2023-04-21 17:50:00
Ilona Lewandowska: This year you are among the winners of the Cultural Scholarship of the City of Gdańsk for 2023, under which artistic and cultural projects and initiatives in the field of literature, visual arts, theatre, photography, music and dance are created. Your project refers to the 700th anniversary of the founding of Vilnius, which falls in 2023. Why did you choose such a theme?
Tomasz Snarski: I believe that this year, which we are celebrating now, i.e. the year of the 700th anniversary of Vilnius, is an ideal opportunity to intensify various cultural projects deepening the heritage of Vilnius, exposing it also in Poland. I find especially important those initiatives that will bring some new hope for the development of cultural cooperation, and thus the bonds between Vilnius and Gdańsk in the future. Only such active, living cultural activities can ensure the survival of existing traditions and their transfer to the next generations. I think that it is worth taking advantage of all opportunities to remind the subject of Vilnius, and therefore I decided to apply for a cultural scholarship of the City of Gdańsk in the field of literature. I have put together a project called “NeMo. Between Neris and Motława. It envisages the creation of five different literary works (essay, reportage, poem, short story, interview), constituting a single whole (pentalogy) and devoted to the mutual cultural ties between Gdańsk and Vilnius. It is not a popular form, but it gives great possibilities, it even refers to the biblical Pentateuch, and I think that Vilnius deserves as many as five interrelated works (and not just two or three books). The title “NeMo” comes from the first two letters of the names of the rivers Neris (Wilia in Polish) and Motława, respectively, on which Vilnius and Gdańsk are located.
In the works created as part of the scholarship, I try to find and understand the common ties between Gdańsk and Vilnius, which have been visible for years, e.g. on a cultural level. This cooperation between cities is not accidental. from the special role of Gdańsk residents with Vilnius roots, who found their “new home” in the city on the Motława River after World War II. I trust that my texts, which will be created as part of the scholarship, will complement the reflection on the identity of Gdańsk with the Vilnius (Gdańsk-Vilnius) perspective. I also want to try to answer the question of what connects Vilnius and Gdańsk in terms of culture, and especially values. Preparing for work, I managed to isolate five passwords that I will be guided by. These are: solidarity, mercy, humanism, freedom and multiculturalism. Selected texts will be published and presented during a meeting on Gdańsk-Vilnius identity. Of course, I will also remember that the reflections contained in them will reach the recipients in the Vilnius region thanks to my publications in “Kurier Wileński”.
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Read more: Poetry Day with Tomasz Snarski
This is not the first initiative that you have taken to commemorate the jubilee of Vilnius….
Indeed, since the beginning of the year I have already managed to implement several social initiatives promoting Vilnius. I think that what these events have in common is that they are bottom-up and stem from a genuine need. At the very beginning of the year, I wrote a poem for the city’s 700th anniversary. I am very happy that it met with a very positive reception. The graphic for this poem was created by art historian Filip Maciejowski from Norway, and translated into Lithuanian by Birutė Jonuškaitė. The poem appeared on the city’s birthday in many media, the most pleasing thing is that it gained popularity among young people via social media, who willingly shared it. Its publication turned into an interactive event that showed that a lot can be done with one’s own commitment, also without special projects or funding. In turn, the Law Library of the University of Gdańsk organized, on my initiative, the exhibition “700th Anniversary of Vilnius. Wróblewski, Vilnius, Milosz. The heroes of the jubilee exhibition include: Bronisław Wróblewski and Czesław Miłosz — two outstanding citizens of Vilnius. Bronisław Wróblewski was one of the most outstanding Polish criminalists, a lecturer at the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. Almost everyone has heard of Miłosz, but still few remember that he was just finishing his law studies in Vilnius. In February, the guest of the Gdańsk Poets Club in the Oliwa Library was Romuald Mieczkowski, a poet, writer and editor-in-chief of the quarterly “Znad Wilii”. At the end of March, I had the opportunity to organize a meeting with Birutė Jonuškaitė, a well-known writer, poet and translator in Lithuania, which took place at the Literary Restaurant in Gdańsk, under the patronage of the Honorary Consul of Lithuania. Of course, it is also important to prepare the “Vilnius in Gdańsk” Festival in September, which will be held for the twentieth time as part of the official cooperation between the cities.
Read more: Community “Vilnius in Gdańsk”
| photo. materials of the organizers
On the occasion of meetings between Gdańsk and Vilnius, the fact is often mentioned that due to the resettlement, the post-war roots of many Gdańsk residents are in Vilnius. Gdańsk, however, is constantly changing, it is a university city, which is visited by many people from different parts of the world every year. Is this sentiment for Vilnius also felt in the young generation of Gdańsk residents?
The world is changing very dynamically, and thus Gdańsk and Vilnius are becoming more and more diverse. All the more important are cultural activities that remember about historical ties, while opening up to the present and the future. Well, my most important intention is that Vilnius, and more broadly Lithuania, will be of interest not only to those who have Vilnius roots or sentiment for these areas. If the quality of the organized cultural offer, written books, organized meetings or presented exhibitions is simply culture in the best sense of the word, attracting everyone, then we will create something universal that will attract. Unfortunately, when organizing various events in Poland that are supposed to refer to the Vilnius tradition, this is often forgotten. It is clear to me that these efforts are valuable as long as the relationships between cities and communities are preserved for future generations. As the years go by and various initiatives are created, I also notice that there are more and more people who feel connected to Vilnius. Of course, school graduates from Vilnius come here to study, sometimes they are Poles, but there are also Lithuanians who speak excellent Polish. They often come up to me at the university and say: “Doctor, I know that you organize various interesting cultural events here, please let me know if there will be another meeting.” These are not people from “history”, they are here, in the present, this new, young generation. And great. The point is to preserve the best of the past for the future, to build wonderful partnerships today. I think that based on cultural exchange we can really discover a universal community that is centered around our best values and around our humanity.
You mentioned the Vilnius in Gdańsk Festival. Do you already know what events will be planned as part of the festival?
We cannot talk about details or specific events yet, but it will certainly be a special festival, because we have not one, but three occasions to celebrate. In 2023, we celebrate not only the 700th anniversary of Vilnius, but also the 25th anniversary of partnership cooperation between Gdańsk and Vilnius and the 20th anniversary of the Vilnius festival in Gdańsk.
Read more: What would heaven be without Vilnius? Gdańsk-Vilnius cooperation not only on holidays
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