Poland Street Undergound

Poland Street Undergound

04 November, 2009
by: Tom Jeffreys

If you're an observant sort you may just have noticed that 2009 has seen a proliferation of exciting Polish cultural events taking place throughout London. There's a retrospective for Polish surrealist filmmaker Wojciech Has at the Barbican; Tomasz Stanko is performing at the London Jazz Festival; and Paulina Olowska has a solo show over at Camden Arts Centre.

All this is part of Polska! Year, which in some ways reaches its culmination this November in the form of Poland Street Underground. Organised by the Polish Cultural Institute, Poland Street Underground consists of a two-day extravaganza celebrating Polish culture in all its many forms. Taking place at The Vinyl Factory (on Poland Street, appropriately enough), the festival sees all manner of art events, exhibitions, design, architecture, music and film.

This is the third annual edition of Poland Street Underground, with the first year themed around Polish animation, electronic music, computer games and live music, and the second focusing on design and sensuality. The whole event this year is based on the idea of Kontrol – influenced by the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain as well as George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece 1984.



With so many exciting things going on I caught up with Poland Street Underground Co-Founder and Curator Paulina Latham to find out a bit more.

What are the main aims of the event?
The main aim behind the Poland Street Underground is a promotion of Polish culture, but also promotion of the activities of the Polish Cultural Institute. Poland Street Underground is a form of 3D advert for our activates: people come and see a wide cross section of artists, music, films, installations architecture and design. Hopefully if they see what they like, they will then develop interest in Polish culture.

How did you get so many different talents on board?
The artists that we show at Poland Street Underground are not chosen only by me; it's a group effort from the team at the Polish Cultural Institute. We start with the theme and do the research, contact various galleries, designers, artists, musicians… and then try to create a programme that will reflect the theme.
 
What is the hardest part of organizing Poland Street Underground?
In all honesty I can't think of anything particular! But, certainly, it can be tricky getting the most out of the artistic interventions and space design in order to reflect the Kontrol theme.
 
And the best bit?
The opportunity to work with fantastically talented people. And the chance to create an interesting show that hopefully will become, for those few days, a platform for interesting encounters for the viewers.

This year I'm also looking forward to drinking amazing Wyborowa Beetroot Martinis which will be served alongside the art and music in the velvet bar.

Wyborowa Beetroot Martinis? Count me in!

Poland Street Underground is 13th-14th November 2009.
Visit www.polandstreetunderground.com for full details.

Click here to see all London Polish events.
Click here for things to do in London.

Tom Jeffreys