We Opened Hashtag Lab!

What a week­end it was under the ban­ner of “We’re Open­ing Hash­tag Lab”! We still can’t quite come down from the high — full of impres­sions, emo­tions, and moti­va­tion to keep going. We are over­joyed that so many of you chose to cel­e­brate with us the open­ing of Poland’s first Con­tem­po­rary Music Space.

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We kicked off the open­ing with a meet­ing attend­ed by jour­nal­ists and rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the City of War­saw, which co-funds our project, as well as var­i­ous organ­i­sa­tions and insti­tu­tions. We extend our warmest thanks to Deputy May­or Aldona Mach­nows­ka-Góra, Ocho­ta Dis­trict May­or Doro­ta Ste­gien­ka, Direc­tor of the Cul­ture Office Artur Jóźwik, and all guests for their pres­ence and words of sup­port. Dur­ing the event, our read­ing room was enriched with archival issues of Glis­san­do mag­a­zine. Soon you’ll be able to drop in for a read. We are glad that our work is met with inter­est and — as befits a com­mu­ni­ty-based cul­tur­al insti­tu­tion — we are build­ing it together.

Our very first vis­i­tors arrived on Fri­day at 12:05 pm, which was an incred­i­bly pleas­ant sur­prise. We were delight­ed that the open­ing attract­ed our new neigh­bours from Ocho­ta and that over cof­fee we could tell you about our plans.

That day we also unveiled two instal­la­tions that accom­pa­nied us through­out the week­end: Woj­ciech Błaże­jczyk’s #Net­work­Mu­sic, which maps the mech­a­nisms of net­works, and a video opera direct­ed by Pia Par­tum that trans­ports view­ers along Venice’s canals to our patio. Con­ver­sa­tions with the artists were led by Ewa Szczecińska.

On Sat­ur­day you explored Hash­tag Lab from noon while we pre­pared for the evening open­ing con­cert. In the café, over cof­fee and sweets, we had many fas­ci­nat­ing and inspir­ing conversations.

The open­ing con­cert began with our won­der­ful guests Mar­ty­na Kosec­ka & Idin Sami­mi Mofakham, who pre­sent­ed the Pol­ish pre­miere of “Surge”: their state­ment on the crimes tak­ing place in Iran. Then came Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Eight Songs for a Mad King”, per­formed by Tymo­teusz Bies togeth­er with Hash­tag Ensem­ble musi­cians. We still remem­ber the moment the vio­lin was smashed. Next came Louis Andriessen’s phe­nom­e­nal “Work­ers Union”. After cri­tiquing monar­chy in Davies and ref­er­enc­ing Marx­ism in Andriessen, the pro­gramme nat­u­ral­ly had to include democ­ra­cy — in a sur­prise per­for­mance, Match Match Ensem­ble took our stage to per­form Ben­jamin Brit­ten’s “Advance Democ­ra­cy”. Thank you for the warm recep­tion of every piece!

First at the con­certs, then on the dance floor — where Rafał Ryter­s­ki and czu­ly pre­sent­ed their DJ sets — you packed the Space to the brim. After that night we also have absolute­ly no doubts which Pod­lasie vil­lage is our and your favourite. Huge thanks to Marek Chmielews­ki and the entire crew from Orla for the won­der­ful cater­ing and the vil­lage head­’s radi­ant smiles. We love Orla.

Thank you for stop­ping by through­out the day to see our inte­ri­or, ask­ing ques­tions about our work, and wish­ing us well. Thanks for your pres­ence, ener­gy, sup­port, and the atmos­phere you cre­at­ed that evening. Hash­tag Lab is offi­cial­ly open!