Frames of the Times; Kazimierz
JCC Kraków
Imagine on Plac Nowy, a man sits in a traditional hat with a wide brim and a cane at a cafe’s street side table, chatter and clamor fill the air while the bright late morning summer sun lights the square. He squints his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the building facades and street corners. With a glance towards the rusty tower of the Bożego Ciała church and his gaze lingers on the faces who pass by in the tourist carts. The clock chimes twelve o’clock. He rises, looking straight into the sun, and begins to walk as the buildings lose their colors and cars disappear in a haze as a familiar voice is heard : B’ezrat Bashem!
Bartolomeo Koczenasz’s “Frames of the Times; Kazimierz“ juxtaposes contemporary photos with archival images documenting Kazimierz from 80, 90 and even 100 years ago. “Frames of the Times“ asks the viewer to study the thin differences passing between the past and the present. This unique presentation of photographs both enhances perspective and invites the viewer to play visually with the images. While decades of Kazimierz’s painful history are hidden within the photos, this is not about the black pages of history – but about lost memories which continue to demand their place in the visual landscape of Krakow’s Jewish Quarter.
— Piotr Sikora
Curator: Piotr Sikora
Partners: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jew, Museum of Kraków, National Archive in Kraków, Bratniak Foundation, CentrumPapieru