ANNOTATION ON THE REVERSE

For the fifth time in the last weekend of summer, the Foundation for Great Histories presented the exhibition at Romantic Beach.

The open-air exhibition „Annotation on the Reverse” has been entirely prepared from the collections of Digipunkt – the only place in Warsaw that has been copying analog materials of Varsovians into digital files for free.

In the first weekend of September, the residents of Warsaw and the surrounding areas met at Romantic Beach to collectively experience the history of Wawer. The exhibition presents eight collections belonging to Krzysztof Araszkiewicz, Józef Czech, Antoni Gregorkiewicz, Sylwia Kostulska, Anna Kowalik, Tomasz Michałowski, Sven Nilsson, and Irena Olszewska.

The owners of the presented photographs shared with Foundation for Great Stories the images depicting family, friendship, school, and places of Wawer district. For the exhibition’s authors, photography as a whole is important, and they are interested not only in the captured images but also in what is written on the reverse side. As curator Paweł Brylski says, „The Annotation on the Reverse checks what is on the other side of photos, stories, and the city. The exhibition encourages a different look at photography and the past. It is also a tribute to everyday life, human relationships, places, and issues considered ordinary. Social archives document situations that are not and do not have to be historical or spectacular, about which history textbooks do not tell, but which are close to the experiences of each and every one of us. The exhibition invites you to a joint adventure, for which you only need imagination and empathy.”

The photos are displayed on beach screens reminiscent of seaside holidays. The use of such a common object encourages a fresh look at what seems familiar but still awaits discovery.

During the exhibition’s opening on September 2 at 3:00 PM, there will be a curator-guided tour and meetings with the owners of the presented collections.

The exhibition will run until September 24, and it will be accompanied by a rich program of cultural events for the residents of the district and educational events for students of Wawer schools:

September 9, 2023, 11:00 AM – Cyanotype workshop led by Kasia Rysiak.
Location: Murowanka, Płowiecka Street 77.

September 22, 2023, 5:00 PM – Meeting with Mr. Antoni, a resident of the Wawer district.
Familiarization with projector’s and 8mm film camera’s mechanisms, film screening.
Location: Murowanka, Płowiecka Street 77.

 September 1 – October 31, 2023 – Implementation of 10 source work workshops in 4th-grade schools on the Otwock line, conducted by Łukasz Linowski and Sebastian Gawęda.

Collection Owners:
Krzysztof Araszkiewicz, Józef Czech, Antoni Gregorkiewicz, Sylwia Kostulska, Anna Kowalik, Tomasz Michałowski, Sven Nilsson, Irena Olszewska

Curator:
Paweł Brylski

Visual identity, graphic design:
Kaja Gliwa

Exhibition design, graphic layout, and realization:
Andrzej Budek, Jacek Ebert, Wiktor Gościcki/Kotbury.pl

Workshops:
Kasia Rysiak

Education:
Łukasz Linowski, Sebastian Gawęda

Production:
Bogumiła Nowacka / Digipunkt, Foundation for Great Histories

Project co-financed by the Wawer District Office of the Capital City of Warsaw
Public task under the name „Our Great Histories” – presentation of Digipunkt collections co-financed from the funds of the Masovian Voivodeship budget

Patronage: Center for Social Archiving

Foundation for Great Histories

A public benefit organization that deals with historical education and the popularization of history. The Foundation for Great Histories responds to the challenges of the present by using the experiences of past generations. The foundation’s activities are primarily based on online tools and meetings in urban spaces.
It conducts educational activities („Take Care of Memory”), organizes nationwide competitions („Baczyński without a Filter,” „In the Footsteps of Home Army Heroes”), runs a social archive („Digipunkt”), creates exhibitions („The Last Day of Summer 1939”), and virtual museums (Tadeusz Kościuszko and the Polish Underground State).