Od-Nowa Huta: roundtable “From Utopia to reality”

Od-Nowa Huta updates the views on Nowa Huta, taking into account its past and the evolution it has undergone so far, and the one still to come. It presents Nowa Huta in the context of a broader experience of modernity, both initiated by authoritarian regimes, but also in the context of post-industrial evolution, which has become a widely shared experience of many European cities over the past 30 years, for which Nowa Huta functions as a mirror. Od-Nowa Huta analyzes European paths by evoking the Krakow district against the backdrop of pre-war Rome or post-industrial Bilbao. Re-Nowa Huta follows the scenarios of gentrification that have irrevocably marked the center of many European cities, without sparing Krakow, while anticipating the potential paths of the neighborhood's future evolution in search of its new economic, social and artistic functions.

Contrary to the top-down scenarios that determined the creation of the district, Od-Nowa Huta reverses the perspective, taking into account in particular the social dimension.

The discussion tables to be held on September 23 and 24 at the Utopia Home - International Empathy Centre, initiated and implemented jointly by the Instituto Cervantes, the French Institute of Poland, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, the Wallonie-Bruxelles Office in Warsaw the Goethe-Institut, the Österreichisches Generalkonsulat Krakau with the strategic support of EUNIC, will be preceded by an exhibition organized by the French Institute of Poland in Krakow and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Krakow (open to the public from September 7). Pandemic panoramas of depopulated squares in Italian cities, hiding their real life behind walls, will be juxtaposed with historical photographs showing the crowds filling the streets of Nowa Huta in a gesture of social solidarity.

What is the community of Nowa Huta experiencing today and how can the common voice of the inhabitants determine the development and evolution of the city? On September 25, two days of expert panels will be followed by related cultural activities.