75 two-metre-high stands, 150 life-size photographs of people and countless memories. That is what Szczecin’s exposition commemorating the heroes of August ‘80 is going to look like.

Exhibition
Radek Kurzaj’s open-air exhibition „The Beginning,” contains 150 large-scale photographs of people connected with the August Agreement. The artist intends to immortalise the heroes of those days – members of the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee, presidents of committees from various workplaces, opposition activists, and members of organisations such as the Workers’ Defence Committee, and Solidarność.

The project intends to present not only the leading characters of August ’80, but also the workers on strike, their close relatives, and people who supported them from behind the fence of the Warski shipyards in Szczecin. It aims to introduce all those people whose names did not go down in history, but who contributed to that great breakthrough.

In addition, the artist plans to photograph people for whom the August of 1980 was a critical month for personal reasons – it was the time they were born, they started or finished education, married, or moved.

The exhibition, which comprises 75 panels, is going to stand on Aleja Kwiatowa next to Żołnierza Polskiego square on 27 August 2010. The stands, measuring 200 x 66 x 5 cm, are going to feature life-size photographs of people on both sides. Each photograph will contain a short note about the person presented, and his or her memories from the August of 1980. These are going to be true stories of real people. Thanks to the 1:1 scale, the visitors will get the impression of spending their time among the people to whom we owe the change in the political system and work conditions, and the change in the course of history.

Become a Hero
Everyone, for whom the events of 30 years ago had great significance, is heartily invited to join the “Write history” project and become one of the exhibition’s protagonists.

Applications can be made through the www.szczecin.eu/poczatek website, by filling in and sending a questionnaire, or downloading the form in a file, which may later be sent through the website or put into the mailbox in the main hall of the Public Office in the City Office of Lublin (pl. Armii Krajowej 1). Applications should contain contact details and a description of your story connected with the critical August of 1980.

All information about the exhibition can be found on www.szczecin.eu/poczatek. Updates on the preparation of the presentation are also going to be featured there.