There’s a gloriously chaotic mix of the alternative, the artistic and the downright absurd in Praga, Warsaw’s shifting bohemian district.

by Anna J. Kutor

The clang and bang of kitchen utensils, haunting melodic
voices, rumbling of distant car and tram traffic and other ghostly industrial
soundscapes from a percussive rhythm in the courtyard of Fabryka Trzciny, an
art and education center in Warsaw’s Praga precinct. Filled with the quizzical
cacophony of creative expression and avant-garde art, this bohemian bastion has
injected new life into a once-abandoned shoe factory complex. Feeding on the
synergy of artistic collaboration and urban renewal, this factory-turned-art
hotspot now stand at the vanguard of contemporary culture in the Polish
capital.

Built in 1916 as a fruit preserve plan, the complex (14
Otwocka Street) later became the headquarters of the Polish Rubber Industry,
producing springy pepegi sneakers for the Soviet Bloc. During this time, the
state-owned factory declined and was left to deteriorate. Behind the slender
smokestack and weathered brick-and-mortar rough shell of the defunct factory,
it was the raw brick-walled mega-space and exposed forest of pipes that caught
the attention of cultural impresario Wojciech Trzcinski. Based on his plans -
and the ideas of architects Agnieszka Chmielewska, Joanna Kulczynska and Bogdan
Kulczynski - the warehouse underwent two years of renovation and redesign to
become Warsaw’s first Culture Factory. It opened in 2003 with a vibrant cluster
of facilities, including concert halls, conference rooms, a mini-library, club
and gallery spaces as well as a gourmet restaurant and a theater called Teatr
Nowy Praga.

Fabryka Trzciny’s embrace of opportunity, change and
old-made-new concepts became a role model for development and a catalyst for
image-reforming action in Praga, Warsaw’s most dilapidated district. A dense
working class neighborhood on the eastern bank of the Vistula River, Praga was
the least affected by enemy fire in World War II, thus serving as a makeshift
shelter during the city’s reconstruction. Consequently, the area cultivated its
own culture, spirit, lingo, skyrocketing crime rate and a gritty reputation
that was far more notorious than desirable. However, over the past few decades,
Praga has slowly shaken its shady image to become a fashionably shabby artist
quarter. Since then, a slew of writers, musicians, architects, designers,
actors and other hipsters have rushed madly into this cultural playground.
Overall, the ambiance is very similar to that of New York’s SoHo industrial
district back in the 1960s.

With the influx of urban pioneers and trend-spotters, Praga
is now bustling with a powerful creative spirit, visible through the
ever-changing landscape of art galleries, photography and drama studios,
restaurants and nightclubs. With smart makeovers, the old and neglected
industrial spaces in Inzynierska, Mala, Listopada 11 and Stalowa Streets - a
collection of crossroads two blocks east from the commercial hub of Wilenski
Square - are now stuffed with artful venues such as Nizio Gallery, Studio
Melon, Fundacja Akademia Promocji Filmu and 3/3 Studio Fotograficzna (all
residing in 3 Inzynierska Street). A few grim gateways down, in the crumbling
courtyard of 22 Listopada 11 Street, late-night hangouts such as Sklad Butelek,
Zwiaz Mnie, Saturator and more recently, Hydrozagadka Klub set down root here.

But although Praga is a hip ‘hood on the verge of stardom, it is still struggling
with its helter-skelter kind of existence. Most areas could surely appeal to
the squatter: beat-up buildings with laundry draped outside, claw-shaped rusted
metal pipes piercing through walls, gritty storefront windows, and rambling
courtyards with gaudy religious figures perched in the middle. It’s a
captivatingly colorful and yin-yang blend, one that mirrors the contrasts of
modern Poland. This dichotomy of modern versus tradition, progress versus
attachment to the past, is best exemplified on Zabkowska Street. In line with
the district’s cultural transformation, this three-block stretch of road boasts
a few recently renovated pre-war houses, several deteriorating classic structures
of brick and concrete and a medley of new high-rise condos and glitzy glass
office buildings.

There’s one spot, halfway down the street, that manages to
stand out from the crazy cavalcade of surrounding styles and structures. Signaled by a giant hairy spider fastened to the facade of a plum-hued wall, W Oparach Absurdu (6 Zabkowska Street), meaning “in the vapors of the absurd,” is a charmingly off-kilter cafe. Inside, the absurdity materializes in flea-market decor (old sofas, carpets, rickety tables and a grand piano), moody lighting and unusual odds and ends like a half-meter Virgin
Mary statue or sperm-shaped tubes filled with liquor. It’s a place where
intellectuals, homosexuals, metrosexuals and artsy revelers come to enjoy
their poison of choice.

Fling your shotglass with enough vigor and it just might
hit the towering brown-brick Fabryka Wodek Koneser, a vodka distillery partly
repurposed as a “creativity cluster”. The factory (27-31 Zabkowska
Street) was born in 1897 and has since perfected the art of
vodka, cranking out various brands of Poland’s liquid source of pride,
including the popular Legenda, Warszawska and Targowa types. To compensate for
its lack of sufficient funding, the factory has lent out part of its premises
to an art gallery, a theater and an interior design boutique. In 2004, cultural
entrepreneurs Katarzyna Zebrowksa and Magdalena Przezdiziak set up the Luksfera
Gallery in a vacant second storey space of the factory. The
place, dedicated to the artistic aspects of photography, pulses with eclectic,
young energy. Magazyn Praga, an interior design boutique
that resembles a fashion-forward art gallery, takes up a small southeast
enclave, while the space occupied by Wytwornia Theater adds more exciting
luster to the complex.

In following year, the neighborhood kept up the visual
improvements from a comprehensive streetscape improvement project to the
erection of an ultra-modern stadium for the Euro 2012 football championships,
and even a new museum in the area’s oldest residential building on Targowa
Street. Undergoing a fast-paced metamorphosis, Praga all of a sudden is the
place to be.

Anna J. Kutor | Content Creator & Strategist

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