Katowice w oczach młodych – notatki z badań antropowizualnych

Abstract

I wish to present the result of my research studies on the anthropo-visual aspect of the urban spaces of Katowice conducted between November 2007 and August 2008. The studied group comprised 10 young residents of Katowice (aged between 18 and 26), who agreed to make photographs of the city that would seize and reveal its character. My research is a proposition of new way of looking at the city. It is not meant to be a photographic documentary that only reproduces different sites. The idea was rather to take a subjective viewpoint; one colored by the idiosyncrasy of the medium, a record that would show Katowice in photography and from the author‟s own perspective. I invited young people from Katowice to reflect on their city that is the capital of Upper Silesia. They created a photographic database of their city. In this way I was able to look at the city through the eyes and emotions of its residents. This picture is very subjective, composed of imaginations, needs, sympathies and antipathies. The analysis and interpretation of the photographs together with authors‟ comments attempts to decode ideas and meanings hidden in the urban tissue. The visual side of the city is a starting point in an attempt to reveal the structure of this space and its arrangement. I also try to explain the background of peoples‟ emotional approach towards the city, and how elements of the urban organism can come into prominence, condensing human experience and consciousness of the world.