IN TORUŃ, THE SOLAR SYSTEM!

SKYWAY ʻ10 INTERNATIONAL LIGHT FESTIVAL

CURATORʼS REPORT
By Mário Caeiro

Itʼs in the idea of the Solar System as a giant performance of gravity and balance, as if
the Cosmos were dancing to our amazement, where astronomers and 'regular people'
come together as human beings, amazed by a mystical "something".

Janek Swierkowski, Astronomer

Between the 26th and the 28th of August 2010, Toruń 2016 once again delivered to
Toruń a set of illuminating, engaged and engaging art installations and interventions,
this time on the theme of the Solar System. The programme of SKYWAY ʻ10
transformed the Old Town into a dynamic circuit of visual and acoustic moments, with
more than 60 000 visitors being invited to ʻorbitʼ the different Inner and Outer Planets,
the Moon, as well as Planetoids, Meteors, Comets. Outside the city centre, two
neighboring districts – Bydgoskie Prezedmiescie and Rubinkowo – hosted for the first
time events of the Festival.

SKYWAY ʼ10 Magical sites for extraordinary art

As in the first yearʼs edition (2009), with SKYWAY ʼ10 Toruń was once again transformed in a
magical way. The works were installed in the darkened city as if for the brief period of the
Festival, the Celestial Bodies, while still captured in their orbital movement (the virtual lines of
imaginary orbits), somehow ʻlandedʼ on the cityʼs urban space (assuming the form of
environments designed by the artists).
The concept was to offer the visitors a new and multilayered totality of one of Europeʼs most
beautiful towns, the city where once Copernicus broke the news to us that the Sun is the
centre of a whole gravitational dance. Provocatively, Wieslaw Smuzny, a reference in Toruńʼs
and Polandʼs art scene, proposed a highly open and participatory action, aiming to connect
Toruńians and the visitors of the Festival in a delightful experience of togetherness. His idea
was to have the Sun being pushed along the mains streets of the city centre… and so it
happened, possibly to Copernicus condescent gaze… If Smuznyʼs Sun was essentially a
statement of artistic independence and interactive creativity, conscious of the difficulty of
addressing a theme such as the Sun without creating too much expectations, the different
installations were where the different complex identities of the Planets became truly an
attractive circuit of contemplative nature. Some more abstract or conceptual, others trying ro
deal with mainstream imagination, all encompassed the cityscape to propose aesthetic
challenge.

The Inner planets

Dominik Lejman is one of the most important contemporary Polish artists. Using modern
video techniques, he created a new homogeneous genre. His projections generate a peculiarly
intense atmosphere where the presence-value of architecture – both indoors and outdoors – is
called to intervene in the complexity of cinematic visuals. After several visits to Toruń, Lejman
became interested in the architecture of the Planetarium and the Prison, where he did his
rendition of Mercury. In his own words: The idea which links two buildings by the one
projection comes out of a very special location of two buildings in Toruń – the prison and the
planetarium. Paradoxically enough, both round buildings were designed for observation – the
stars and the prisoner, so we could say they mirror each other as panoptical machines. […]
The metaphor of watching and being watched at the same time was represented by two
projections linking up the two building by images of rotating crowds taken from surveillence
cameras – the one on the planetarium as ornament walking in circles as if in the prisonʼs
pathwalk, repeating the prisonʼs windows; the one on the prison showing free floating crowd in
two circles surrounding the building. Lejmanʼs piece was an extraordinarily delicate video
projection, confirming the artistʼs rare sensitivity concerning the relation between light art and
urban environment. It was particularly effective at dusk, when the discrete control of the
everyday yellow lights of the façades allowed phantasmagoric crowds of (negative) light to
inhabit not just the surfaces of the buidings but a whole urban context.
Nearby Mercury, Agata Dworzak-Subocz, an artist living in Toruń, was invited to develop a
new series of her ʻchamber-imagesʼ and project them onto the beautifully luminous façade of
the Wilam Horzyca Theatre. The contrast with Lejmanʼs work couldnʼt be stronger. Her Venus
became a ʻpink worldʼ where everyday objects were the protagonists of basic movements over
delicate and soft patterns, resisting by means of the endless energy of innocence and
childhood the violence of Contemporary Society. This is a way to put it; one could easily say
that this work is, on the other hand, as close as possible from an unbearable kitsch; for the
curator, this was an excellent opportunity, as was the artists intention, to break with the ruling
aesthetics of Gothic taste, in the name of humour, kindness and lightness.

Earth, by Stefan Kornacki (with collaboration of Dominik Smuzny and clarinetist Jerzy
Mazzoll) can hardly be considered as ʻjustʼ an installation. In the first edition of SKYWAY
Kornacki already rendered his sensitive approach to memory in public space, exploring a
cosmic metaphor (KOSMOS, both metaphorical inscription and a neon lowered down from the
roofs of a major Toruń hotel imploded in the meantime). For SKYWAY ʼ11, Kornacki and team
took to the gigantic logo of the famous – but soon to disappear – UNIWERSAM supermarkets.
As with KOSMOS, last year, the rescue of UNIWERSAM expands a sense of local urban myth
to a philosophical interrogation. And in fact, before the monumental lettering was installed right
in the middle of Szeroka Street, the main commercial street, today filled with international
shops, the whole operation of bringing down the logo was realized in a sort of wagnerian total
spectacle. Under the sound of firemen sirens (some not exactly the ones the artists provided,
since the neighbours called for the Firemen!), and of an exceptionally talented musician –
Mazoll –, UNIWERSAMʼs performatic event brought a moment of commotion and a couple of
tears to the eyes of the public.
Continuing this strategy of understanding installation also as the final output of a process (that
shall become visible), FAVELA CHIC, with Susana Guardado and Miguel Bonneville, were
responsible to create their version of Mars. Susana Guardado lives and works between
Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro. Also a DJ, she finds in the sensory experience of music the ability
to build collective narratives without words. Along with dancer/performer Miguel Bonneville,
she had defied FAVELA CHIC from Brasil and France in order to collectively create a musical
and environmental trip at the Kitchen of the Contemporary Art Centre. FAVELA CHIC present
themselves as: A collective. A restaurant. A menagerie. A circus. A bordello. A concept. An art
space. A club. A sound. A party. A bar. And none of the above… They take the favelas (Rioʼs
deprived shanty towns) as inspiration, fusing it with the glamorous decadence of Parisian chic.
And so, for the first evening, dancing in Toruń was at the same time a trippy exercise of
imagination, at least for those who managed to understand the plain humour of painting all
sorts of garbage in red, assembling it in a brazillian ʻfavela styleʼ and the ʻdecorateʼ it with
ʻalien treesʼ (of course absolutely normal plants transfigured by imagination). In the evenings
following the party, the leftovers reminded people of someone elseʼs evening, not without a
taste of melancholy.

Walking by the Moon

British Simeon Nelson is known for his work in the interstices of Science and Art. For Toruńʼs
Collegium Maximum, the artist developed an impressive dynamic light projection inspired by
the recent discovery of water and Ice under the surface of the Moon. The piece came out of
the artist's fascination with the fundamental processes of nature and matter and is based on a
series of his drawings which attempt to depict states of matter at very small scales.

The projection onto the facade of the Collegium Maximum was a depiction of the
transformation of matter from solid, to liquid and gas. The ice in some moon craters is only 25
Kelvin, when the sun hits the temperature rises dramatically transforming the ice to liquid and
vapourous states. The artist sees here an analogy to states of mind and to human
development.
The work was developed in close collaboration with Rob Godmann and Nick Rothwell. Rob
Godman is a composer, sound designer and programmer from the United Kingdom. As well
as creating generative, responsive and interactive installation audio works he regularly
performs live, focusing on a transparent relationship between technology, audience and
performer. Nick Rothwell is a London-based composer, performer, media artist and
programmer. He has produced sound scores for several choreographers and interactive media
systems for the Vienna Volksoper, Ballett Frankfurt, TECHNE (Istanbul), Kinetica and Wayne
McGregor|Random Dance at Sadler's Wells. He is currently touring with a laser-controlled
responsive soundscape for Eddie Ladd. Robert Godman and Nick Rothwell composed and
coded the soundtrack and animation sequence from the same code so that there was a perfect
mapping of sound and vision. The projection happened in real time, being non-linear and self-
generating: each time it was run it had different outcomes determined by the initial code
parameters.

The Outer planets

If the Moon remained possibly the most abstract and science-related work in the Festival,
Dorota Kraftʼs Jupiter was enthousiastically adopted by the children – and of course many
adults were happy to follow their spontaneity. Kraft is still an Art student in Toruń. Her digital
animation video installation «LEDʼs dance!» for Jupiter is strikingly simple, but, projected from
a 90º angle onto the Fosa, became a moment of interactive urban poetry, an unpretentious
celebration of visual and musical dynamics where the role of the screen was taken by the
street pavement. The inspiration for this work came from the pixel graphics of the first video
games and LED screens. This association was intensified by characteristic 8-bit melodies
accompanying the video. A celebrational breakthorugh.
In 2009, SKYWAYʼs most popular piece was SKY MACHINE, by Portuguese artists Nuno
Maya & Carole Purnelle. Expectations were high, an the artists decided to ʻstretch the
envelopeʼ with an equally poetic but much more abstract work, staged again in a core-site of
the city: the Teutonic Knights Castle ruins. The artists proposed a visionary landscape, where
the architectural structure of the ruins echoed the ring system of Saturn; and where facts we
know such as the low density of the atmosphere of the planet were echoed in an environment
of melancholic and at the same time intense poetic drive. In Astrology, Saturn is the Lord of
Time. A regulating entity, he sets limits and leads us to consolidate our aspirations to
perseverance. It is by means of a saturnine effort that we can surpass the linearity of our lives
and attain the realization of our aspirations. At the ruins this general idea was ʻtranslatedʼ into
an interactive device where the weight of the spectators (those who climbed to the interaction
area) led to changes in the coloured rings on the wall. The feeling was subtle but intense, as if
one was collectively producing a large scale ʻpaintingʼ, listening to the voices of “The Sounds
of Earth” – a recording sent in Voyager, containing sounds and images selected to portray the
diversity of life and culture on Earth.
Toruń-based installation-painter Joachim Slugocki was responsible for doing Uranus.
Normally, ʻMyloʼ uses original black-light lit geometrical surpositions of monochromatic
canvases for his indoor installations. But at the Gardens of the Baj Pomorski Theatre an outdor
intervention was needed. Brilliantly, the artist managed to relate his psychadelic aesthetics
with an expressive tree surrounded by ivy, a small scale installation that became a favorite.
This was once again a surprisingly communicative piece, for people, with the connivance of
the artist, ended up playing with the tiny fluorescent dots that the UV lights turned into particles
of moving light.

Miguel Soares occupied four rooms at the ground floor of a large building at the Bydgoskie
Prezedmiescie area, the former Police Headquarters. Miguel Soares was chosen to do
Neptune, the ʻgas giantʼ, for his ongoing work in the construction of virtual landscapes, many
times related to the iconography of Space. His is a simultaneously scary and fascinating vision
of alternate digital realities, where art meets scientific discourse to create, in a sequence of
rooms/worlds, a disturbing video-game-like fantasy.

In other two rooms, also Portuguese António Contador recovered with ʻManoeuvres in the
Darkʼ a forgotten visual metaphor of the Eighties – the cover of the successful synth-pop single
ʻEnola Gayʼ by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – and brought his strange form of beautiful-
sublime to the derelict rooms of what was formerly a Gestapo hell. This at least how one could
read an impressive hand-painted ceiling of more than 6x6m, depicting the cloudy sky… or
ʻJour de fête en Pologne, flute d'Israel, chants et danses russes, les grandes marches
américaines, chants et musiques des paras, 24 fameuses marches allemandesʼ:
 six record
sleeves («Jour de fête en Pologne», «Flute d'Israel», «Chants et danses russes», «Les
grandes marches américaines», «Chants et musiques des paras», «24 fameuses marches
allemandes») 33 rpm, painted in black, silently displayed…

The actions

As in the first edition of SKYWAY, two main types of artistic interventions complemented
themselves: installations and actions. Some of the latter were deliberately undertaken either by
non-professional artists or people who wanted to participate in the global artistic vision for the
city, without any specific artistic skill.
The impact of those actions was though very beautiful and effective in terms of urban image,
which is the case of the intervention coordinated by the Society for Bydgoskie
Przedmieście. About this organization: Some years ago now, a group of students moved into
the Bydgoskie Przedmieście area, once a Mecca for Polish artists. Inspired by stories of an old
neighbour, they established the Society for Bydgoskie Przedmieście. Soon they were flooded
by letters from citizens and got involved in social campaigns saving the only public library in
the area and organizing workshops for children from the orphanage. The district started to
change… SBP, understanding SKYWAY as a way to foster the connection between BP and
the centre, thus developed for the festival a series of façade interventions, SKYWAYʼS
Planetoids. The very simple aplication of coloured plastic in the Windows, with the lights on
form inside, became on of SKYWAYʼS most moving moments, for instance in the façade of the
Mayorʼs offices.

Another local cultural association, the mysteriously active INSTYTUT B61, promoted special
trips. Through their more and more legendary para-fictive pseudo-scientific sessions, held in
trains, they create ʻsituationsʼ – such as the kynetic piece at the entrance of the former police
station building – a Comet. Which was basically an appetizer for the next larger scale actions,
always with Janek Świerkowski in charge. The author of this small but amazingly effective
piece was Kasia Maleijka.
We are the children of stars. Thatʼs how Tomasz Cebo and Lukasz Milewski introduced us to
Ceres at the patio of the old Primary School of the City. Ceres is considered to be a dwarf
planet, the greatest of all at the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Cebo and
partner Mylo produced an impressive set where the amazing geometry of the Schoolʼs
architecture was totally inhabited not only by a dynamic sculptural sound but also the
suggestion of a repetitive visual moment projected from inside – the almost abstract images of
a child in a swing.

Finally, Toruń-born and currently living in Spain graffiti artist Don Chylo did his – elegantly
moving – interpretation of Pluto in a façade of a building in Rubinkowo, while the ʻAstroshowʼ,
a street theatre by Radek Smuzny, inspired by medieval mystery plays, defied visitors to the
experience of performance; and the crowd gathered to see the departure of ʻNight Bycicle
Critical Massʼ, a bycicle parade organized by Bycicle Toruń Association, or celebrate at the
Fireshow, by Lambelico del Mondo.

ʻDelighted by the Light – the Talks, and ʼA Walk in the Starsʼ – the Tours

During the day, two ʻArt&Astronomyʼ Talks were where artists and scholars did meet to
informally discuss ideas and visions. The first (Polish language) debate took the form of ten
minute speeches, followed by open discussion. It was attended by Wieslawa Limont, artist and
educator; art historian Malgorzata Jankowska; Maciej Mikolajewski, astronomer; Wieslaw
Smużny and Tomasz Cebo, artists. Conversation was moderated by astronomer and founder
of the Institute B61, Janek Świerkowski. Invited guests told what for them is light, both from a
scientific standpoint and everyday life. Most impressive was the eccentric speech of Maciej
Mikołajewski, who talked about the infinity of the universe and asked (for Stanislaw Lem) if
infrared images of people should be considered porn… An interesting issue was raised by
Tomasz Cebo, noting the relationship of light and the sense of security. The second part of the
debate (English) was conducted in the form of talks, moderated by SKYWAY curator Mário
Caeiro. Among the guests, once again Malgorzata Jankowska; Andrzej Kus, astronomer;
Maciej Wojtkowski, physicist; astronomer Janek Świerkowski; Dominik Lejman and Stefan
Kornacki, artists. Andrew Kus managed to draw the attention of all gathered at a very
interesting property of light – it is information, a form of communication of matter. Dominik
Lejman took an interesting turn on the artist's right to lie and asked if scientists can lie as long
as they are convincing. Maciej Wojtkowski responded with a definit ʻnoʼ and underlined that
even he himself does not know what is light. The discussion should be considered a major
success primarily due to the high professional level of the argumentation.
Nothing could be more ephemeral than the observatory in Piwnice at night. During the
International Festival of Lights Skyway, people of Toruń had the opportunity to visit this
wonderful place through tours, organized in cooperation with UMK. During the two-hour
session, participants under the supervision of doctoral students aknowledged the history, the
main interests and the operation procedures of Toruń astronomers. Also away from the hustle
and bustle, in the constellation Aquarius, "shooting stars" have been spotted – meteors
belonging to the active 11 to 31 August swarm Northern Iota Aquarids… The Tours attracted
one again great interest, as best evidenced by the fact that tickets for all six sessions were
given out almost immediately.

Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn… in Myth and Science, these are ʻother worldsʼ continually being
explored, from the dawn of Humanity to our latest technological challenges. For instance, New
Horizons, the terrestrial satellite sent in 2006 to explore the frontier of our Solar System is now
halfway between Earth and Pluto, scheduled arrive at the Kuiper Belt in July 2015… Here on
Earth, SKYWAY ʻ10 reminded us of the wonders of a gravity dance which is amazing us since
Man started to divine the sky…

From Astronomy to Psychology, from Astrology to Space Conquest, itʼs about the idea of the
nearness of amazement, an enchanted familiarity with celestial bodies which are light years
away; a cosmic harmony and the acknowledgement of the critical balances occurring in the
universe. It is all still about Copernicusʼs legacy, about the essence of the cultural paradigm
shift he was so determinant to set in motion. Accordingly, the Event evolved around the idea of
the Solar System as a giant performance of gravity and balance, as if the Cosmos were
dancing to our amazement. With SKYWAY, pedagogy and fun worked together for a
memorable urban – and cosmic – happening. Mário Caeiro, curator of SKYWAY

Lisbon/Toruń, September 2010