Krawiecka 31/Open City/Lublin

This work restores the already nonexistent Krawiecka street to the topography of the city. Before the Second World War, the street was inhabited by Jews. Foundations of their houses were covered by debris and layers of dirt, and overgrown with grass. Still, however, traces of the old life emerge from beneath the ground. Despite the void and absence of Krawiecka street’s residents, citizens of Lublin unknowingly keep treading along a path in the grass where the street used to run. Now, however, the path functions as a shortcut to a nearby shopping mall. Franczak’s project is located at the end of the path, from where the view on the nonexistent street is unimpeded. The artist’s work takes the form of a house partially buried in the ground, or maybe rather emerging from it. This piece enters into dialogue with history; it is a tale of remembering and of forgetting. At 31 Krawiecka street, there used to be a steam bath, a place of discipline-driven and modern hygiene, but at the same time – a place of symbolic cleansing and ritual rebirth of the world.