The most extensive part of our programme is events that are the result of the Institute’s experimental profile and, at the same time, an opportunity to test unconventional, fresh ideas for the promotion of culture.
This is also where we put into practice the ideas and concepts developed in other areas of our activity. In the Institute’s calendar, you will find proposals for all age groups, events on a smaller, local scale, but also those with a nationwide scope. Some of these activities are already well known to the citizens of Wrocław and are well established in the event calendar of the city. Others are created by observing and analysing the cultural and social landscape. These events are designed to respond to the challenges and needs of the dynamically changing world around us. There are three venues, where the Institute’s activities take place: Barbara, Klub pod Kolumnami and Recepcja.
Barbara (formerly an iconic bar, now a club café in the very centre of the city) is a venue for lectures, meetings and workshops exploring diverse cultural niches, and above all, issues related to urbanity in its broadest sense. Klub pod Kolumnami, which has been open to the residents of Nadodrze for decades, is a space where the classic meets the contemporary: Pod Kolumnami offers retro-activity with a modern twist – and vice versa. Recepcja, with a programme co-created with R46, is in turn a place for musical experiments, exhibitions showcasing the work of young artists and designers, and meetings for enthusiasts of various aspects of urban culture. It is also the networking hub for organisations located in the courtyard of Ruska 46.
Neighbourly ties are also strengthened outside the neon-lit courtyard on Ruska Street, for example by organising local projects as part of Microgrants, and neighbourhood walks to discover unknown corners of the city. In one way or another, many of our projects are inspired by Wrocław itself: we use culture to explore the urban space, rediscover it and delight in the local specifics. During the annual celebration for readers, the European Literature Night, we invite you not only to listen to excerpts from the best European prose but also to visit unusual and hard-to-reach places in Wrocław’s neighbourhoods.
