The European Cultural Parliament is coming to Łódź

From 11 to 13 September, Łódź will host a closed plenary session of the European Cultural Parliament (ECP) – an independent forum bringing together prominent European figures from culture, art and the debate on Europe’s future.

All participants in the session will sit on our bench – The Bench, a new Atlas Sztuki project. Each has chosen five dates between 1926 and 2026 that, from their perspective, were of particular significance to the past hundred years.

We have already collected the first sets of dates from people in different parts of the world. Now it is Europe’s turn – to offer its own perspective on the events that shaped the past century.

We will use these choices not only to tell the story of the past. They will allow us to begin working with young people on the future – on what the next hundred years should look like and what must happen along the way for such a world to emerge.

The Bench will stand in a special place – next to the model of Port Polska, a strategic programme being implemented by the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK) company. One of its components is the High-Speed Rail network that is to connect Warsaw, Port Polska and Łódź.

It is no coincidence that we are bringing the two together here.

On one side – European creators, artists and intellectuals pointing to the events that shaped the past hundred years and looking ahead to the next century.

On the other – a model of one of the largest infrastructure investments in Poland’s history, which could redefine the place of Łódź and Warsaw on Europe’s transport map.

A hundred years behind us. A hundred years ahead. And between them, the decisions we make today.