actually a Volker Schlondorff , Oliver Stone, and Vittorio bargain off er for the city, since – on the basis Storaro, not to mention Lynch), in December of the opinion from 2009 from the renowned 2009, the council members blocked the pro- Millward Brown SMG/KRC institute for market ject. Local politicians stressed that Łódź should research and opinions – the promotional assets not have got involved in the investment until of the Camerimage brand during a one-year it was certain that either the Minister of Cul- period were worth over 7 million PLN, whereas ture (through EU subsidies) or private inves- using the image of David Lynch for advertising tors would cover at least half of the expenses, purposes (also on an annual basis) would have which were estimated at 500 million PLN at been worth an estimated 1.5 mln. PLN (research that time. In January 2010, Żydowicz and his included comparisons with the value of using supporters announced a sit-in strike in the con- the images of Bruce Willis, Oliver Stone and ference room of the city council (they occupied Polish fi lm star Marek Kondrat). Żydowicz the venue for a week). Despite this pressure, refuted charges of infl ating the values of the council members did not change their minds. brands, justifying that the amounts provided As a result, Żydowicz transferred the Camer- by Millward Brown for the period of a year, image festival to Bydgoszcz. Th is was only the whereas the contract referred to a period of 19 beginning of the problems for local offi cials – it years, as it was concluded for such a period and turned out that the City had no rights to the related to organizing the festival in Łódź (“Th e Camerimage Łódź Center project, as it con- contributions should not be estimated in full, trolled only a minority of the votes in the CŁC (the shares were to increase during the course [15] “List otwarty Marka Żydowicza z 27 lipca of the investment’s completion, and the city was 2012” (Marek Żydowicz’s letter to the public opinion, dated July 27, 2012), available at: [accessed: December 20, 2014]. out to be so controversial that the public prose- varia 275 cutor’s offi ce in Łódź launched an investigation circles and “big names” in the global art world. into this case. Finally, the third project received support from Although Camerimage was no longer in government politicians and Warsaw authorities Łódź, the company CLC was still operation- (it has already been said that the New Centre al. It ran out of money in October 2010, and of Łódź is primarily connected with the new since then the company has not paid salaries railway station, which is fi nanced by the Polish to its management board (including Żydowicz), national railway company). and the resulting debts have steadily increased. A key factor that explains the inability to However, winding up the company turned out carry out both Camerimage-projects (Lynch’s to be diffi cult, since the city had 49.5 of the studio and Gehry’s congress centre) is that Pol- votes. Żydowicz argued that the festival centre ish leaders were not able to resolve long-stand- might be fi nanced in the future and continued ing, internal divisions within the cultural sector, to call for a rethinking of the city’s decision. which was necessary for assembling a unifi ed Despite a campaign in defense of CLC (in Jan- coalition. Non-profi t institutions as well as uary 2011, another letter of support for the fes- academic circles expressed their frustration tival centre in Łódź was signed by prominent that they had failed to establish sustained con- Polish artists – among them Andrzej Wajda, nections with project leaders both during the Agnieszka Holland, Andrzej Żuławski, and planning process and subsequently. Neither the Jerzy Skolimowski),[] in 2012 the city fi nally city nor the project coordinators spent suffi - decided to terminate the CLC-project. A local cient time evaluating the possible negative ef- newspaper journalist commented on the matter fects of the project, which ignored the fact that in the following way: Łódź possessed substantial cultural resources Th ese dreams cost a lot – over 30 mln. PLN. From (as the Media Cluster project stressed) up its this extremely costly lesson using the taxpayer’s sleeve. One could argue that a unique chance money, it can be learned how not to make decisions to revive the fi lm culture of the city with a lit- in the city council and management board. How not tle help from EU-subsidies might have been to believe in nice illusions that the name of David squandered. Lynch will change Łódź into Hollywood only due to However, the New Centre of Łódź project, the fact that the American director likes the winter is currently taking shape and is due to be fi - light in Łodź. How not to set up an institution that nalized by December 2015. According to local nobody knows what to do with. It is supported by the city, but the private foundation appoints the politicians, EC1–building will serve as the city’s principal. It is not possible to resolve it, as European centre of audiovisual culture; unfortunately, de- Union money needs to be accounted for. Th is is a tails regarding its objectives and structure still lesson that teaches us how not to establish com- remain unclear. panies with private entities without securing the interest of the city.[] Th is work was supported by the Polish Nation- al Science Centre (DEC-2011/01/B/HS2/06123). Conclusion Th e “creative city” discourse served all three projects mentioned in the paper: [1] Media [16] List otwarty – apel w sprawie Camerimage Cluster, [2] Lynch and Gehry, and [3] the mod- Łódź Centre z dnia 26 stycznia 2011 (Letter to the ifi ed concept of the New Centre of Łódź (with- public opinion – Th e call in support of Camerim- age Łódź Centre, dated January 26, 2011), available out CLC). Th e fi rst one was a typical “insiders” at: concept, conceived by local entities without any [accessed: December 20, 2014]. outside support. Th e second was, in contrast, [17] M. Bomanowska, “Smutny koniec marzeń”, put forward by entrepreneurs who did not live Gazeta Wyborcza Łódź, 2011, no. 280 (November in Łódź, with strong support from international 22, 2011).