Centrum Amarant
management & performance + art-in-context
(2015-2017) community art centre
Centrum Amarant was a community-arts center that functioned between 2015-2017 in Jeżyce district in Poznań, Poland.
It was located in the ‚Dom Tramwajarza‘, the ‚House of the Tramworkers‘, a building established at the beginning of the 20th century as a housing- and community center for the city’s local transport and their families. After being neglected for many decades, in 2015 the Centrum Amarant collective and the Centrum Amarant-Foundation took over the building to reactivate the purpose of the building: Centrum Amarant's mission was to create a space that would serve as a meeting place for people of different generations and environments, a space for political and social initiatives but also as a venue for performative, communal and experimental arts.
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Led by a collective of young artists, culture workers, and pedagogues, Centrum Amarant hosted Polish and international artists, collaborated with non-governmental organizations and initiatives, and was a venue for experimental and community-arts projects, concerts of experimental and traditional music, new media art, performance, and alternative cinema. The team consisted of David Dabrowski, Piotr Delimata, Dorota Michalak, Patryk Lichota, Jan-Tage Kühling, Paulina Aleksandra Obiala, Robert Ogorkis, Boris Slowikowski, Krystyna Lama Szydlowska, Paulina Miu ZieliÅ„ska.
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Its most important projects were, among others: The annual neighborhood festival Dni Jeżyc, the polish-german residency program residents//mieszkaÅ„cy‘, the international festival for contemporary improvised music FRIV Festival, the Shortwaves Festival, the neighborhood-theatre Teatr Obywatelski (TO)‘, its weekly meetings for kids, senior citizens, the concerts of bands and artists like Peja, Siksa, Laboratorium PieÅ›ni or Waclaw Zimpel, and of course its informal gatherings at the inhouse-Georgian café PAN GAR.
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Centrum Amarant cooperated among others with the Foundation Ad Arte, The Association for Polish-Ukrainian Culture, the Art Association KODKROWA, Kolektyw 1a, the Jewish Community Poznan, Adam-Mickiewicz University, the Culture Centre ZAMEK Poznan, Teatr Polski, Teatr Nowy, Goethe-Institut Warsaw, Theater im G-Werk Marburg, The Association for Animal Rights Otwarte Klatki, Stonewall Poznan, the Workers Union Poznan and many more. https://www.facebook.com/centrum.amarant
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