Graffiti Festival in Gdansk - Poland

GRAFFEST – The international Graffiti Festival

It is the first stage of the project which intends to show the confrontation of different artistic attitudes deeply rooted in the culture of graffiti. The project is an outcome of co-operation between the Institute of Art called ‘Wyspa’ located in the old areas of Gdańsk Shipyard and a group of young artists, organizers of culture activities and art curators from Tri-city. The festival consists of three major elements plus accompanying events. The major project includes the ‘Islandea’ exhibition, graffiti jam and music concerts. Whereas, the additional events are film screenings and laser tagging. „Islandea” – the virtual exhibition. ‘Islandea’ is a virtual exhibition which will be created in a virtual space based on a specifically prepared website platform. The invited artists will be creating in the Institute of Art, whose inside will serve as a workshop, but at the same time the results of their work will be presented in the virtual equivalent of the Institute accessible to all the spectators all over the world. The Institute of art ‘Wyspa’ located in the postindustrial areas of old Gdańsk Shipyard will become a walled-in creative space for the international team of artists, creating pictures, audio installations or geometrical constructions. Gathering people in a closed space may lead to a creation of common platform for brainstorms, sharing each other’s views or co-operative realizations in different fields, like for example audio and video. By the means of putting the architectural structure of ‘Wyspa’ into a virtual space and shaping within it a common ground for presentation, ideas, works and views exchange it becomes accessible for everyone in modern global village. That is why the next step will be to create a mobile virtual gallery, which could be presented in various spots in Gdańsk by using the internet connection. The people invited to this undertaking are very experienced artists whose works of art are recognized and appreciated by numerous and various art galleries around the world. Graffiti is a living modern street art, which is not restricted only to the written form. ‘Islandea’ exhibition aims to present diverse artistic forms taken from graffiti, transformed and expressed by artists themselves, shown as special sorts of media like audio-video installations, sculptures, mural art and performance. The presence of international artists will create the chance to build new contexts and perspectives.  Among them there will be:  Point (Czech Republic), ViaGrafik (Germany), Finsta & Leo (Sweden), Os Gemeos (Brazil), Nunca (Brazil), Blu (Italy), Zedz (Netherlands), Esher (Germany), Zaciem (Russia), Interesni Kazki (Ukraine) and Van Laak (Germany).  Plus the Polish artists: Lowbudget, Hijack, Wiur, Foxy and Hexanoise.