OFF Festival Katowice and Medusa Industry present the Klopsztanga Project.
Klopsztanga (from the German Klopfstange) is a word used in the Silesian dialect to describe a pipe frame on which carpets are hung for beating. Klopsztangi primarily served as gathering places that encouraged children’s imaginations to grow, helping them set off on trips much more interesting and distant than the ones offered by today’s travel agencies. The OFF Festival Katowice and Medusa Industry have decided to bring the klopsztanga back to the Silesian landscape. Join us on our mission!
Saturday mornings don’t sound like they used to. A hollow, rhythmic thump once announced the start of the weekend. The dull, monotonous, and slightly muted smacking sound would echo off of buildings. The strong beat would occasionally slow down and weaken, only to pick up once again. Four pipes welded together in the shape of the letter “H” with a bar across the top, slightly wider than the vertical poles. A simple, ubiquitous object; a primitive element of everyday life.
At first glance, the klopsztanga is a plain steel contraption: a black, brown, or rusty, anachronistic object. The klopsztanga and the trashcan formed an inseparable pair. A utilitarian form: the klopsztanga, courtyard gate, playground, a place in which to gather and talk. Crossed legs, somersaults, hanging upside down, skipping rope, and eating sunflower seeds. The original Silesian public space.
A space that has now been forgotten. Pushed aside by the vacuum cleaner and the plastic playground, the klopsztanga stands on the side and observes our modern world. It is rarely used; someone will occasionally sit on it, but Saturday mornings just don’t sound the same without it. It has become a symbol. A barely recognizable and deprecated symbol. The German-sounding name can sound abrasive to politically-correct ears. Is it Polish or German?
The klopsztanga remains a characteristic part of the Silesian landscape. The Klopsztanga Project is an attempt to bring back the word as well as the space associated with it. It aims to revive a temporarily forgotten phenomenon. Its goal is to enliven, inspire, and shape our space. A real space. Not a social media, Facebook-style space, but a true, urban space.
As it once was, the klopsztanga is a universal, uncanny object, one that piques the imagination. It remains the simplest alternative to the bench, swing, and the goalpost.
But is that all it is?
“Whenever I meet Przemek Łukasik from Medusa Industry, we inevitably end up talking about the childhood memories that have had a strong influence on our personalities, and which were associated with the space we lived in,” says Artur Rojek, artistic director of the OFF Festival Katowice. “We share a sentiment to Silesian garden plots, where coal miners would erect lauby (garden shacks) out of whatever material they happened to have: strips of rubber, railroad ties, sheet metal. Those with more artistic talent would finish the outer walls off with Disney characters, especially paintings of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Pluto.”
“It wasn’t until recently that we started talking about klopsztangi, when Przemek mentioned a project to revive the tradition of the magical pipe frame in our region. It struck me as a brilliant idea, and I offered my help. And that’s how the Klopsztanga Project became a part of the OFF Festival, where it will premier this year. An installation built out of over a dozen klopsztangi will be set up at Dolina Trzech Stawów. We hope that this is just the beginning, and that it will help the klopsztanga make a comeback in the urban space of Katowice.