ABOUT CULTURE - 05.2010

Alter Art Invites to Gdynia and Krakow
Alter Art is an organizer of music festivals in Poland. The most important ones are Heineken Open'er Festival and Coke Live Music Festival.
Heineken Open'er Festival (1st-4th July) is a musical event which has become an inherent element of the European calendar of the most important summer festivals. At the beginning of 2010, during the ceremony of granting European Festival Awards in Groningen, Heineken Open'er Festival received the award for the Best Major Festival, winning with such recognized and esteemed giants as Glastonbury, Rock Werchter and Roskilde.
The first edition of the festival took place in Warsaw in 2002. In 2003, it moved to Gdynia and since 2006 has been organized in the Babie Doły (Kosakowo) airport. Last year, on the area of 75 hectares, it gathered over 70,000 festival fans. Who is to perform at this year’s Open’er Festival? The list is fairly long: Pearl Jam, Kasabian, Tinariwen and Mando Diao, Ben Harper – a very charismatic, fantastic musician and singer, and a two-time Grammy Award winner, Empire of the Sun, Matisyahu – a unique opportunity to see on stage orthodox Jews from New York singing about their religious devotion, Massive Attack – one of the most important electronic music bands, Pavement – a cult American group adored by all alternative rock lovers, the British band Hot Chip – one of those bands that fill up large halls and arenas, and perform on major festival stages. Gorillaz Sound System, Yeasayer – the revelation of the latest months, who have recently launched their second album entitled „Odd Blood”, Skunk Anansie – a British group with its charismatic leader – Skin, a vocalist with a fantastic voice, Nas & Damian Marley – a duet of one of the world’s most popular rappers and the son of Bob Marley, Tricky – an icon of electronic music, and many others.
Last year, Coke Live Music Festival in Krakow lured over 30,000 people, and 34 world class artists performed on stage. This year, the festival is scheduled for 20th-21st August. The main star of the festival will be Muse – one of the most popular rock bands in the world. They have won eight NME Awards, five Q Awards and MTV Music Awards, two BRIT Awards, and probably they will get many more in the future. Among other performers, you will see The Chemical Brothers, 30 Seconds To Mars and N.E.R.D.

She Has Been Singing for 50 Years Already
Irena Santor, one of the most popular Polish singers, has celebrated the 50th anniversary of her artistic work. Some people call her the first lady of the Polish song as she has over a thousand songs to her credit. Many of these songs were sung by the whole country. She was born on the 7th of December 1934.  In 1951, she joined the „Mazowsze” Song and Dance Ensemble, where she spent eight years giving concerts all around the world. In 1959, she left „Mazowsze”. Two years later, she represented Poland at the Sopot Festival, where she won the first prize for the Embarras waltz. Although she is one of the best recognized Polish singers, she says that fame is not a problem to her.

Amor Polonus, or the Love of Poles
The theme of the exhibition in the Palace in Wilanów is the history of love in Poland in various periods. The authors of the exhibition focus on three aspects of love: relations between a man and a woman, family emotions and love for the homeland. At the exhibition organized in the Palace Orangery, you can see excellent works of art, e.g. paintings by Jan Matejko and Jacek Malczewski, as well as the sculpture by Antonio Canova, which needs special attention. Amor Polonus is much more than good art presented in effective scenery. The rich program that accompanies the exhibition adds a live narrative to aesthetic experiences. The viewers can listen to stories about famous historic figures, about their loves and romances, as well as discover some secrets and customs of Poland from the past. Amor Polonus also covers festivals and theater performances set in the place where the exhibition is organized, games and competitions for the public, live paintings and multimedia. The exhibition will be open until the 15th of August 2010. For details visit: www.wilanow-palac.art.pl

Ars Homo Erotica
The exhibition related to homosexual motifs in art, which is planned to be organized in the National Museum in Warsaw in summer this year, arouses many people’s interest. It seems that the interest over the exhibition has nothing to do with art, it is related to politics and ideology only, although homosexuality is one of the oldest topics of art and culture, regularly exhibited abroad since 1970s. Critics are guided by archaic prejudices about homosexuality and freedom of artistic expression rather than by knowledge. In contemporary Polish art and on exhibitions, homosexuality appears quite frequently, so it might seem that this kind of art should not stir up controversy. The exhibition is to be composed of two basic elements: old artworks from the collection of the National Museum and contemporary art from Central-Eastern Europe. The exhibition is connected with the international event of Gay Pride Week that is supposed to take place in Warsaw this summer.

Leonardo da Vinci in Warsaw?
After journeys abroad, Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine – the most precious painting in the Polish collection, is to live – as befits a lady – in a castle. It will not be Wawel in Krakow, though, as Lady is moving to Warsaw. After the exhibition entitled „From Botticelli to Titian” in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, the famous portrait will be displayed in the Royal Castle in Warsaw, as there is redecoration in the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow where it was previously exhibited. Lady with the Ermine was painted about 1483-1490 in Milan. The identity of the model was unknown for a long time. Now, we know that it is Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of duke Ludovico Sforza. The animal in the painting is called an ermine and there is a hidden meaning to it. Its Greek name ‘galée’ is included in the name Gallerani, so it refers to the model’s name. It also symbolizes the duke, whom his contemporaries called „Ermellino” as he was the Knight of the prestigious Order of the Ermine and used the image of the animal as his personal emblem.