Spring in Warsaw

A march, a manifestation, a memorial ceremony, a guided tour, an urban walk along a route in a rare site of civil pilgrimage. Public Movement members together with Polish
collaborators led a walk in the Ghetto, in the footsteps of Israeli and Jewish youth delegations which visit the city every spring. The action was concluded in a party at Chlodna 25 club.

The Public was gathered in the Umschlagplatz at 18:00, marched and participated in rituals along a route which included the Ghetto Uprising command bunker on 18 Mila Street, The house in which Ludwik Zamenhof who invented Esperanto had lived and the Memorial of German Chancellor Willy Brandt's 1970 kneeling. The closing ceremony took place at Rapoport's Memorial for the heroes of the Ghetto Uprising, with the laying of a Public Movement wreath, a speech and a dance for the Rapoport memorial.
About 1300 people participated in the action, including residents of Warsaw and Jewish youth groups who were visiting the area. Several roads were closed by the Police, and the action was widely covered by the Polish media, including live TV coverage.

8 April 2009 - one day before the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Produced by: Nowy Theater
In collaboration with: Laura Palmer Foundation and A.I.R Zamek Ujazdowsky
Curator: Joanna Warsza
Duration: 18:00- into the night

Public Movement Leaders: Omer Krieger and Dana Yahalomi

Public Movement Members: Luciana Kaplun, Gali Libraider, Adily Liberman, Hagar Ophir, Michael Rosman, Saar Szekely.

  • Spring in Warsaw Tomasz Pastenak
  • Spring in Warsaw Tomasz Pastenak

Press

“…1,300 people (a number admittedly dwarfed by the 30,000 individuals who attend the official tour) the central claim of the work – tenaciously argued in the Polish press […] the Holocaust should not be understood as the property of one nation, but rather as an event in the history of humanity as a whole. […]Finally: […] the group effectively disappeared: who exactly ‘Public Movement’ were became functionally irreverent in the course of orchestrating – in-and-through public space, in the real – a deeper shift. …”
Daniel Miller, Frieze online

“…The {group] name is not only indicative of the actions they produce- orchestrating order movement through an urban plan – but also their candid attempt to inspire a shift in the audiences’ perception, literally resulting in a public movement that breaks through distilled historical narratives. Similarly , the title of the work, Spring in Warsaw, is descriptive of the performances time and place, as well as its tenor. Thus in acknowledging history by  physically engaging with its markers — they make an effort to look forward to what is to come, rather then what has passed.”
Yaelle Amir, Viz. Inter-Arts