LODZ – CITY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Sunday 16th May

This one of those days where you would prefer to stay inside. Temperatures are
in the single digit and it is quite obviously raining. Once I did get out I
found a breeze was increasing the cooling effect. The Internet weather check I
made indicated that the temperatures would reach a high of 11degrees. I do not
think that was wrong.

Church bells are sounding from different directions.

But this was the last full day in Lodz and I wanted to get to the Arts Centre.
First I had to locate where to buy a tram ticket on a Sunday. Not all trams
have dispensing machines on board. The very new flash ones do but most local
trams seem older. Reception told me which tram number to get to head to the
building I thought I wanted. Near the stop, which was several blocks away, I
spied a little kiosk open and was able to buy some tickets by holding up a
sample ticket from Wroclaw.

Once on the tram I began to recheck the building I was heading too. On another
map the Arts Centre was closer to the main street. So I got off the tram and
got another one back to the starting point at the cross roads. Then I went
across and got a tram heading down the other street and this proved correct.

Lodz Arts Centre is set up in a very bigh abandoned factory building. It is
several stories high. This was the venue for the Photo Month main exhibitions.
Note that I did mean exhibitions plural. I lost count of the actual number.
Spread around the building 'rabbit warren like' were 13 galleries with most
containing more than one exhibition. In a couple further away parts of the
factory there was also some photography on display which was associated with
the Fashion Week which was also in progress.

The theme of the photography exhibitions was 'All My Lovin' and so each
exhibition dealt with the idea of relationships in some way or another. Usually
each exhibition was the work of one photographer. There was some group work in
Gallery 13. Pictures were both colour and black and white. They were small to
very large. Some were very personal. One set was taken by a mother of her and
her son. The first photo showed mother and the baby and gradually the series
worked through the son growing up and the mother aging. In the formal posing
the mother was holding a release cable to fire the shutter. The son had varying
degrees of interest in the photo as he grew older. In the last photo the son was
now taller than his mother smiles at the camera and is holding the release. He
is now taking the photos. Taken over a long period, I thought the concept and
result was interesting.

A Dutch photographer had a series of very large square pictures of fathers and
usually sons standing waist deep in a swimming pool Plain background. They made
an interesting series of parent child relationships.

One woman documented in quite intimate photos the declining relationship with
her male partner. In her notes she indicated that doing the series of the
relationship falling apart, actually in the end saved it. There was a series of
senior couples intimate relationships. Another son had documented the last days
in a father who he had rediscovered. The dad had walked out of the family when
the son was very small. Another series was by a son who had returned home to
spend time with his elderly parents only to find that he disturbed their fixed
routines. They needed to communicate with him by using post it notes. He
collected and photographed these and linked them to photos of his parents and
the house.
A Polish photographer had 30 photos taken of people inside their lounges –
well what ever setting the arm chair or sofa was in.
Using the traditional formal family posing photograph style, one American
photographer produced a series of large prints showing non traditional families
such as a couple males living together with their children. A new take of family
photography.

In Gallery 13 there was a group exhibition of photos taken within two months of
the exhibition. Here a group of local photographers examined relationships and
people living in the suburb of Lodz which had been the Jewish Ghetto during
WW2.

There were also several video displays, one was just a close up, slightly
blurry, of lips which kept repeating "I love you" I love you". Then after
a pause "I did love you".

Over all this was probably the largest photography exhibition I have ever been
to and certainly, the most varied. All very interesting.

Then off down the alley way between decaying buildings and a visit to the two
fashion photography shows.

The first was upstairs. The stairs were marble chipped and braking up. The wall
beside them was titled in blue tiles. At the first floor I went into a huge
room with old machinery in place. I realised that there were two large
generators disused and dust covered. The ceiling was two floors higher. Old
heating fittings lined the walls. On the far side were about 15 large prints
hanging and that was it.

In the adjoining building the stairs were metal, rusting and shaky. The marking
on the wall suggested that tiles had been removed here. In the also huge first
floor space – lower ceiling height though, the old machinery had gone but the
foundations for it remained. Down the centre a long length of netting cloth had
been hung and then looped back, to provide a corridor to walk along. Against
the cloth the work of three fashion photographers was hung. All interesting and
obviously by talented young photographers.

A tram ride back into the main street and I wandered around looking for a couple
more exhibitions but although I got the right address and building number I just
couldn't find the venues. I did call into the Photographers' Cafe for coffee and
then a glass or Greek red wine. An interesting sweet taste. A bit unusual but
not totally unpleasant. The cafe itself was low candle light lit although they
had all sorts of lights installed, including four large film lights. At the
door stood a 35 mm Arriflex camera in all its glory.

Out on the main street various groups were performing on the stage. Despite the
rain and cold, reasonable crowds were standing listening.Half a dozen stilt
walking clowns were doing their best to entertain the crowd as well. I enjoyed
a very good Big Band Jazz group performing. At one stage they had a really
great jazz violinist performing. He was a popular 'hit' with the crowd.

Later in the evening the crowds were less but the performances went on. I
watched a sort of local band doing something with a sort of South American beat
Well that's my impression. Enjoyable but I headed back to the hostel. Up in my
room, which in reality was not that far from the performance area in the
ajoining street, I could still here the music playing on.