Kujawsko-Pomorskie Newsletter. News at a glance

Kujawsko-Pomorskie

Newsletter

No. 2. M

ay 2010

News at a glance

Torun. City of Culture and Art,

Photo: Daniel Pach

03 Kujawsko-Pomorskie Newsletter. News at a glance

Torun is a city where things happen. Every year sees about 1,500 cultural events; some of them are for the general public while others are usually intended for limited and more discriminating audiences. There is enough variety on offer for everyone to enjoy. The City of Nicholas Co-pernicus takes pride in its professional theatre companies and museums. There are several art galleries, two cultural centres and numerous clubs where concerts and exhi-bition previews are held. Two Houses of the Muses (co-mmunity centres), the Youth Community Centre and many other institutions of that kind are also present on the cul-tural map of Torun. From among hundreds of small and big events, the following are definitely worth a special men-tion: Torun Festival of Science and Art, ‘Probaltica’ Inter-national Festival of the Baltic States’ Music and Art, ‘To-

Toruń. City ofCulture and Art

Mecca for theatre lovers

Fryderyk Chopin Route

The potential for investors in Kujawsko-Pomorskie

Torun. City of Culture and Art

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Torun. City of Science,

Torun’s artists of the month exclusive interview

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Photo: Daniel Pach

Torun. City of Culture and Art,

05Kujawsko-Pomorskie Newsletter. News at a glance

run – Music and Architecture’ Summer Festival, ‘Kontakt’ International Theatre Festival, ‘Klamra’ (Clinch) Academic Theatre Meetings, Torun Book Festival, Torun Summer Film Festival, TOFIFEST International Film Festival, ‘Song of Songs’ International Ecumenical Festival of Christian Music, Od Nowa Jazz Festival, Torun Blues Meetings, New Art Fair and the International Puppet Theatre Festi-val. The cultural season lasts in Torun throughout the year. It is impossible to give names of all the places where ‘cul-ture is made’ in Torun thanks to which Torun is becoming a city of culture and art. That is why we must shorten our list to only a few selected institutions and regular events.





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Photo: Andrzej Romański


For hundreds of years now Torun has constantly re-mained a significant centre of culture and science. Here Nicholas Copernicus was born to later become an emi-nent astronomer, mathematician and an economist, one of the greatest contemporary scholars and the au-thor of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, in which he presented his heliocentric theory of the universe. The rich academic tradition of Torun is cherished and con-tinued at Nicolaus Copernicus University, the largest in northern Poland, and in four other institutions of higher edu-cation, which are outside the public sector. The total enrol-ment at the University is 40,000 students, who can choose from among 54 areas of study and over 100 specialisations.

Toruń. City ofScience





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Photo: Andrzej Romański


Every year NCU organises ca 100 conferences and sympo-sia attended by an impressive number of several hundred scientists from Poland and abroad. The Ministry of Science and Information offers sumptuous grants to the NCU aca-demic staff, who implement over 190 projects every year within the framework of the ministerial programme. The academic staff travel on study and lecture tours, attend conferences and engage in research in many countries. Simultaneously, the University is visited by about 500 fo-reign researchers from various countries and continents. Many NCU university staff are members of prestigious in-ternational research organizations and cultural societies. The University has modern research facilities within the uni-versity structure. The staff also work in other research centres in Poland and abroad, for example, in Spitsbergen. Since the 1990s a 32-metre radiotelescope, the third largest in Europe, has been in operation in the Centre for Astronomy located in Piwnice near Torun run by Prof. Aleksander Wol-szczan. The creation of the National Laboratory for Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics enabling Polish physicists to carry out most advanced research has been the most recent confirmation of the high rank held by the University.





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Institute B61

Photo: Radosław Worek


Torun’s artistof the month exclusive





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interview

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Institute’s B61 Productions take place on the bor-der of arts and sciences, combining elements of a theatrical performance, acting songs, hip-hop concert. Where the idea of sta-ging in such an eclectic form did came from?Jan Swierkowski [Institute B61]: The Institute B61 combines multiple forms, but this is rather a sort of a ‘semi-controled accident’ than assumption. We are committed to full freedom in the arts. Institute B61 in the end, is not some deadly serious artistic creation.We want everyone both the audience and the creators just to have fun.May the entirely scientific topics - such as, “the evo-lution of stars” be interesting for contemporary read-ers?

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Kujawsko-Pomorskie Newsletter. News at a glance

But it is hard for me to imagine that it could be boring! “The evolution of stars” – when did the last time you hear something so mysterious and romantic? The whole trick lies in the appropriate form of communication! Some-times I fell asleep on the lectures about quantum phy-sics, though it does not mean that the quanta are boring. Let me give another example, if the Champions League final would be played at exotic stadium in Myszków and broad-cast would be made from one portable camera, despite the fantastic events on the pitch, no one would even watch pre-sentation of teams in front of TV! I would not blame the play-ers, only the transmission. So it is with science, therefore, a form of the Institute is such eclectic - it must be interesting.

Projects of Institute B61 are taking place in unusual spaces. What fascinated you in nineteenth-century forts?For me the incredible thing about Fort was primarily the acoustic and the immensity of this building. To-run Fortress is a dozen of massive buildings, which are accompanied by dozens of smaller ones which actually if properly used, could stand for our city. It’s really unique!

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Realizations of Institute B61 are characterized by an intimate nature. Is it important for you di-rect contact between the viewer and the artist?YES! We wish to directly approach the viewer and es-cape from the ordinary mass and repeatability of con-certs and performances. Concrete spectacle of Insti-tute B61 takes place only once. Even if we play it one day eight times, each time is quite something else. What we want to do is to be very special and unique.

What new projects are planned in the near future by the Institute of B61?Soon at the Tofifest Film Festival, which begins on June 26 ,,The Institute B61-Operation Slapstick” will present sound and light properties, while in September we will invite our audience to the first police station, which introduced rules of quantum physics to the everyday criminology.





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Mekka for theatre lovers

Photo: Wojciech Szabelski


France has its theatre centre in Avignon, Great Britain in Edinburgh and Poland in Torun. That is what we were thinking in 1991 when in the hundred years old buil-ding of the Torun theatre and few sport clubs the Inter-national KONTAKT Festival happened for the first time. The idea behind the festival was to confront for the first time in Europe after the fall of the iron curtain, the theatre ensembles from East and West. Exaggeration? Maybe.

However the international theater festival KONTAKT speaks for itself presenting each year several incredible stories, which you can experience from the 22nd to the 28th of May in Torun. This year it is a story about Vietnam, performed by the Riminii Protokoll Theater, the story told

Mekka for theatre lovers





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16 Kujawsko-Pomorskie Newsletter. News at a glance

by the RO Theatre from Rotterdam of fourteen mothers, all with different ethnic backgrounds, that shows energy, strength and incredible sense of humor. Another story that can inspire you is the one of the tenants from the co-mmunal flat, that directed by the Hungarian Victor Bodo discover the mystery, hidden behind the wall. KONTAKT also presents the tale of the healer from Latvia, Mar-tha from the Blue Hill and a true story of the actor, who searched into the life of his grandfather discovering during his journey three men serving in the three hostile armies.Both are being told by the artists from the Alvis Herman-sis group from Riga. Finally Pansori Brecht SACHEON-GA by Jaram Lee from Seul is an attempt to create a moder-nised Pansori (an epic song performed by an ac-tor-singer) performed by a sorikkun (singer) who sings the words of the story. And The Cut of Mark Ravenhill, in which Thomas Ostermeier from Berlin is question-ing the limits of the state’s concern with our security.

In other words KONTAKT presents several models of thea-ter, from the documentary, post dramatic to almost classic, represented by the important Moscow Wachtangow Thea-






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tre, Old Theatre in Cracow and National Theatre in Warsaw.

Today, after 20 years of the festival, its symbol can be Lies Pawels from Belgium, which “White Starr” won the festival in 2005. For this edition of KONTAKT she prepared with the team of Horzyca Theatre in Torun “ Caritas. Two Minutes of Silence”, which questions the limits of tolerance, accept-ance and truth.

More on: www.teatr.torun.pl

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Szafarnia | Photo: A. Hermann


Chopin Year 2010 celebrations were launched at midnight on the 1st of January in Zelazowa Wola, the birthplace of the pianist and composer. The region of Kujawsko-Pomor-skie also celebrates this special year by organizing many exhibitions and concerts commemorating the great ar-tist. Chopin was attached to our region and spent part of his childhood here. Therefore, we recommend trekking along the especially created Fryderyk Chopin Route in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region, which links the provin-cial cities in some way tied to the composer’s life. The route also includes the places, important for Chopin be-cause of two women he loved: his mother Justyna nee Krzyzanowska, and Maria Wodzinska, his first love interest.






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The CUSTODES project is part-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) within the Central Europe Programme.


You can now explore the five touristic routes liked to Cho-pin’s name and you can do it by car, bicycle or if you re-ally determined even on foot! The beautiful landscape of Kujawsko-Pomorskie will surely reward your efforts!

More information on:

www.visitkujawsko-pomorskie.pl





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The potential for investorsin Kujawsko-Pomorskie


The authorities of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region are deeply involved in promoting its attractiveness for potential inves-tors. In 2010 the Marshal Piotr Całbecki with the vice-mar-shal Edward Hartwich signed an agreement aiming to cre-ate the innovative Investor Servicing System. This system will not only be responsible for the economic development of our region but will also dramatically increase its compe-titiveness by helping the influx of direct foreign investments.

In order to deliver the best quality land for our investors, our region is also participating in the IV edition of the competition “The Land for the Medal”, to which all the mayors of the local communes are invited. The laureates of the competition will






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The potential for investorsin Kujawsko-Pomorskie


have the chance to promote their communal lots as the best land for the production investment. The winning parcels of land will also be the first to be recommended to the foreign investors. Moreover, the winners will have the possibility to use the logo “The Land for the Medal” to promote their lots.

It is worth noting that many lots of land taking part in the previous competitions have been extremely successful with the foreign investors. The land near Torun’s Techno-logical Park that has been entirely booked by the investors and that won the Land for the Medal competition in 2007 is probably the best example. The land in Łysomice awarded in the first edition of the competition, where the Pomera-nian Special Economic Zone was created and where Ja-panese companies such as Sumimoto Chemicals or Kimoto have planted their factories confirms this successful trend.





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Information Office of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region

Avenue de Tervuren 84, 1040 Brusselstel.: (+32) 2 734 12 17, fax.: (+32) 2 734 29 [email protected]

www.mojregion.eu

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Kujawsko-Pomorskie Newsletter. News at a glance