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DIFFICULT NEIGHBORHOODS. REPRESENTATIVE SPACES AND NEGLECTED AREAS ON THE EXAMPLE OF TOMSK // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2018. Issue 3 (17). P. 76-87

The article concerns bottom-up creative acts oriented toward the transformation of urban space. Objects that are the result of these activities represent something that can be called alternative urban aesthetics. Basing on the results of research conducted in Siberian Tomsk, as well as photographic material collected as part of research projects such as “Invisible City”, the author tries to prove that the described phenomena in the urban iconosphere have a global character. The “invisible” activities of the city’s inhabitants are spontaneous forms of creative activity. These are traces of being and inhabitation left by the very people who create urban space. The residents who are the active actors, not only modifying but also creating the surrounding space. Importantly, these practices have material implications, thus affecting the appearance, organization and dominant aesthetics of cities. The “invisibles” are often assigned to the spheres of kitsch and bad taste because they quite strongly break the established and valid canons. However, paradoxically, alternative aesthetics have their own internal canon, too. As its basic principles, we can identify re / upcycling, independent construction of objects, avoiding abstractness, and referring to animal and plant shapes not necessarily known from the surroundings, as well as an unusual community of forms that cannot be denied in its global character. From 2015 the author has participated in a research project called “Visual organizations of urban space: behaviors, interpretations, historical and cultural perspectives. Comparative analysis of the iconosphere and its relations to the ways of life of Russian Tomsk and Polish Wroclaw inhabitants”. Tomsk turned out to be extremely abundant in “invisibility”. In almost every courtyard, whether adjacent to modernist blocks of the Soviet period (the so-called big slab, that is large panel system-building), or to unique, wooden single- and multi-family houses, the author has found examples of spontaneous creative activity by residents. Tomsk’s residents transform unnecessary objects or materials into installations whose primary function is to “tame” and “embellish” the nearest – often dehumanized – space, as well as work to solve everyday problems and shortages. Bricoleur-like minds and hands are then transforming rubbish and fragmented objects into emancipating entities. Invisible objects introduce familiarity and mark the presence of the creators / residents who, by adopting an active attitude, thus decide about the image of those city fragments. These creative acts “give” their power back to them and the objects produced in this way are characterized by a very special position in the entire universe of objects.

Keywords: urban aesthetics, city, globality, self-agency, “invisible” city, representative, neglected, urban space, urban studies

THREE MONTHS IN POLAND. RESISTANCE PERFORMANCES ON WROCLAW’S STREETS // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2019. Issue 1 (19). P. 57-68

The article concerns resistance performances, which can be considered as one of the most important elements of modern democracies. Citizens are looking for new forms of influence on the representatives of the authorities and other decision-makers. Forms such as pickets, protests, demonstrations, and marches over the years have become the basic tools used by members of modern democratic societies. They reflect not only social problems and tensions resulting from systemic transformation (in terms of politics, law, and economics), but also strivings, aspirations, attitudes, cultural patterns of behavior and lifestyle changes. Of course, they take on various, often extensive forms, and their participants use a variety of performative strategies. In the colors used, in the materials used, in the sounds, shouts, slogans written on banners, in graphic signs, symbols the axiological order is present. After William J. T. Mitchell and Judith Butler, it can be stated that the very presence of a “physical” body of protesters in public space is a concrete form of resistance. The evoked performances, of course, are not limited only to being in a specific place and time. They have adopted and are still adopting very diverse forms, which in turn are closely related to the ideological layer. It is about the axiological order made present in the slogans, symbols, actions, street performances. In this article, the author attempts to conduct a cultural studies analysis of three events that took place in Wrocław between November 2018 and January 2019: a march on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of regaining independence by Poland, a demonstration against the mass shooting of boars and the silent march after the assassination of the president of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz. Each of these forms is characterized by different aesthetics, and also shows the diversity of ways of life, thinking of Polish citizens, and, consequently, the axes of disputes and conflicts dividing them.

Keywords: resistance, performance, manifestation, demonstration, march, Poland, city, public space, urban space, axiology

WHEN UNIVERSITY GOES INTO THE CITY. RESEARCH ON THE NEEDS OF THE ROMANI LIVING IN WROCŁAW // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2020. Issue 3 (25). P. 87-98

In 2018, the House of Peace Foundation, commissioned by the Municipality of Wrocław, invited employees of the University of Wrocław, PhD students, experts, specialists in the field of cultural and sociological studies of the city, education, and cultural animation to carry out research on cultural and educational needs of the Romani people who had been living in Wrocław since the 1990s. The Romani (also known as the Roma) are economic migrants who do not know Polish and usually have no literacy skills. Moreover, they often show no understanding of the rules that govern modern capitalist society. In Romania and other European countries, policy towards the Romani minority encountered various problems. Resettlements combined with attempts to transform traditional culture neutralize the role of language or impose lifestyle changes on the Romani did not bring the expected results. Paradoxically, actions aimed at increasing the productivity of the Roma and engaging them in the development of the country or community resulted in the intensification of such negative phenomena as social marginalization, unemployment, and poverty. The research was triggered by the liquidation of the Romani encampment in Wrocław. Soon the case became political. The decision was justified on the grounds that the city needed to protect its positive image of a modern metropolis which offers no room for “wild” encampments and spatial conflicts among neighbors. At the same time, we need to remember that the city creates opportunities for establishing a dialogue that does not have to necessarily refer to the common good of the residents. It also leaves room for forming an opposition against national, ethnic, racial, or religious concepts. The city may thus be perceived as a laboratory and school of democracy. Currently, the Romani of Wrocław live in a dozen locations throughout the city and are treated as individual families. Such a situation means a significant change in the structure, hierarchy, and social awareness of the community. The article is focused on the research conducted by the university representatives. One of the researchers’ tasks in the project was to create recommendations regarding social policy, social work, cultural animation, and education in the area of identity and integration of the Romanian Roma community in Wrocław. This means that the researchers commissioned by the Municipality of Wrocław were expected to propose solutions that could be implemented to improve the situation of the Romani community.

Keywords: Romani, Roma, city, education, ethnic minority, emancipation, democracy

WHO ARE ROMA IN THE CITY? ABOUT LANGUAGE, IDENTITY, EXCLUSIONS, AND AXIOLOGICAL STEREOTYPES // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2022. Issue 1 (31). P. 90-102

Over several centuries, powerfully impactful stereotypes and cultural cliches have clustered around Roma and become anchored not only in colloquial language or popular culture, but also in the discourse of politicians, officers, and local and nationwide administration workers, as well as surfacing in some research publications. For this reason, it is crucial to scrutinize multiple myths about the homogeneity of this group, its nomadic character, and its reluctance to integrate, along with the ascription to its members of some allegedly intrinsic traits which are commonly perceived as negative (e.g., laziness, deceitfulness, propensity for crime, and/or inclination to beggary). These stereotyped perceptions are discussed in my article, where I build on critical Romani studies to propose an alternative framework in which to approach the historical genesis ascribed to Roma. At the same time, I depict the distinctive cultural situation of this group, which is bound up with the specificity of the Romani language and the traditional unwritten moral code, called Romanipen. I also offer a brief account of the persecution-marked history of various Roma groups. In doing this, I draw on the notion of Romaphobia. In this article, I look at language, in this case the Romani language, as a phenomenon that contributes to the exclusion of a cultural group that uses it on a daily basis. It is a linguistic-cultural and political history of alienation, subordination and marginalization.

Keywords: Roma, city, language, exclusion, Romaphobia, minority, stereotypes, values