WEBVTT 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:04.879 I want to start today by, well, asking you to 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:07.700 visualize a specific kind of landscape. Like 00:00:07.700 --> 00:00:10.400 if I say the phrase Rust Belt, you probably have 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:14.199 a very specific image in your head. I definitely 00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:15.759 do, yeah. You know, maybe you're thinking of 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:20.179 Pittsburgh or Detroit in the 80s or the Ru Valley 00:00:20.179 --> 00:00:23.239 over in Germany. Right. massive red brick buildings, 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:25.859 these giant smokestacks that just scrape the 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:29.260 sky, endless rows of shattered windows. It is 00:00:29.260 --> 00:00:31.339 a landscape of ghosts, essentially. I mean, these 00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:33.640 are places that used to define the entire eponymy 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:36.240 of a region. And then they just stop. Exactly. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:38.640 Almost overnight, they became obsolete. They 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.899 became eyesores to a lot of people. Right. And 00:00:41.899 --> 00:00:44.100 usually the story with these places goes one 00:00:44.100 --> 00:00:46.359 of two ways, which is usually demolition. Yeah. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:48.380 Option one, the wrecking ball comes in, knocks 00:00:48.380 --> 00:00:50.420 it all down and they build a strip mall. Or a 00:00:50.420 --> 00:00:53.539 parking lot. Or a parking lot. Or option two, 00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:56.079 they gut the inside, put in some cheap drywall, 00:00:56.359 --> 00:00:58.520 and turn it into these overpriced loft apartments. 00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:01.700 That is the standard gentrification playbook. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.799 It's either total erasure or, you know, sanitized 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:07.739 repurposing. But today, we're looking at a third 00:01:07.739 --> 00:01:10.680 option. We're doing a deep dive into a place 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:13.939 that totally refused to be erased and definitely 00:01:13.939 --> 00:01:16.319 refused to be sanitized. It's a really unique 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:19.040 case study. It is. We're going to Teladu, Poland. 00:01:19.699 --> 00:01:21.620 Specifically, we're looking at the Electronia 00:01:21.620 --> 00:01:26.019 Gallery of Contemporary Art. And the name Electronia, 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:28.859 it's not just a cool, edgy brand name they came 00:01:28.859 --> 00:01:32.219 up with. It literally translates to power station. 00:01:32.659 --> 00:01:34.920 Because for nearly a century, that is exactly 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:37.379 what it was. And we have a fascinating stack 00:01:37.379 --> 00:01:40.319 of documentation here for our sources today covering 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:42.659 the building's history, its architecture, and 00:01:42.659 --> 00:01:44.680 its inclusion in something called the Silesian 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:47.140 Industrial Monuments Route. I just love that 00:01:47.140 --> 00:01:49.870 name, Industrial Monuments. heavy. It is heavy. 00:01:49.969 --> 00:01:51.870 I mean, we are talking about the Silesian Voivodeship, 00:01:51.989 --> 00:01:54.230 which is historically the industrial heart of 00:01:54.230 --> 00:01:56.510 Poland. Right. The real gritty stuff. Exactly. 00:01:56.790 --> 00:02:00.489 Coal, steel, heavy machinery. And the mission 00:02:00.489 --> 00:02:03.329 of our deep dive today is to really figure out 00:02:03.329 --> 00:02:06.549 how a 20th century industrial beast. And it was 00:02:06.549 --> 00:02:09.830 a beast. Oh, absolutely. Specifically, the power 00:02:09.830 --> 00:02:12.469 station for the Saturn coal mine. We want to 00:02:12.469 --> 00:02:15.330 know how it was saved from the scrap yard and 00:02:15.330 --> 00:02:17.789 turned into a modern cultural hub without losing 00:02:17.789 --> 00:02:20.419 its mechanical soul. Because here's the kicker, 00:02:20.699 --> 00:02:22.599 and this is what really caught my attention when 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:24.379 we were going through the research. Yeah. They 00:02:24.379 --> 00:02:27.120 didn't just save the building. They saved the 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.379 guts of the building. They left it all in there. 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:32.400 This isn't an empty shell. When you go there 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:35.460 to see the art, you are standing right next to 00:02:35.460 --> 00:02:37.719 the machines that used to power the mine. Which 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:40.400 is a very risky design choice, if you think about 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:42.599 it. Seriously risky. But before we get to the 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:45.479 now... We need to understand the then. We need 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:48.060 to go back to the turn of the 20th century. Okay, 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:51.219 let's set the timeline. We're looking at construction 00:02:51.219 --> 00:02:55.039 dates between 1902 and 1908. Right. Now, when 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:57.500 I think of a power plant built today, I think 00:02:57.500 --> 00:03:02.259 of, well, ugly. A concrete box. Exactly. A concrete 00:03:02.259 --> 00:03:05.259 box, maybe some barbed wire fencing, definitely 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:06.759 not something you'd want to put on a postcard. 00:03:06.819 --> 00:03:10.259 Very utilitarian. Right. But this building... 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:13.159 If you saw a photo of it without the smokestacks, 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:16.020 you might honestly think it was a church or like 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:18.479 a university library. That's a very specific 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:20.300 aesthetic. Does the source material literally 00:03:20.300 --> 00:03:22.879 describes it as having gothic -inspired detailing? 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:25.560 That is a crucial detail to pull out of the sources. 00:03:25.620 --> 00:03:28.699 This was designed by a well -known Polish architect 00:03:28.699 --> 00:03:32.180 named Józef Pajas -Dekaski. Okay. And he didn't 00:03:32.180 --> 00:03:35.240 just draw a box to hold a generator. He designed 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:38.539 a structure with a rectangular plan a central 00:03:38.539 --> 00:03:41.360 entrance access, and a very prominent tower. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:43.479 A tower and a power plant. I mean, that feels 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:46.080 like a flex. Oh, it was absolutely a flex. You 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:47.919 have to put yourself in that mindset. In the 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:51.219 early 1900s, this concept of industrial cathedrals 00:03:51.219 --> 00:03:54.120 was very real. Industrial cathedrals. I like 00:03:54.120 --> 00:03:56.080 that. You have to remember, electricity was still 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:58.599 relatively new. It was miraculous. It was the 00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:00.659 force that was going to drag the world out of 00:04:00.659 --> 00:04:02.879 the Dark Ages. Because you don't hide it. Exactly. 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:05.500 You didn't put that kind of world -changing technology 00:04:05.500 --> 00:04:08.520 in a cheap shed. You built a temple for it. So 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:10.759 the Gothic part, we're talking about those pointed 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:14.439 arches. the really intricate brickwork. Precisely. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:18.160 It projects power and stability. If you were 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:20.480 a coal miner walking to work in 1908 and you 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.560 looked up at this massive brick structure with 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:26.759 its tower just looming over you, you felt something. 00:04:26.819 --> 00:04:29.500 You felt small. You felt small but you also felt 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:32.680 like you were part of something grand. The weight 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:35.500 of the institution. The architecture of power. 00:04:36.030 --> 00:04:38.730 It's fascinating because it almost disguises 00:04:38.730 --> 00:04:41.790 the really dirty, brutal work happening inside. 00:04:41.949 --> 00:04:44.290 Or perhaps it elevates it. It gives it a sense 00:04:44.290 --> 00:04:46.529 of sacred duty. That's a good point, elevating 00:04:46.529 --> 00:04:48.790 the labor. But let's walk inside that cathedral. 00:04:49.149 --> 00:04:50.709 Because once you step through those doors in 00:04:50.709 --> 00:04:53.610 1908, the peaceful church vibe was completely 00:04:53.610 --> 00:04:56.470 gone. Oh, instantly. It was loud. It was unbelievably 00:04:56.470 --> 00:04:59.389 hot. And it was dangerous. The documentation 00:04:59.389 --> 00:05:01.990 gives us a really great inventory of what was 00:05:01.990 --> 00:05:03.930 inside and actually what is still inside today. 00:05:04.110 --> 00:05:06.509 This wasn't just a storage room. This was the 00:05:06.509 --> 00:05:09.089 beating heart of the entire Saturn coal mine 00:05:09.089 --> 00:05:11.290 complex. OK, so let's get technical for a second. 00:05:11.449 --> 00:05:13.569 We've got this list of machinery from the sources. 00:05:13.730 --> 00:05:15.509 We've got generators, compressors, converters 00:05:15.509 --> 00:05:17.910 to the average person. To me, those just sound 00:05:17.910 --> 00:05:21.170 like big, loud metal things. But what were they 00:05:21.170 --> 00:05:23.089 actually doing for the mine? Well, let's take 00:05:23.089 --> 00:05:25.689 the compressors, for example. In a coal mine, 00:05:25.930 --> 00:05:27.930 you have miners working kilometers underground. 00:05:27.949 --> 00:05:30.009 Right. Deep in the earth. And they need to operate 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:33.850 drills, hammers, really heavy equipment. But 00:05:33.850 --> 00:05:37.250 you can't easily run electrical extension cords 00:05:37.250 --> 00:05:41.089 down a damp, explosive mine shaft in 1902. Oh, 00:05:41.089 --> 00:05:43.769 that makes sense. Sparks and gas. Exactly. Highly 00:05:43.769 --> 00:05:48.009 dangerous. So you use compressed air. These massive 00:05:48.009 --> 00:05:50.709 compressors on the surface were literally acting 00:05:50.709 --> 00:05:54.670 as the lungs of the mine Wow Lungs of the mind. 00:05:54.829 --> 00:05:56.990 They were pumping highly pressurized air all 00:05:56.990 --> 00:05:59.430 the way down into the earth to power the pneumatic 00:05:59.430 --> 00:06:01.509 tools the miners were using. Okay, that makes 00:06:01.509 --> 00:06:03.370 sense. And what about the converters? Those would 00:06:03.370 --> 00:06:05.889 be for converting electrical current, likely 00:06:05.889 --> 00:06:08.209 taking high voltage from the generators and stepping 00:06:08.209 --> 00:06:10.709 it down to something usable for specific machinery, 00:06:11.290 --> 00:06:13.850 or changing it from alternating current to direct 00:06:13.850 --> 00:06:15.850 current. So if the compressors are the lungs, 00:06:16.170 --> 00:06:17.819 the converters are the nervous system. That's 00:06:17.819 --> 00:06:20.180 a great way to put it. The generator created 00:06:20.180 --> 00:06:23.060 the power, the converters refined it and righted 00:06:23.060 --> 00:06:25.420 it, and the compressors applied it. And sitting 00:06:25.420 --> 00:06:28.100 right in the middle of all this high voltage, 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:31.879 high pressure chaos is the absolute star of the 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:34.699 show. Yes, it is. The sources specifically highlight 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:38.519 this one generator manufactured in 1903. But 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:41.699 the best part, the absolute best part is that 00:06:41.699 --> 00:06:45.339 it has a name. Yes, they named her Wanda. Wait, 00:06:45.459 --> 00:06:48.670 hold on. They named a massive industrial generator 00:06:48.670 --> 00:06:52.410 Wanda. Is that a common thing? I mean, I named 00:06:52.410 --> 00:06:54.670 my car, but I didn't think industrial engineers 00:06:54.670 --> 00:06:57.990 from 1903 were the sentimental types. It's surprisingly 00:06:57.990 --> 00:07:00.269 common in heavy industry, actually. Really? Oh, 00:07:00.269 --> 00:07:02.269 yeah. You see, with ships, obviously, but also 00:07:02.269 --> 00:07:05.149 with blast furnaces, and yes, with massive generators, 00:07:05.290 --> 00:07:07.470 it humanizes the technology. I guess that makes 00:07:07.470 --> 00:07:10.029 sense. You have to imagine the engineers operating 00:07:10.029 --> 00:07:11.970 that power station spent more time with this 00:07:11.970 --> 00:07:13.850 machine than they did with their own families. 00:07:14.050 --> 00:07:16.110 Just stand there going, how's Wanda acting up 00:07:16.110 --> 00:07:18.529 today? Oh, she's running a little hot. Exactly 00:07:18.529 --> 00:07:21.889 that. It implies a relationship. It acknowledges 00:07:21.889 --> 00:07:23.949 that the machine has a temperament. Right, it's 00:07:23.949 --> 00:07:26.970 not just a digital button. A generator from 1903 00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:29.569 isn't a device where you just press on and walk 00:07:29.569 --> 00:07:33.769 away. It requires constant lubrication, tiny 00:07:33.769 --> 00:07:36.490 adjustments, literally listening to the rhythm 00:07:36.490 --> 00:07:38.889 of the spin to know if something is wrong. You 00:07:38.889 --> 00:07:40.850 had to take care of Wanda. You had to take care 00:07:40.850 --> 00:07:43.110 of Wanda or Wanda would stop working and the 00:07:43.110 --> 00:07:45.769 whole mine would shut down. And she's still there. 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:48.269 That's what completely blows my mind about this 00:07:48.269 --> 00:07:51.879 deep dive. The mine closed. decades ago, but 00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:54.259 Wanda is still just sitting in the living room. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.439 Which brings us to arguably most contentious 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:00.339 part of this whole renovation project. The clash. 00:08:00.540 --> 00:08:03.439 Right. Because the Electronia Gallery isn't just 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:05.720 a preserved power plant. It's an art gallery. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:07.920 Right. And this is where I have some major questions. 00:08:07.980 --> 00:08:10.220 Yeah. Because usually when we talk about contemporary 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:12.220 art galleries, we talk about the white cube. 00:08:12.459 --> 00:08:15.300 The famous white cube theory. Yes. Popularized 00:08:15.300 --> 00:08:18.160 by Brian O'Doherty. Right. The idea is that art 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:21.220 is sacred, so the space around it should be completely 00:08:21.220 --> 00:08:25.100 invisible. White walls, total silence, no windows, 00:08:25.579 --> 00:08:28.339 absolutely no context. The goal is to make the 00:08:28.339 --> 00:08:31.079 outside world disappear so you only see the art. 00:08:31.379 --> 00:08:33.980 That has been the standard for decades. Exactly. 00:08:34.539 --> 00:08:37.639 But at Electronia, the world definitely hasn't 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:40.500 disappeared. You're looking at a painting, and 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:43.059 right above your head is an eight -ton overhead 00:08:43.059 --> 00:08:45.740 crane. eight tons of iron just hanging from the 00:08:45.740 --> 00:08:47.879 ceiling. Doesn't that sort of ruin the art? I 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:49.899 mean, how can I focus on a delicate watercolor 00:08:49.899 --> 00:08:53.000 or some subtle conceptual sculpture when I'm 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:54.860 constantly worried about an eight -ton crane 00:08:54.860 --> 00:08:58.360 or I'm distracted staring at a massive 1903 generator? 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:01.019 Doesn't the machine steal the show? That is the 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:03.659 risk, and it's a very valid critique. I'm sure 00:09:03.659 --> 00:09:06.200 some artists hate it. Oh, some curators would 00:09:06.200 --> 00:09:07.960 absolutely hate this space. They would say the 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:09.679 architecture is far too loud, too distracting. 00:09:09.820 --> 00:09:11.779 It overpowers the work. But they did it anyway. 00:09:11.909 --> 00:09:14.330 They did. Because the counter -argument, and 00:09:14.330 --> 00:09:16.129 the one the electronic gallery is essentially 00:09:16.129 --> 00:09:19.129 making, is that the white cube is a lie. A lie. 00:09:19.230 --> 00:09:21.429 Art doesn't exist in a vacuum. It never has. 00:09:21.590 --> 00:09:23.850 It exists in the real world, heavily influenced 00:09:23.850 --> 00:09:26.730 by the society around it. So by leaving the crane 00:09:26.730 --> 00:09:28.830 and leaving Wanda and all the original control 00:09:28.830 --> 00:09:31.289 panels, they're basically forcing a conversation. 00:09:31.509 --> 00:09:34.509 They are forcing a very literal dialogue between 00:09:34.509 --> 00:09:37.909 the industrial age and the information age. When 00:09:37.909 --> 00:09:40.269 you look at contemporary art in that specific 00:09:40.269 --> 00:09:43.590 space, you are forced to acknowledge the immense 00:09:43.590 --> 00:09:46.389 labor and the raw energy that built the society 00:09:46.389 --> 00:09:49.009 we live in today. That's deep. The art might 00:09:49.009 --> 00:09:52.899 represent culture. But Wanda represents the power 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:55.179 that made that culture possible. It's a dirty 00:09:55.179 --> 00:09:57.759 cube. A dirty cube, yes, in the best possible 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:00.120 way. Let's talk about the timeline of how we 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:02.159 got here. Because reading through the sources, 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:04.720 it almost didn't happen. It was very close to 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:07.100 being lost forever. The timeline and the source 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:09.799 material is surprisingly tight. The Saturn coal 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:13.399 mine officially ceased production in 1996. 1996. 00:10:13.740 --> 00:10:15.580 And you have to understand that is the ultimate 00:10:15.580 --> 00:10:17.600 danger zone for these structures. Why is that? 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:20.820 In the late 90s in Poland, the economy was transforming 00:10:20.820 --> 00:10:24.320 so rapidly, a lot of state -owned heavy industries 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:26.700 were just collapsing. Right, the transition period. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:29.299 When a massive place like the Saturn mine closes, 00:10:29.720 --> 00:10:32.259 usually the scrappers move in within weeks. They 00:10:32.259 --> 00:10:34.539 strip the copper wire, they steal the steel beams, 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:36.820 the windows get smashed, and eventually the roof 00:10:36.820 --> 00:10:40.120 caves in. It's honestly a miracle Wanda wasn't 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:42.960 melted down for scrap metal. It really is. The 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:44.779 building sat silent for a few years, which is 00:10:44.779 --> 00:10:48.220 usually a death sentence, but... The local community 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:50.399 and the regional authorities moved surprisingly 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:53.080 fast. They didn't wait around. No. The gallery 00:10:53.080 --> 00:10:55.980 actually began operating in 2005. That's less 00:10:55.980 --> 00:10:57.940 than a decade after the coal stopped coming up 00:10:57.940 --> 00:11:00.990 from the ground. That is incredibly fast. Usually 00:11:00.990 --> 00:11:03.789 these things sit rotting for 20 or 30 years before 00:11:03.789 --> 00:11:06.049 someone has a bright idea to save them. It speaks 00:11:06.049 --> 00:11:09.909 volumes to the local pride in Celadu. They recognized 00:11:09.909 --> 00:11:12.509 very early on that this wasn't just junk. It 00:11:12.509 --> 00:11:16.049 was their heritage. And then in 2010, the location 00:11:16.049 --> 00:11:19.350 got a huge boost. It officially joined the Silesian 00:11:19.350 --> 00:11:21.669 Industrial Monuments route. OK, explain that 00:11:21.669 --> 00:11:23.450 to me. Is that like a tourist trail? Essentially, 00:11:23.629 --> 00:11:26.149 yes. It's a vast network of industrial sites 00:11:26.149 --> 00:11:29.659 all across Silesia. talking old mines, factories, 00:11:30.059 --> 00:11:32.360 worker housing estates, power stations. And they 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:34.360 just link them all together. Exactly. They've 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:37.240 been preserved and open to the public as a collective 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:41.240 experience. It's a very deliberate way of reclaiming 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:43.740 the identity of the region. Reclaiming it from 00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:46.820 what? Well, instead of being ashamed of the soot 00:11:46.820 --> 00:11:50.059 and the smoke and the gritty past, they are actively 00:11:50.059 --> 00:11:53.120 celebrating the engineering and the history of 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:56.000 the working class. That's a really powerful shift 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:58.000 in perspective in getting on that official route. 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:00.639 That opens doors for serious funding, right? 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:03.080 Absolutely. Being part of that route gave them 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:06.000 legitimacy. The sources mention a major modernization 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:09.139 project that was completed in late 2013. Oh, 00:12:09.139 --> 00:12:12.480 right. And this is key. It was largely funded 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:14.659 by the European Union. I can just imagine the 00:12:14.659 --> 00:12:17.100 pitch meeting for that grant. We need millions 00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:19.320 of euros to fix up a power plant. To generate 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:22.000 more power. No, to look at paintings. But it 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.299 worked. And they needed that money for safety 00:12:24.299 --> 00:12:26.659 just as much as aesthetics. You asked earlier 00:12:26.659 --> 00:12:28.779 about how they kept the machines. Right. How 00:12:28.779 --> 00:12:31.500 is it safe to have people walking around a 1903 00:12:31.500 --> 00:12:34.350 generator? Think about the monumental challenge 00:12:34.350 --> 00:12:36.370 of that renovation. You have a building covered 00:12:36.370 --> 00:12:39.190 in over a hundred years of embedded coal dust. 00:12:39.289 --> 00:12:42.049 Gross. You have industrial lubricants soaked 00:12:42.049 --> 00:12:45.649 into the floors, potential asbestos, sharp rusty 00:12:45.649 --> 00:12:48.809 metal everywhere you look. To make that environment 00:12:48.809 --> 00:12:51.649 safe for a school field trip or a public concert 00:12:51.649 --> 00:12:55.230 requires a massive incredibly careful amount 00:12:55.230 --> 00:12:57.789 of work. They'd have to be sandblasting the bricks, 00:12:58.450 --> 00:13:00.669 professionally securing that eight -ton crane 00:13:00.669 --> 00:13:03.210 that doesn't actually drop on the art. Exactly. 00:13:03.269 --> 00:13:05.610 It's a very delicate balance of cleaning it up 00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:07.929 without making it look too new. You don't want 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:09.850 it to look fake. Right. You don't want it to 00:13:09.850 --> 00:13:11.730 look like a theme park version of a factory. 00:13:11.870 --> 00:13:13.850 You want it to still feel like a place where 00:13:13.850 --> 00:13:16.470 heavy labor happened. So fast forward to today. 00:13:16.830 --> 00:13:20.169 The sources note that since September 1st, 2016, 00:13:20.710 --> 00:13:22.809 the gallery has been officially operated by the 00:13:22.809 --> 00:13:25.850 museum Saturn, or the Saturn Museum. So it's 00:13:25.850 --> 00:13:28.409 officially part of a museum complex now. But 00:13:28.409 --> 00:13:30.570 looking at the modern usage section of our notes, 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:32.830 it seems like they do a whole lot more than just 00:13:32.830 --> 00:13:35.179 let people stare at old control panels. It is 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:38.820 a highly active cultural hub. They have the temporary 00:13:38.820 --> 00:13:40.779 exhibitions of contemporary art we talked about, 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:43.039 but also workshops, educational programs for 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.799 kids. It's alive. But the thing that really stands 00:13:45.799 --> 00:13:48.360 out to me in the documentation is the concerts. 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:51.340 Concerts in a brick and steel power station. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:53.320 Just think about the acoustics for a second. 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:56.159 I am. And it honestly sounds like an audio nightmare. 00:13:56.659 --> 00:14:00.240 All those hard surfaces, brick walls, steel machinery. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:03.399 Wouldn't it just be a massive wash of echo? It 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:05.820 would be incredibly resonant, yes. It might be 00:14:05.820 --> 00:14:08.159 terrible for recording a fast -talking conversation 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:10.519 like ours. Right, terrible for a deep dive. But 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:13.360 for certain types of music, it's perfect. Choirs, 00:14:13.659 --> 00:14:16.620 ambient music, experimental soundscapes, or even 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:18.940 heavy industrial music. Oh, industrial music 00:14:18.940 --> 00:14:21.460 in an actual industrial plant. That makes sense. 00:14:21.539 --> 00:14:23.820 It creates an atmosphere you simply cannot replicate 00:14:23.820 --> 00:14:26.679 in a modern, acoustically padded concert hall. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:29.179 The building itself basically becomes an instrument. 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:31.940 That's so cool. And speaking of events, there's 00:14:31.940 --> 00:14:34.159 one specific festival mentioned heavily in the 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:38.399 text. Industriada. Yes. The Electronia Gallery 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:41.419 actually hosted the official inauguration of 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:44.059 the 2016 Industriada. Industriada. It sounds 00:14:44.059 --> 00:14:46.519 like an Olympics for factories. That's not far 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:49.179 off. It's actually a massive annual festival 00:14:49.179 --> 00:14:51.639 that takes place across that entire industrial 00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:53.460 monuments route we talked about earlier. Oh, 00:14:53.460 --> 00:14:56.279 so the whole region participates. Yes. It's one 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:59.509 day a year where All these sites, the mines, 00:14:59.649 --> 00:15:01.690 the power plants, the old breweries, they all 00:15:01.690 --> 00:15:04.950 just come alive. What do they do? They have laser 00:15:04.950 --> 00:15:07.690 light shows, theatrical performances, special 00:15:07.690 --> 00:15:10.190 guided tours. Sounds like a huge party. It is 00:15:10.190 --> 00:15:12.929 a massive party. But it's a party with a very 00:15:12.929 --> 00:15:15.730 specific purpose. It's about the people of Silesia 00:15:15.730 --> 00:15:18.710 loudly saying, this is who we are. Boning their 00:15:18.710 --> 00:15:21.450 history. Precisely. Because for a long time, 00:15:21.610 --> 00:15:23.850 the industrial past was seen as a burden. It 00:15:23.850 --> 00:15:25.629 was something to escape from. Because it was 00:15:25.629 --> 00:15:28.710 associated with pollution and hard labor. Pollution, 00:15:29.009 --> 00:15:32.289 back -breaking labor, grime. But events like 00:15:32.289 --> 00:15:34.830 Industriata completely flip the script. They 00:15:34.830 --> 00:15:36.350 look at these structures and say, look at what 00:15:36.350 --> 00:15:38.789 we built. Look at the sheer scale of it. It's 00:15:38.789 --> 00:15:41.149 beautiful. It totally validates the history of 00:15:41.149 --> 00:15:44.500 the region. Exactly. And by hosting the inauguration 00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:47.480 event, Electronia really cemented its place as 00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:50.600 a cornerstone of that new post -industrial identity. 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:52.639 So let's try to pull this all together for the 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:55.539 listener. We started with a coal mine power station, 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:59.340 a place defined by grit, deafening noise, and 00:15:59.340 --> 00:16:01.740 constant danger. Built to look like a cathedral 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:04.779 by Josef Pius Jutuski. Right. We saw it survive 00:16:04.779 --> 00:16:07.559 the total collapse of the local industry in 1996, 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:10.679 narrowly avoid the record's ball, and get totally 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:12.799 reinvented as a contemporary art gallery. But 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:15.299 a gallery that completely refuses to hide its 00:16:15.299 --> 00:16:18.580 past. A place where Wanda the Generator is treated 00:16:18.580 --> 00:16:21.200 as just as important as the abstract paintings 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:23.419 hanging on the wall. And I think that's really 00:16:23.419 --> 00:16:25.200 the big takeaway for me from all these sources. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.500 We so often think of heritage as just being castles 00:16:28.500 --> 00:16:31.220 or palaces, places where kings and queens lived. 00:16:31.379 --> 00:16:33.620 Or maybe battlefields. Right, places where famous 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:35.830 generals fought. But the vast majority of human 00:16:35.830 --> 00:16:38.649 history isn't spent living in palaces. No, it's 00:16:38.649 --> 00:16:40.750 not. It's spent in places like the Saturn power 00:16:40.750 --> 00:16:43.490 station. It's spent turning heavy dials, shoveling 00:16:43.490 --> 00:16:46.230 coal, maintaining giant generators. It's a history 00:16:46.230 --> 00:16:49.720 of work. Yes. And saving a building like this, 00:16:49.980 --> 00:16:52.740 preserving it so carefully, is a way of saying 00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:55.460 that the history of the everyday worker matters 00:16:55.460 --> 00:16:57.940 just as much as the history of the ruler. The 00:16:57.940 --> 00:17:00.799 cathedral of labor. The cathedral of labor deserves 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.440 to be preserved and visited just as much as the 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:07.000 literal cathedral down the street. I completely 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:09.900 agree. And honestly, a regular cathedral doesn't 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:11.980 have an eight ton crane hanging from the ceiling. 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:15.680 No, they usually lack that feature. Which... 00:17:15.049 --> 00:17:17.269 I'm still deciding if I'd want hanging right 00:17:17.269 --> 00:17:20.230 over my head while I look at art, but I heavily 00:17:20.230 --> 00:17:22.390 respect the aesthetic commitment. It certainly 00:17:22.390 --> 00:17:24.690 keeps you alert while you're viewing the exhibition. 00:17:24.869 --> 00:17:27.670 It sure does. This has been a really cool look 00:17:27.670 --> 00:17:30.630 at how we can recycle our history without just 00:17:30.630 --> 00:17:32.869 deleting it or paving over it. It changes your 00:17:32.869 --> 00:17:34.710 perspective. It really makes me want to look 00:17:34.710 --> 00:17:37.029 at the old rundown factories in my own town a 00:17:37.029 --> 00:17:39.329 little differently. Maybe they aren't just ruins. 00:17:39.710 --> 00:17:41.470 Maybe they're just waiting for their own Wanda 00:17:41.470 --> 00:17:43.710 moment. Well, before we wrap up today, I want 00:17:43.710 --> 00:17:45.390 to leave you with one final thought to chew on. 00:17:45.450 --> 00:17:47.750 Something not explicitly in the sources, but 00:17:47.750 --> 00:17:50.630 inspired by them. We talked a lot about the clash 00:17:50.630 --> 00:17:53.829 today. The art versus the machine. The white 00:17:53.829 --> 00:17:56.809 cube versus the dirty cube. Right. So picture 00:17:56.809 --> 00:17:58.769 yourself standing there in Celadu right now. 00:17:58.990 --> 00:18:00.950 On your left, you have a piece of cutting edge 00:18:00.950 --> 00:18:04.690 contemporary art. OK. It's abstract. It's intellectual. 00:18:05.250 --> 00:18:07.769 It represents the absolute forefront of human 00:18:07.769 --> 00:18:10.490 creativity today. Got it. On your right, you 00:18:10.490 --> 00:18:14.369 have Wanda. a 1903 generator that literally powered 00:18:14.369 --> 00:18:17.390 the lives of thousands of people, kept the lights 00:18:17.390 --> 00:18:19.930 on, kept the vital air flowing underground so 00:18:19.930 --> 00:18:22.049 miners could breathe. Okay, I'm picturing it. 00:18:22.289 --> 00:18:24.170 If you had to choose just one of those things 00:18:24.170 --> 00:18:27.410 to explain humanity to an alien, or to explain 00:18:27.410 --> 00:18:29.950 the concept of progress to your kids, which one 00:18:29.950 --> 00:18:33.069 would you pick? Is the true masterpiece the painting, 00:18:33.690 --> 00:18:36.950 or is the masterpiece the massive machine that 00:18:36.950 --> 00:18:39.769 liberated us from the dark? Wow, that is quite 00:18:39.769 --> 00:18:41.880 a question. I mean, the art is great. But Wanda 00:18:41.880 --> 00:18:44.380 literally kept people alive. It's a very tough 00:18:44.380 --> 00:18:47.579 choice. I think I firmly team Wanda on this one. 00:18:48.059 --> 00:18:49.960 But please don't tell the art critics I said 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:53.480 that. Your secret is safe with me. Thanks for 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:55.779 listening to this deep dive into the Electronia 00:18:55.779 --> 00:18:57.380 Gallery. We'll catch you on the next one.