Poles on Poles (2010). Tusia Dabrowska and Clara Schuhmacher. Project for Steve Kurtz’s class on starting artist collectives.
It is an open secret among American poets that Krakow is a literary mecca, and Poland has long been recognized for its rich poetic history. Poles On Poles works with poetry and with the historically Polish neighborhood of Greenpoint to explore this relationship between the United States and Poland; the project honors cross cultural artistic exchanges and celebrates, with humor, the possibility of interactions outside of linguistic constraints.
Poles on Poles was installed in April of 2010 on Manhattan Ave, between Bedford & Greenpoint Aves, in Brooklyn. The installation included twenty-nine images in which the natural, the digital and the poetic interacted. Each featured a new, Polish-themed poem by some of the greatest living American poets. Jack Gilbert, Robert Hass, Edward Hirsch, Jane Hirshfield, Yusef Komunyakaa and C.K. Williams kindly contributed their work to Poles On Poles. All works were presented in both English and Polish. The posters were designed to be temporary, and passersby were encouraged to “steal” them for themselves.
Poles on Poles was installed in April of 2010 on Manhattan Ave, between Bedford & Greenpoint Aves, in Brooklyn. The installation included twenty-nine images in which the natural, the digital and the poetic interacted. Each featured a new, Polish-themed poem by some of the greatest living American poets. Jack Gilbert, Robert Hass, Edward Hirsch, Jane Hirshfield, Yusef Komunyakaa and C.K. Williams kindly contributed their work to Poles On Poles. All works were presented in both English and Polish. The posters were designed to be temporary, and passersby were encouraged to “steal” them for themselves.