Street art has an opportunity to reach a wide audience, so one can often find references to current events and matters on walls. Street Art is an elusive form of art and does not only comprehend murals, but many things which one can come across in an area: posters, stickers, art installations etc.
In Praga North, most of the examples of street art are murals, apart from which one can see multi format advertisements. The oldest of these were created in Communist Poland, and have decorated the highest walls of tenement houseblocks since the 1970s. In the past, many advertisements of this sort were painted on buildings on Targowa Street. At No. 12, there was the clover of the Polish Lottery Monopoly, which can be seen there since the 1990s.
In 2011, a 3D, colourful art installation, ‘Shapes of Colour,’ conceived by Marzena Turkeys Gaś, was unveiled on the same wall. It survived until the building of a block on the lot at no. 10. The longest multi format advertisement which was created in the Communist era and is still visible, albeit faded, and with paint peeling off in many areas, is ‘Totolotek- Nasza Gra,’ (The Lottery- Our Game) painted on the walls of all the annexes of Targowa 14.
Targowa 14 is a building complex unique in the whole city which contains both the front tenement houseblock and the annexes and commercial buildings spanning 4 areas. The aforementioned advertisement is best seen when taking the train or standing in the rear part of Targowa 16, under the railway viaduct of the Średnicowa rail line. On the same side, at no. 22, is the mobile multi format advertisement ‘Molozol, Mochozol, Sanitozol,’ which is on the list of objects of historical importance.
It came into being in the 1970s and displays products of the ‘Azot’ Chemical Works in Jaworzun. Molozol and Muchozol were chemicals used on clothing moths and flies, whereas Sanitozol was an insecticide. The advertisement refers through its colour scheme to the packaging of the products. On the odd side, at No. 15, two more Communist-era advertisements of this type were preserved until not so long ago: Foton and Jubiler.
As a result of an administrative error they were painted over, which met with the opposition of residents and people interested in cultural heritage. Foton, which advertised photographic lenses, was repainted, whereas Jubiler awaits uncovering from beneath the layer of paint.
When in this area, it is worthwhile to admire the ‘Dziura W Całym’ mural, which was created as part of the ‘Street Art Doping’ festival by the German artist 1010 on the wall of the tenement houseblock at Mackiewicza Street 1.
Strolls through Praga are an excellent opportunity to discover for yourself the places where the murals were painted. Many of them, above all the multi format advertisements, despite the level of artistic skill they display, have only been in Praga for a short length of time.
New murals keep appearing to replace the old, whereas certain walls are becoming inaccessible for artists, since in-fill has been built in the meantime. Artists often highlight that Praga North is a district favourable to creative activities, thanks to which one can count on even more interesting projects to be created in its area.
Bliskości starówki, znakomite skomunikowanie transportem miejskim z resztą miasta oraz duża liczba atrakcji w różnych obszarach tematycznych powodują, że warszawska Praga jest znakomitym miejscem do odkrycia tego, co jeszcze w Warszawie nieodkryte. Zarówno dla turystów jak i mieszkańców stolicy!
Zapraszamy na Pragę!
Barbara Tutak Prezes Zarządu Warszawskiej Organizacji Turystycznej
Dofinansowanie zadania publicznego ze środków Ministerstwa Rozwoju i Technologii zgodnie z zawartą Umową nr III/16/P/63003/2820/21/DT.
Dofinansowanie zadania publicznego ze środków Ministerstwa Rozwoju i Technologii zgodnie z zawartą Umową nr III/16/P/63003/2820/21/DT.
PragaodNova 2021 | Polityka prywatności
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