November 12, 2014
Street art in Poland has something of an identity crisis. On the one hand, it is a form of protest that grew out of the Solidarity Movement of the 1980s. On the other, it is a form of urban beautification that grew out of the Golden Age of Poland’s graphic posters, an art form supported by city officials eager to transform the drab greyness left behind by socialism.
A day walking through the streets of Krakow quickly highlights the duality of Polish street art:
Kuba’s stencil of Gene Kelley on ul. Bozego Ciala.
In the Old City, a pristine UNESCO World Heritage site, officials are forever trying to erase the playful and political stencils of the covert street artist Kuba from the walls of residential neighborhoods. Alongside Kuba’s art, they find whimsical and mythical murals painted across many of the city’s abandoned buildings – the handiwork of another Krakow native, Mikolaj Rejs.
Mikolaj Rejs’s mural on the side of the old Wawel chocolate factory.
It is a different story outside the Old City. Here, in the districts of Podgorze and Kazimierz, public art is both encouraged and controlled, and street artists are often invited to create elaborate works of art that celebrate the city’s history, culture and revitalization.
In the Old Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz, the Jewish Cultural Festival invited one of Israel’s most famous street artists, Pil Peled, to create an image to watch over the district. Entitled ‘Judah’, the mural is said to represent both the vulnerability of the Jews and their strength to overcome.
Pil Peled’s ‘Judah’ and Blu’s ‘Ding Dong Dumb’.
Thanks to the city-sponsored Grolsch ArtBoom festival, Podgorze is now home to everything from a giant mural by the world-renown Bolognese artist Blu to a 3D piece by Polish artist Bart Smiles and various ceramic scrabble collections by the female artist Nespoon.
Yet the spirit of street art as a form of protest remains, even in the publically sanctioned events. When the street artist Pikaso was invited to paint a mural as part of the 2012 ArtBoom festival the authorities refused to allow him to create his original design. Instead, he painted the giant and symbolic mural “For God’s Sake the Censorship is Everywhere.”
Pikaso’s mural “For God’s Sake the Censorship is Everywhere.”
With this year’s ArtBoom festival focused on redefining the walls of the purpose-built Communist Nowa Huta district, it is clear that, whether you like it or not, Krakow’s street art stands for so much more than simple vandalism. It is a potent symbol of the city’s regeneration.