Explore Lodz from behind the scenes at the Re:Medium Gallery [EXHIBIT]

A cabbage grandfather, challah with butter, wodzianka and drygle at an exhibition at the Re:Medium Municipal Art Gallery in Łódź and the Łódź Design Festival.

In the next instalment of the Dictionary of Łódźisms, the City Gallery of Art in Łódź and the Łódź Design Festival have decided to look for traces of multicultural Łódź in… the kitchen. This is the next instalment of an artistic and educational project with which they wish to draw attention to the uniqueness of our city.

From 26 April, in the space of the Re:Medium Gallery, it will be possible to see a dozen or so works presenting specific dishes and dishes for which Łódź culinary art is famous. The cabbage crook, challah with butter, herring under a blanket, zalewajka, iron dumplings or leberka all sound familiar, but we do not always know where they originated on our tables.

The works will be displayed in the form of kitchen doodles, a somewhat forgotten element of interior design, although still present in many homes until the 1970s. The authors of the works are: Karol Banach, Katarzyna Bogucka, Teodor Durski, Gosia Herba, Marta Ignerska, Jakub Kamiński, Hanna Kmieć, Natalia Konca (Namazane), Agata Królak, Ola Niepsuj, Patrycja Podkościelny and Paweł Szlotawa, who have attempted to show their chosen slogans with freedom and a large dose of humour and to surprise with their graphic interpretations of Łódź food, both Łódź residents and visitors coming from other regions of Poland.

In addition to the dishes already mentioned, the illustrated slogans included such delicacies as polewka gruszkowa, wodzianka, drygle, garus or żulik.

As the exhibition’s curator, Adriana Usarek, points out: ‘ One must be aware that only a small group of Łódź residents belonged to the rich elite of the capital world. The majority of the population led a very modest, one might even say poor, life. This was also their everyday cuisine – cheap and simple, made of inexpensive and locally available products, such as potatoes, which housewives in Łódź used to conjure up a variety of dishes that were also extremely tasty and filling, such as iron dumplings sprinkled with pork belly (bacon or pork fat) or, beloved by adults and children alike, dumplings with strawberries usually served with young cabbage.

The exhibition can be viewed at the Re:Medium Gallery at 113 Piotrkowska St. We invite you on behalf of the curator Adriana Usarek (MGSŁ) and the curator Michał Piernikowski (ŁDF).

Media patrons: Jemy w Łodzi, KUKBUK, Magazyn Usta, whiteMAD, Magazif, Grafmag, TVP3 Łódź, Ret-Sat1, Plaster Łódzki, Kalejdoskop Magazyn Kulturalny, ARTINFO.PL, Notes na 6 Tygodni, Radio Żak at the Technical University of Łódź, Association of Applied Graphic Designers.

Poster and visual identity: Ida Stańczyk

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source: organiser’s materials