Stopfen, stricken, patchen… Der Kleider neues Leben!               

Artists: Agnieszka Kasztelowicz, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Anne Peschken & Marek Pisarsky, Alke Reeh

Curator: Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska

In collaboration with CENTRUM KULTURY ZAMEK in Poznań

Opening: Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 7 PM 

January 24 – April 26, 2025

Gallery of the Polish Institute Düsseldorf, Citadellstr. 7, 40213 Düsseldorf

We live in an era of general overproduction. A sign of this is the mountains of clothing that pile up in Africa and South America into garbage avalanches. They are the result of our entanglement in the highly unecological and unethical mechanisms of Fast Fashion. Fast Fashion: these are cheap discount clothes that are sewn in factories around the world, mostly by workers who are forced to work for dumping wages. The quality of the materials is also not the best. Every season, many of us succumb to fashion fever, buy new clothing items, and throw the old ones away. The artists of the exhibition point out that the materials used in Fast Fashion are not biodegradable. They also draw attention to the exploitation of workers in the clothing industry. However, today mere enlightenment is no longer sufficient – the task of art is also to propose strategies that help us reduce overproduction and throw away less clothing that has become boring to us. Art calls for a change in mentality.

Tuesday – Friday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

With the exhibition of Peter Buggenhout, the Waldfrieden Sculpture Park in Wuppertal is launching its new exhibition season on March 8, 2025: The Belgian sculptor presents a total of seven spatially expansive objects from different groups of works in two of the exhibition halls and in the outdoor area of the park. Buggenhout is internationally known for his sculptures, which he forms from discarded materials and which take on shape in space as sprawling bodily forms. The artist refers to his sculptures as "abject things" – as objects that evade familiar cognitive connections and demand more than just a perspective of observation.

The sculptures of Peter Buggenhout, born in 1963 in Dendermonde, Belgium, and living and working in Ghent, consist of things that have been deprived of the use of their original functionality: Waste and artifacts equally form the materials that the artist uses as his working material and from which he composes his objects. Used plastic films, tarpaulins, textile fabrics, newspapers, scrap metal, wood fragments, or organic substances like cow stomachs, horse hair, and dust become components of his works. Buggenhout creates massive forms from these abandoned remnants, which embody the emergence and decay in the immediate presence of the material and its rugged shapes.

Peter Buggenhout, who turned away from painting around 1990 to transition to sculptural designs, has been working for several years in groups of works with different material focuses and overarching themes. The pre-existing, the cyclical, and the temporality of things are fundamental themes that he formulates as diverse sculptural inventories in his groups of works.

His sculptures possess no single view direction; the multi-facetedness of his works is as essential as the significance of the equivalence and simultaneity of their elements. The discarded is always an important part of the foundation of his creation.

Peter Buggenhout about his work:
“The materials I use all have one thing in common: I did not choose them because I liked their shape or appearance. All objects that I find have in common that they do not really refer to a meaning in terms of their formal identity. For example, instead of an old chair, I might use a piece from the chair in such a way that it’s not noticeable what kind of object it was before. This is the quality of waste, so to speak. Dust also possesses this quality. All my working materials are 'abject,' that is, discarded or disgusting… taken from their original state, have lost their form and meaning.”

11 AM - 6 PM, open on all holidays

Anna Swirszczyńska  „Ich habe eine Barrikade gebaut“

Reading and conversation with Peter Oliver Loew, Anna Kołyszko and Julia Dillmann

Tuesday, March 18, 19:00

Polish Institute Düsseldorf, Citadellstr. 7, 40213 Düsseldorf

Accompanying program to the exhibition „The Warsaw Uprising 1944“ at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus Düsseldorf.

Anna Swirszczyńska's poems about the Warsaw Uprising are extraordinary. She experienced the uprising of the resistance movement against the German occupiers in 1944 up close as a paramedic. In her lyrical reflections published in Polish in 1974, she depicts the fragile human existence amidst a great drama of humanity. With clear, factual language, she portrays ordinary people, men, women, children, and the elderly – „while building the barricade“, in the hail of bullets, while loving and while dying.

This volume holds a special place in Polish poetry as well as in world literature, as a poetic report of an event that is among the great tragedies of the 20th century. Czeslaw Milosz, the Nobel Prize winner in Literature, on „Ich habe eine Barrikade gebaut“

Anna Swirszczyńska, born in 1909 in Warsaw, poet, prose writer, author of plays and radio dramas. She was a paramedic during the Warsaw Uprising. In her poetry, she created a unique, direct poetic language with which she described the everyday dimensions of death and femininity. In Poland, she is considered one of the most important authors of the women's movement. She died in 1984 in Krakow. „Ich habe eine Barrikade“ gebaut is among her most famous works. The poems are a moving testimony to the experiences of the Warsaw Uprising.

Peter Oliver Loew, born in 1967 in Frankfurt am Main, author, editor and translator of scientific monographs, non-fiction books as well as poetry and prose (including Leopold Tyrmand and Maria Kuncewiczowa), has been the director of the German Polish Institute in Darmstadt since 2019. 

Cooperation: Polish Institute Düsseldorf, Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus Foundation, German Polish Institute Darmstadt

This one-week course provides information about archival science and basic knowledge of archival practice. It is aimed as an introductory seminar for archival staff who have no subject-specific training and little professional experience or are voluntary archive caretakers and want to familiarize themselves with the most important archival tasks and methods.

On Wednesday, there will be an excursion to the City Archive Troisdorf.
City Archive Troisdorf
Kölner Straße 176
53840 Troisdorf

Entry: 09:00 AM

Is the friendly gentleman next to you, leisurely slurping his soup, a murderer? Or does the elegant lady chatting nicely at the neighboring table have a few bodies hidden in her closet?

Yes, dear guests – that's right!

Because the perpetrator is among us... now it's time to work together with the acting investigation team in a crazy interrogation to find out who has done away with the victim who is also sitting in the audience.

Wait, what? The perpetrator and victim are in the audience?

With "A Perpetrator Among Us," the name truly fits the bill: Guests determine the plot and everyone can play the leading role – all without having to get up from their seat. Taking on this role are the four actors who conduct their investigation from the stage. Sounds crazy? It is crazy! This new, exciting Impro Crime Dinner is multimedia and, of course, delicious. Guests will be prepared for the theme in advance: crime scene, method of murder, murder weapon – everyone is allowed to let their thoughts roam freely. But be careful not to appear too suspicious! Everyone will be photographed before the piece starts, as after all, the perpetrator is among us...

Improvisational theater is a youthful and spontaneous form of theater that has only existed in Germany since the late 80s. Everything arises from the moment. Scenes are developed and played at the same time based on the audience's input. No one knows in advance what will happen on stage. The charm of spontaneously created and humorously played theater emerging from the moment is surprising for both the audience and actors alike.

The tempting 3-course menu is served and created by the kitchen team at the Fettehenne Guesthouse in Erkrath. The thrilling experience for the nerves and palate starts at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm.

Doors Open: 6:30 pm / Courses, meal, and theater piece are included in the price / Table and seating assignments will be made on site

Stopfen, stricken, patchen… Der Kleider neues Leben!               

Artists: Agnieszka Kasztelowicz, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Anne Peschken & Marek Pisarsky, Alke Reeh

Curator: Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska

In collaboration with CENTRUM KULTURY ZAMEK in Poznań

Opening: Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 7 PM 

January 24 – April 26, 2025

Gallery of the Polish Institute Düsseldorf, Citadellstr. 7, 40213 Düsseldorf

We live in an era of general overproduction. A sign of this is the mountains of clothing that pile up in Africa and South America into garbage avalanches. They are the result of our entanglement in the highly unecological and unethical mechanisms of Fast Fashion. Fast Fashion: these are cheap discount clothes that are sewn in factories around the world, mostly by workers who are forced to work for dumping wages. The quality of the materials is also not the best. Every season, many of us succumb to fashion fever, buy new clothing items, and throw the old ones away. The artists of the exhibition point out that the materials used in Fast Fashion are not biodegradable. They also draw attention to the exploitation of workers in the clothing industry. However, today mere enlightenment is no longer sufficient – the task of art is also to propose strategies that help us reduce overproduction and throw away less clothing that has become boring to us. Art calls for a change in mentality.

Tuesday – Friday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Stopfen, stricken, patchen… Der Kleider neues Leben!               

Artists: Agnieszka Kasztelowicz, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Anne Peschken & Marek Pisarsky, Alke Reeh

Curator: Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska

In collaboration with CENTRUM KULTURY ZAMEK in Poznań

Opening: Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 7 PM 

January 24 – April 26, 2025

Gallery of the Polish Institute Düsseldorf, Citadellstr. 7, 40213 Düsseldorf

We live in an era of general overproduction. A sign of this is the mountains of clothing that pile up in Africa and South America into garbage avalanches. They are the result of our entanglement in the highly unecological and unethical mechanisms of Fast Fashion. Fast Fashion: these are cheap discount clothes that are sewn in factories around the world, mostly by workers who are forced to work for dumping wages. The quality of the materials is also not the best. Every season, many of us succumb to fashion fever, buy new clothing items, and throw the old ones away. The artists of the exhibition point out that the materials used in Fast Fashion are not biodegradable. They also draw attention to the exploitation of workers in the clothing industry. However, today mere enlightenment is no longer sufficient – the task of art is also to propose strategies that help us reduce overproduction and throw away less clothing that has become boring to us. Art calls for a change in mentality.

Tuesday – Friday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Stopfen, stricken, patchen… Der Kleider neues Leben!               

Artists: Agnieszka Kasztelowicz, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Anne Peschken & Marek Pisarsky, Alke Reeh

Curator: Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska

In collaboration with CENTRUM KULTURY ZAMEK in Poznań

Opening: Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 7 PM 

January 24 – April 26, 2025

Gallery of the Polish Institute Düsseldorf, Citadellstr. 7, 40213 Düsseldorf

We live in an era of general overproduction. A sign of this is the mountains of clothing that pile up in Africa and South America into garbage avalanches. They are the result of our entanglement in the highly unecological and unethical mechanisms of Fast Fashion. Fast Fashion: these are cheap discount clothes that are sewn in factories around the world, mostly by workers who are forced to work for dumping wages. The quality of the materials is also not the best. Every season, many of us succumb to fashion fever, buy new clothing items, and throw the old ones away. The artists of the exhibition point out that the materials used in Fast Fashion are not biodegradable. They also draw attention to the exploitation of workers in the clothing industry. However, today mere enlightenment is no longer sufficient – the task of art is also to propose strategies that help us reduce overproduction and throw away less clothing that has become boring to us. Art calls for a change in mentality.

Tuesday – Friday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

A look behind the scenes of the scientific community

Hendrik Streeck, director of the Institute of Virology at the University Hospital Bonn, is best known as a pandemic expert and non-fiction author. In his thriller "Das Institut," he now takes us directly into the deepest abysses of science. It is about viruses that become deadly weapons. About power and a fierce competition between research, the US military, and a Chinese pharmaceutical company.

In the conversation, Hendrik Streeck talks about his diverse responsibilities as a former member of the Corona Expert Council of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as currently being a member of the Enquete Commission II NRW "Crisis and Emergency Management" and the expert council of the federal government on health and social resilience.

The conversation with the author is led by Michael Busch, spokesperson for the shareholders of Thalia Bücher GmbH.

With the exhibition of Peter Buggenhout, the Waldfrieden Sculpture Park in Wuppertal is launching its new exhibition season on March 8, 2025: The Belgian sculptor presents a total of seven spatially expansive objects from different groups of works in two of the exhibition halls and in the outdoor area of the park. Buggenhout is internationally known for his sculptures, which he forms from discarded materials and which take on shape in space as sprawling bodily forms. The artist refers to his sculptures as "abject things" – as objects that evade familiar cognitive connections and demand more than just a perspective of observation.

The sculptures of Peter Buggenhout, born in 1963 in Dendermonde, Belgium, and living and working in Ghent, consist of things that have been deprived of the use of their original functionality: Waste and artifacts equally form the materials that the artist uses as his working material and from which he composes his objects. Used plastic films, tarpaulins, textile fabrics, newspapers, scrap metal, wood fragments, or organic substances like cow stomachs, horse hair, and dust become components of his works. Buggenhout creates massive forms from these abandoned remnants, which embody the emergence and decay in the immediate presence of the material and its rugged shapes.

Peter Buggenhout, who turned away from painting around 1990 to transition to sculptural designs, has been working for several years in groups of works with different material focuses and overarching themes. The pre-existing, the cyclical, and the temporality of things are fundamental themes that he formulates as diverse sculptural inventories in his groups of works.

His sculptures possess no single view direction; the multi-facetedness of his works is as essential as the significance of the equivalence and simultaneity of their elements. The discarded is always an important part of the foundation of his creation.

Peter Buggenhout about his work:
“The materials I use all have one thing in common: I did not choose them because I liked their shape or appearance. All objects that I find have in common that they do not really refer to a meaning in terms of their formal identity. For example, instead of an old chair, I might use a piece from the chair in such a way that it’s not noticeable what kind of object it was before. This is the quality of waste, so to speak. Dust also possesses this quality. All my working materials are 'abject,' that is, discarded or disgusting… taken from their original state, have lost their form and meaning.”

11 AM - 6 PM, open on all holidays

TENORS di NAPOLI
...from Italy with Love

MAGIC OF ITALIAN TENORS!

Italy has never been so close! If you long for warm sunshine, picturesque landscapes, and unmistakable Dolce Vita, this wonderful concert is just right for you.

The three charming singers Achille Del Giudice, Salvatore Minopoli, and Antonio Palumbo with their exceptional voices embody all of this in every conceivable way. They guide the audience through the musical history of the country with Mediterranean ease and elegance, presenting the greatest hits of Italian music culture – from the most famous opera arias to Neapolitan folk songs. Of course, international evergreens are also included.

The secret recipe of the famous trio is: Italian temperament, lovingly stirred with extraordinary singing talent and a perfectly composed recipe, gently seasoned with a pinch of nostalgia and the indispensable touch of romance.

A cultural delight for all who appreciate and love true joy in life!

Doors: 18:30

Stopfen, stricken, patchen… Der Kleider neues Leben!               

Artists: Agnieszka Kasztelowicz, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Anne Peschken & Marek Pisarsky, Alke Reeh

Curator: Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska

In collaboration with CENTRUM KULTURY ZAMEK in Poznań

Opening: Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 7 PM 

January 24 – April 26, 2025

Gallery of the Polish Institute Düsseldorf, Citadellstr. 7, 40213 Düsseldorf

We live in an era of general overproduction. A sign of this is the mountains of clothing that pile up in Africa and South America into garbage avalanches. They are the result of our entanglement in the highly unecological and unethical mechanisms of Fast Fashion. Fast Fashion: these are cheap discount clothes that are sewn in factories around the world, mostly by workers who are forced to work for dumping wages. The quality of the materials is also not the best. Every season, many of us succumb to fashion fever, buy new clothing items, and throw the old ones away. The artists of the exhibition point out that the materials used in Fast Fashion are not biodegradable. They also draw attention to the exploitation of workers in the clothing industry. However, today mere enlightenment is no longer sufficient – the task of art is also to propose strategies that help us reduce overproduction and throw away less clothing that has become boring to us. Art calls for a change in mentality.

Tuesday – Friday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Stopfen, stricken, patchen… Der Kleider neues Leben!               

Artists: Agnieszka Kasztelowicz, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Anne Peschken & Marek Pisarsky, Alke Reeh

Curator: Prof. Dr. Marta Smolińska

In collaboration with CENTRUM KULTURY ZAMEK in Poznań

Opening: Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 7 PM 

January 24 – April 26, 2025

Gallery of the Polish Institute Düsseldorf, Citadellstr. 7, 40213 Düsseldorf

We live in an era of general overproduction. A sign of this is the mountains of clothing that pile up in Africa and South America into garbage avalanches. They are the result of our entanglement in the highly unecological and unethical mechanisms of Fast Fashion. Fast Fashion: these are cheap discount clothes that are sewn in factories around the world, mostly by workers who are forced to work for dumping wages. The quality of the materials is also not the best. Every season, many of us succumb to fashion fever, buy new clothing items, and throw the old ones away. The artists of the exhibition point out that the materials used in Fast Fashion are not biodegradable. They also draw attention to the exploitation of workers in the clothing industry. However, today mere enlightenment is no longer sufficient – the task of art is also to propose strategies that help us reduce overproduction and throw away less clothing that has become boring to us. Art calls for a change in mentality.

Tuesday – Friday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

With the exhibition of Peter Buggenhout, the Waldfrieden Sculpture Park in Wuppertal is launching its new exhibition season on March 8, 2025: The Belgian sculptor presents a total of seven spatially expansive objects from different groups of works in two of the exhibition halls and in the outdoor area of the park. Buggenhout is internationally known for his sculptures, which he forms from discarded materials and which take on shape in space as sprawling bodily forms. The artist refers to his sculptures as "abject things" – as objects that evade familiar cognitive connections and demand more than just a perspective of observation.

The sculptures of Peter Buggenhout, born in 1963 in Dendermonde, Belgium, and living and working in Ghent, consist of things that have been deprived of the use of their original functionality: Waste and artifacts equally form the materials that the artist uses as his working material and from which he composes his objects. Used plastic films, tarpaulins, textile fabrics, newspapers, scrap metal, wood fragments, or organic substances like cow stomachs, horse hair, and dust become components of his works. Buggenhout creates massive forms from these abandoned remnants, which embody the emergence and decay in the immediate presence of the material and its rugged shapes.

Peter Buggenhout, who turned away from painting around 1990 to transition to sculptural designs, has been working for several years in groups of works with different material focuses and overarching themes. The pre-existing, the cyclical, and the temporality of things are fundamental themes that he formulates as diverse sculptural inventories in his groups of works.

His sculptures possess no single view direction; the multi-facetedness of his works is as essential as the significance of the equivalence and simultaneity of their elements. The discarded is always an important part of the foundation of his creation.

Peter Buggenhout about his work:
“The materials I use all have one thing in common: I did not choose them because I liked their shape or appearance. All objects that I find have in common that they do not really refer to a meaning in terms of their formal identity. For example, instead of an old chair, I might use a piece from the chair in such a way that it’s not noticeable what kind of object it was before. This is the quality of waste, so to speak. Dust also possesses this quality. All my working materials are 'abject,' that is, discarded or disgusting… taken from their original state, have lost their form and meaning.”

11 AM - 6 PM, open on all holidays