The building housing Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art on Jaskolcza Street was inaugurated as a Bathhouse in 1908, one of three institutions launched in Gdansk during the first decade of the 20th century. The Bathhouse was intended both for pupils of the neighboring schools and for the local community. The top floor housed a gym, the lower floors-shower rooms and bathtub rooms. The bathhouse was built in the neo-Romanesque style, or rather, a style relating to Rundbogenstil (round arch style). While archives and press records do not mention the name of the designing architect, it is assumed that its author was either Karl Kleefeld, then the municipal building inspector, or Karl Fehlhaber, the municipal building counsellor.
Until the outbreak of World War II, the Bathhouse’s function did not change. During the war the Bathhouse’s rooms were also employed by the adjacent hospital. Air raids and the great fire of Gdansk in March 1945 did not do much damage to the building, and therefore building renovations did not happen until as late as 1967.
After the 1989 breakthrough, the Bath was left abandoned. The showers and bathtubs had already been out of order for a few years. In the 1980s, work had begun to adapt the building to meet the requirements of a decontamination station, a decision connected with the planned nuclear plant by the Kashubian Lake Żarnowiec. This plant did not come into existence and thus, in 1992 the first artistic activities initiated by the group consolidated around Wyspa Gallery took place in the partly devastated building. In 1998, Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art was opened.
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art is the best recognizable exhibiting institution in the Tricity. Apart from the mainstream exhibitions, there are numerous concerts, film presentations, meetings, discussion panels as well as artistic and music workshops.
Their cyclic projects are:
Outdoor Gallery of the City of Gdansk: Laznia CCA’s Outdoor Gallery of the city of Gdansk is an artistic project that aims to create a permanent collection of artworks in urban space. It is intended to act as a stimulus to change the character of the Lower City, the district in which the institution is located. This initiative contributes to the process of social and architectural transformation of this run-down district, a long-term revitalization plan Laznia CCA is embarking on in cooperation with scientists, urban planners, architects, and politicians. The Lower City District is considered a perfect starting point for publicly presenting broadly understood artistic activities. The Outdoor Gallery Collection is to be created over a number of years, with the works of art being appointed through regularly announced closed international competitions.
Cities on the Edge: This project is a form of partnership co-operation in the field of culture between six cities – Liverpool, Bremen, Istanbul, Marseilles, Naples and Gdansk. What do they have in common? First, geographical location on the “edge”, defining the identity of the place. Second, similar tradition and function. The project cities are port cities with rich history and tradition. Third, all the partner cities are, will be, are striving or were striving to be designated the European Capital of Culture.
“Cities on the edge” aims at initiating debate and exchange of experience. Its concept is in line with the broader dialogue between local and global ideas. We are living now in a shrinking world, an IT global village with a very strong unification trend. Contemporary city spaces are alike. We have the very same multinationals, billboards and commercial advertisements. What is different and what is common among the six cities? Each of them has different experience and can tell a different story of its tradition and culture.
Cities on the edge are cities on the outskirts, outside centres, with port history, oriented more outside than within their own countries. The ambition of the “Cities on the edge” project is to reverse their roles. The outside locations are to become locations in the centre, are to be windows enabling better insight into a culture or nation.
The main objective of the “Cities on the edge” project is to exchange experience in the field of culture (music, art, aesthetics, theory). The project is an opportunity for better understanding and identification of globality/similarities and locality/differences.
Art&Science Meeting: The meeting of art and science has come true through mutual influence of ideas, concepts, research methods and artistic stances. The epitome of the interrelations was and is Leonardo da Vinci. Contemporary artists willingly co-operate – in the full meaning of the word – with scientists, not only dialoguing with their concepts, but also creating close-knit teams. Artists enter research labs, while scientists contribute to works of art. The creative symbiosis of art with genetics, biotechnology, robotics or AI research has given birth to unprecedented phenomena of bio-art, nano-art, robotic art and many others. It is not solely art itself which flirts with science. Within science too, changes and revaluations arise which make the scientists step outside the lab’s four walls. Science has ceased to be seen as the single sphere of social practice producing knowledge. The 20th century science theorists, like Ernest Nagel, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn or Paul Feyerabend, have criticized the neopositivist vision of scientific progress as an accumulation of facts and descriptions. They have proved the vitality of such factors as inspiration and intuition in the scientific process. They have also pointed out that scientific cognition is much more relative than was previously thought.
Mystics-Writers-Madmen: The aim of this special socio-metaphysical happening is to present the work of the significant representatives of alternative literature. The invited authors represent different modes of presence in so-called underground literature. Their common feature is their disagreement with the world they live in and opposition to repressive socio-political realities. Bringing such interesting individuals together will create a new perspective for the assessment of literature not accepted by the public in the 1980s and 1990s.
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art presents approximately 10 exhibitions each year.
In addition to exhibitions, Laznia CCA offers numerous concerts, film screenings, meetings, discussion panels as well as workshops in artistic and musical practices.
In progress: cyclical meetings with contemporary music activities often connected with theatrical art, paratheatrical events, dancing, film, and audio-visual arts.
Parakino: considers broader connections between film and art, working to embed the language of film within aesthetic discourse. It looks at the prospects of the developing arts, particularly video art, as it moves beyond the cinema in its often radical activities.
Incubator: a programme for students and graduates of the Fine Arts Academy to present their work. The aim is to confront accomplishments of young artists with works by more distinguished artists to establish a dialogue between generations. It also makes it possible to show changes in the attitude and understanding of the role of art.
Laznia CCA is located in a district which requires a huge amount of financial and educational investment. Its education programs are therefore part of the revitalization of the Lower Town. Artistic education programs at Laznia CCA play a particularly important part. Lessons of art combine the traditional curator’s guidance at the exhibition with an introductory lecture on the issues of contemporary art, and an art workshop. They comprise a selection of workshops stimulating creativity and activity directed at children, teenagers and adults from the Lower Town and Nowy Port – the forsaken quarter of Gdansk where Laznia is located. The projects aim to make the social context in contemporary art familiar, and to show the variety of art forms and themes. The projects embrace workshops for children and young people run by known Polish artists, who prepare programs linked to their own creative work.
Laznia CCA’s building contains three levels, described as an annex. Laznia CCA possesses a very interesting and unusual place for workshops, hosting these in a container-lorry parked under the bridge. LKW Gallery is one of the objects appearing within the Outdoor Gallery of the City of Gdansk. Beginning in 2012, Laznia Center will expand its activities into a second building situated in Nowy Port. It is also an old bathhouse, built at the same time as the building housing the Laznia Center.
