en-65 | QUART

Faculty of Historical and Pedagocial Science

Journal financed by the
Faculty of Historical and Pedagocial Science
at the University of Wroclaw

Isuue 3(65)/2022

Editorial

In the over 10-year history of our quarterly, we have relatively rarely addressed issues related to industrial architecture or its post-industrial filiations. This gap is largely filled by the latest issue of “Quart”, in which several texts deal with this extremely important – for art history – topic. Agata Gabiś’s article presents the comparatively little-known field of Lower Silesian industrial architecture after 1945, while Marta Ostrowska-Bies’s text brings us closer to the disputes concerning the location of a large municipal slaughterhouse in Wrocław in the second half of the 19th century. The famous Pafawag in Wrocław, in turn, is the subject of interest of Iwona Kałuża, who attempts to shed light not only on the pre-war but also on the post-war times of the facility. Meanwhile, the latest history of Wrocław’s “(un)revitalised industria” is revealed to us by Adam Pacholak.

Wishing to be as close as possible to the present, we have also decided to include several texts relating to forms of art presentation – those associated with new media (Emilia Kiecko), as well as with the Kraków “Zderzak” Gallery, which has been in operation since the mid-1980s (Anna Markowska). The present is also marked by new methods of developing architectural surfaces, creating opportunities to combine modern architecture with the latest trends in art already in the 21st c. (Zofia Koszewicz and Jarosława Pabich-Szmyt), and by extremely interesting reflections on the projects of underwater cities, derived from the world of utopian dreams and mostly still waiting for their final realisation (Cezary Wąs).

The whole is complemented by a review of Hans-Rudolf Meier’s book on the use of spolia in architecture (Agnieszka Zabłocka-Kos) and a summary of the 18th German-Polish Seminar Wrocław–Halle–Siegen (Roksana Maria Łajkosz).

As we can see, the latest “Quart” is a kind of “forest of things” which, thanks to their mysterious transformation into works of art, cease to be mere things and become the humanist and artistic expression of successive periods, a testimony not only to the passing of time, but also to the “long duration”, so characteristic for research into art history.

At this point, I would like to thank the thematic editor of this issue, Dr. Agata Gabiś, for her work on the latest issue of “Quart”, without whose substantive comments and aid we would not have been able not only to shed light on the “Great Wrocław Industria”, but also to address other problems that go in an interesting way far beyond the history of architecture. I would also like to express my thanks to the Department of Culture of the Wrocław City Office, whose financial support significantly contributed to the publication of this issue.

On behalf of the Editorial Board
Prof. Dr. habil. Waldemar Okoń

Od redakcji / Editorial