Education – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

The sound evokes an image, the image – a colour, the colour – a taste, the taste – a smell, the smell – a sensation, the sensation – an association, the association – a sound or an image, and so on. An association can be concrete or more abstract. Associations lead to connotations, awakening the imagination: a grid of dots in our brain, a web of synesthetic connections. The imagination is a certain characteristic space which is individual for each of us. It is even more interesting as it is filled with colours, tastes, sounds, smells – all interconnected. The more we can associate and connect them, the more creative we are. Thanks to the imagination and the skilful impact on the different brain connections, our mind becomes more flexible. Flexibility means imagination and creativity. Creativity means independent thinking, ability to overcome set patterns, and a constructive and open way of reasoning and acting.

This grid of associations and elements often applies tools which are commonly used by contemporary artists. The mission of our education is simple: so that every participant leaving a workshop or any other situation of encounter with a work of a contemporary artist, embarks on a path of progress, of independent and open thinking, on a path of building oneself and the world around. On a path towards construction, and not deconstruction.

Contemporary art is a bottomless source of inspiration for our senses and the intellect. The wealth and diversity of the visual forms it applies corresponds with the diversity of means of perception and understanding used by the modern human being. The multitude of manifestations, forms and types of contemporary music, theatre and movement, serves as a point of departure for invigorating the human imagination and creativity, even in the first months and years of one’s life. Through its many different media: the text, movement, audio-visual forms, the sound, or even the concept, contemporary art offers a broad field for educational endeavours, particularly in the area of creativity and empathy. It is a source of inspiration for the intellect and a driving force for learning about the world. One of its most conspicuous traits is ambiguity and openness. It opens up the mind, stimulates dialogue, and serves as an impulse for creative, never-ending discussions. Through its close relationship to modernity, technology and the media, it satiates curiosity but also – more importantly – it activates it. Contemporary art is a rich source of inspiration for educational activities as it touches on issues which are close to us: those with which we have a daily, physical contact, as well as the more abstract ones. It tells us about its creative, multifaceted language.

U–jazdowski is about many parallel educational and promotional activities, all of which are aimed at providing ever broader access to the most current achievements of contemporary artists from Poland and abroad. The Department of Education and Promotion works in a mode of long-term processes and educations cycles: those addressed to specific recipients, as well as ones organised in thematic cycles. The most important long-term activities are: {Smykowizje} for families with children 0—5 years of age, {Jak smakuje sztuka} ({How Does Art Taste}) for families with children 5—10 years old, {Sztuka nie zna wieku} ({Art Does not Know Age}) for adults, a series of Saturday guided tours in English, the Thursday guided tours titled {Sztuka z perspektywy} ({Art From A Vantage Point}), as well as activities for organised school and kindergarten groups under the heading {Kreatywna Szkoła w U–jazdowskim} ({Creative School at the U–jazdowski}). In 2017, together with Channel 2 of the Polish Radio, we are launching an everyday show Krótko mówiąc sztuka (Art, To Put It Shortly), the aim of which is promotion of knowledge about contemporary art and the avant-garde. We are also carrying out educational activities around the U–jazdowski collection, as well as one-off, complex, and partnership-based projects. We also participate in such partnership programmes as: Mała Warszawska Jesień (Small Warsaw Autumn), Estetyka Współczesności (The Aesthetics of Contemporeneity), Warszawski Tydzień Seniora (Warsaw Senior Citizen Weekend), Tydzień Kultury bez Barier (Week of culture Without Barriers) and Warsaw Gallery Weekend.

• Our mission:
  • → We inspire the development of creativity by interacting and merging arts, disciplines and the media.
  • → We engage: as it is the best method for developing and discovering art.
  • → Every child is a small artist or discoverer. And every adult has a child inside.
  • → We support teachers, educators and animators to work on developing creativity – their own and of those in their care.
  • → We think and act in a complex and synesthetic way.
  • → We create activities equipped in the following elements: exploratory, artistic, promotions and interactive.
  • → We popularise and educate by means of new media, social media and actions: one-time and long-term ones.
  • → We suport the Artist-Viewer communication.
  • → We support the development and activities of artists-educators.
  • → We aid in understanding contemporary culture and art.
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• Text by
  • Anna Kierkosz