phot. Aneta Grzeszykowska, Jan Smaga
Jan Håfström, Cai Ulrich von Platen, The Club, 26.06–5.09.2004
The building of the former sports club in Podkowa Leśna
Curator: Grzegorz Borkowski
In the interior of a building unused for almost 10 years, interventions made in painting and sculpture
exposed the echoes of its complex history and introduced completely new visual quality and meaning.
Artists arranged for the public a sort of journey in time through spaces of 25 different interiors on 3 level
of the building. They emphasised its architecture, as well as diversity of lighting and emotional atmosphere of each room. It was also an opportunity to direct the viewers’ attention to the specificity of the
entire garden city of Podkowa Leśna.
The history of Podkowa Leśna is related to the initiative undertaken by the members of a society called
Power and Light [Siła i Światło], who initiated the construction of a line of EKD rail (Elektryczna Kolej
Dojazdowa [Electric Transport Rail]) in the 1920s to use this way the surplus of electric energy produced
at the time by the Warsaw power stations. The building of the Sports Club (the so-called Casino) was
designed by Juliusz Dzierżanowski and modelled on health resort architecture in Vichy. Together with a
park designed by Leon Danielewicz, it was open for use in 1928 to serve the inhabitants of Podkowa.
Until 1939 it served as a venue for celebratory parties and receptions. In 1944, it hosted a hospital for
the wounded of the Warsaw Uprising, while later it gave home to a primary school and a youth hostel.
Between 1965 and 1992 it was used as a conference and holiday venue for Społem Cooperative. In
1993 it was taken over by the local authorities, yet due to the shortage of means they were not able
to renovate it.The Club organised by the CCA Ujazdowski Castle renewed the interest in the Casino
among the inhabitants of Podkowa Leśna. The Municipality applied for the EU subsidies to revitalise the
complex; the grant was used to renovate and adapt the building for present use. The new object, called
the Casino Palace, was opened for the public in 2007 and at present it is the headquarters of the Centre
for Culture and Civil Initiatives.
After the closing of The Club the artists prepared a summary of the project, a publication which featured photographs by Torben Eskerod. It is being shown here together with 3 photographs taken in summer 2004 at The Club by
Aneta Grzeszykowska and Jan Smaga.
Cai Ulrich von Platen (b. 1955)– a Danish visual artist. In the early 1990s he co-founded TAPKO group,
who organised exhibitions of contemporary art in post-industrial spaces, inviting carefully selected
artists from all over Europe. In 1994 the Document Gallery at the CCA Ujazdowski Castle hosted TAPKO
group’s exhibition.
Jan Håfström (b. 1937) – a renowned Swedish painter who like to take his work beyond the canvas;
he participated four times at the Venice Biennale. He was an author of the arrangement of the theatre
space for the performance The Night of Transvestites, presented by the CCA Ujazdowski Castle in 2004.