Zaspa-Młyniec and Zaspa-Rozstaje

Zaspa is a general name for two districts in Gdańsk – Zaspa-Młyniec and Zaspa-Rozstaje. It is one of the biggest all block of flats area in Poland. It steps out with 59 giant murals, and 19 decorated stairwell entrances.

In 1997 the city of Gdańsk celebrated its 1000^th anniversary. For this occasion, they organised an international  festival of monumental art, during which first 10 pieces were painted, and we can still see them until this day. In 2009 Festival Monumental Art took place for the first time. During this event, artists from all over the world were painting their art on block buildings in Gdańsk. 38 murals has been painted through 7 editions of the Festival. Since 2010 we can also find there art of students of Gdańska Szkoła Muralu (School of Mural). It was created to educate wall painters. There are students, graduates of Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and students from Wrocław taking part in classes.

Because of time and cultural differences, those giant paintings are various and timeless. These murals are often connected with history, but you can also find many paintings which are graphical, figurative, conceptual art, and decorative art. Those murals are beautiful and colourful label of Zaspa.

Murals give a lot of colour to the district. They make crowded neighbourhood more vivid. One of them was created by an Italian painter Opiemme. His work contains cascade of colours, which drops on a black sphere. On the very bottom we can see a Szymborska’s quote (this mural is a tribute to her) – “Truth, don’t mind me too much. Seriousness, show me generosity”. The colours that drops from the top of the building symbolize art, which affect positively on people.

Piotr Bondarczyk is a filmmaker from California. He decided to crate something original in Gdańsk, but also directly related to his industry. That way, a scene from “Gone with the Wind” has been painted on the side of the block. The painting shows increased scene of the popular kiss from the film. Pixelization of the picture was the reason for many people to think that the painting shows Lech and Danuta Wałęsa kissing.

Among colourful murals we can find work of the group PGR ART., which contains… dots. At first, these are just black dots on a white background, but not many people know that it actually is binary coded quote of Witkacy “Art is a separate world, it is the final reflection of the brightness of being”. This mural was created on his death’s 70^th anniversary, and that is why the dots have either 20 or 50 centimeters in diameter, because after summary it gives us 70.

The main topic of murals in Gdańsk is undoubtedly the history of Poland. Many buildings is decorated with paintings, which commemorate significant events and people connected directly with history of our country. A good example is a work of Krzysztof Wróblewski, which is hold in colours of or flag. It the the interpretation of a picture taken on a typical summer day on Westerplatte. This place was a witness of the start of the II World War, and that is why it takes a special place in our hearts. Art shows also the process of metamorphosis of this place, and blurring the details, which, unfortunately, is ubiquitous nowadays.