Tourism / Turyzm Volume 27 Issue 2 Article 9 December 2017 Murals as a tourist attraction in a post-industrial city – a case study of Łódź (Poland) Iwona Jażdżewska University of Łódź, Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Department of Geoinformation Follow this and additional works at: https://digijournals.uni.lodz.pl/turyzm Recommended Citation Jażdżewska, Iwona (2017) "Murals as a tourist attraction in a post-industrial city – a case study of Łódź (Poland)," Tourism / Turyzm: Vol. 27 : Iss. 2 , Article 9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/tour-2017-0012 Available at: https://digijournals.uni.lodz.pl/turyzm/vol27/iss2/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Social Sciences Journals at University of Lodz Research Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Tourism / Turyzm by an authorized editor of University of Lodz Research Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 10.1515/tour-2017-0012 e-ISSN 2080-6922 ISSN 0867-5856 Tourism 2017, 27/2 Iwona Jażdżewska University of Łódź Faculty of Geographical Sciences Department of Geoinformation [email protected] MURALS AS A TOURIST ATTRACTION IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY: A CASE STUDY OF ŁÓDŹ (POLAND) Abstract: The article presents the development of Łódź murals in the 21st c. and the opinions of the participants of tours organized in 2014 by the Urban Forms Gallery. Their objectives include saturating the urban fabric with street art and promoting this form of artistic expression. Having analysed memories registered and shared on YouTube, information published by local, national and foreign media, opinions posted by tourists and street-art lovers in online blogs and galleries, as well as the informa- tion about some artists on their websites, the author studied the opinions of tour participants as well and established the significance of Łódź murals. The analysis enabled her to look for the answer to the question whether murals can be a tourist attraction in a post-industrial city like Łódź. Keywords: murals, ‘netnography’, post-industrial city, Urban Forms Gallery, Łódź, Poland. 1. INTRODUCTION The authorities of post-industrial urban centres search et al. 2012). Murals have become local economic for products which might encourage tourists to visit development factors all over the world, both in small their cities and in this way indirectly contribute to towns and large cities. In Warden (Toronto), Church- their economic development. Their post-industrial and bridge, Duck Lake and Moose Jaw, Humbolt also in housing architecture is sometimes in a poor or very Canada, they initially served the purpose of embellish- poor condition. Historical monuments representing ing those places, and later became tourist attractions the post-industrial heritage are not impressive enough (KOSTER & RANDALL 2005, KOSTER 2008, WIGHT 2006). to attract tourists, and there are no other attractions. In large cities, such as Philadelphia, Chicago and That is why the authorities look for alternative ideas to Lyon, the situation was the same. Murals often convey change the city’s image. One of them may be street art, a political message (ARREOLA 1984): in Bethlehem, especially large-format murals placed on walls, which, a graffito was placed on a wall dividing this Palest- apart from being aesthetic assets, may contribute to its inian city from Jerusalem to remind people about economic development (KOSTER & RANDALL 2005). the ongoing conflict in this region (LARKIN 2014), Artistic spaces, especially street art, may play while the paintings in Salazar’s Portugal served the different roles in public space (GRODACH 2009). Street purposes of the Fascist state propaganda (SAPEGA art, which was initially illegal and seen as vandalism, 2002), and those in Iran, the propaganda of the Islamic has turned into a legitimate form of presenting artistic Revolution (GRUBER 2008). contents, and has tourism potential. This was what Murals have become the visiting cards of many happened in Philadelphia where the authorities first cities and an important part of their tourist offer. In the removed illegal graffiti, next launched a wall painting 1980s, they were offered to the local Philadelphia program (DICKINSON 2012), and finally promoted the community (ARREOLA 1984). Currently, the ‘Philadel- city as a city of murals. Similar steps were taken by the phia Mural Arts Program’ project, boasts over 3600 authorities in Melbourn (YOUNG 2010). In Roxbury works. Set in the urban space they make one of the and Dorchester (districts of Boston), the authorities largest galleries of this kind; Philadelphia has become promote painting murals for local communities (SIEBER recognizable as a ‘City of Murals’. Tourist offices offer Bereitgestellt von Uniwersytet Lodzki | Heruntergeladen 01.10.19 11:40 UTC 46 Tourism 2017, 27/2 a wide range of tours and the participants may choose before the system transformation in Poland (1989), the their means of transport: buses (‘TrolleyTours’), predominant activity had been the textile and clothing bikes (‘Bike Tours’), on foot (‘Mural Mile Walking industry. For several decades after World War II, the Tour’), or by special train (‘Love Letter Train Tour’). city remained underinvested, and the 19 th -c. secession- There are also many themed tours prepared for style buildings in the city centre, mostly settled by organized groups (e.g. sport, world religions, famous manual workers, were not properly maintained. In Philadel-phia characters). Tour participants receive order to widen some streets (e.g. Zachodnia and certificates of attendance, and they can buy some Narutowicza), the beautiful facades were demolished, items, e.g. mural art caps (https://www.muralarts.org leaving degraded outbuildings. During the socialist /tourism/). period, the authorities invested in housing estates, In Europe, a rich tourist offer based on murals is which were mostly built far from the city centre. This available in Lyon, where we can find many in a large- situation lasted until 1989. format, e.g. at the housing estate designed by Tony After 1990, local authorities started to revitalize Garnier. They can be admired during walking tours individual residential buildings in the city centre, organized by the Office du Tourisme et des Congrès du carried out some new, very interesting projects, such Grand Lyon. Apart from taking part in tours, the tourist as Manufaktura , which in 2007 won the prestigious ULI may use an iPhone application and choose murals on Award for Excellence, granted by the Urban Land a map, in various districts of Lyon, around the city, Institute. It was a project in which APSYS – a French generally in France or in other parts of the world, company – transformed a 19 th -c., 27-hectare factory take advantage of geolocation, as well as find murals complex, the former property of Izrael Poznanski, into by entering key words or suitable internet addresses a commercial shopping, entertainment, cultural and (www.en.lyon-france.com/). hotel centre, which became the visiting card of the city. In Poland, street art is becoming increasingly visible. Another project, continuing since 2008, is the trans- It is possible to indicate many cities where murals are formation of old power plant buildings (1906) and a tourist attraction, e.g. in Zaspa – a district of Gdańsk, Łódź Fabryczna Railway Station (90 ha) into a festival- or Wilda, Jeżyce, Garbary and Śródka districts of congress centre, including exhibition rooms, a planeta- Poznań (ŚWIEŚCIAK et al. 2015). rium and a film studio. The authorities are doing their Łódź murals have been analysed by J. MOKRAS - best to change the image of Łódź from that of a poor, GRABOWSKA (2014) and M. ŚWIEŚCIAK et al. (2015). dirty, industrial city into one of a creative urban The main aim of this article however is to present the centre, full of ideas, carrying references to the Łódź development of Łódź murals in the 21 st c., at a greater Film School 2, and the works by Łódź artists, Katarzyna length than was done by those authors, as well as to Kobro and Władysław Strzemiński, who were build- present their power of attraction as regards tourists ing the avant-garde face of the city in the 1930s. from all over the world along with the opinions of According to J. MOKRAS -GRABOWSKA (2010), the post- people participating in tours organized in 2014 by the industrial space of the city encompasses modern art, Urban Forms Gallery. A separate aim is to look for an creative industries and ‘off’-cultural activity. answer to the question whether murals can be a tourist Despite the authorities’ efforts, it is impossible to attraction for Łódź. deal with all the negligence of the war and the socialist period within such a short time ( ca 25 years after the system transformation). In the city centre, close to 2. THE STUDY AREA Piotrkowska Street (less than 200 m), there are many dilapidated buildings defacing the city. The further from the main street, the more such buildings Łódź is the third most populated Polish city, situated you find. They are a surprising, sometimes shock- about 120 km south-west of Warsaw. Its origins differ ing view for first-time visitors, but they are accepted, from the history of other large, mostly medieval cities for in-stance, by the organizers of Meeting the Styles in Poland (e.g. Krakow, Poznań or Wrocław). Łódź (Graffiti-Hip-Hop-Event), who organized an event in developed in the 19 th c., when the authorities of the Łódź in 2005 and wrote (http:/ www. meetingofsty Kingdom of Poland decided to locate the textile les.com...): industry there. From that moment, it was called ‘the promised land’. It was masterfully described by This is a wicked city with a very active scene. If you go through it, you find a lot of greyish walls, nice old the Nobel Prize laureate, Władysław Reymont, in the architecture, in a bad way – very demolished – and a lot, eponymous novel, later made into a film by Andrzej lot of bombings, tags and throw-ups ’.