BI-WEEKLY.PL

 

I stumbled into this great Polish website while looking for information on the banquet that Picasso staged in 1908 at the Le Bateau-Lavoir in Paris in honour of Douanier Rousseau. I then spent the next hour or so sampling its delights.

Bi-Weekly.pl is just one of the outputs from Poland’s National Audiovisual Institute, established on April 1, 2009. This on-line journal – a beautifully designed, multi-level experience – was originally just published in Polish at  Dwutygodnik.com The new English-language version started in May this year and is currently on its 6th issue. A treasure trove of interesting stuff, with fresh perspectives and thought-provoking ideas.

The single most exciting piece I’ve so far discovered is ‘You Have To Be Ruthless’ an interview by MICHAŁ CHACIŃSKI with WERNER HERZOG – one of the most important and vital filmmakers in the world today – currently experiencing yet another renaissance with a clutch of new movies due for release. Anyone interested in making movies should read this extraordinary account of Herzog’s working methods. They don’t teach this at film school.

‘Culture in Times of the Cornucopia': A New Agenda for the Cultural Institutions’ by ALEX TARKOWSKI

‘Less than twenty years ago, with democracy and the free market, the Web came to Poland. Twenty years from now, a generation will become fully mature that has never lived in analog times. Thus, we’re halfway from the analog world to a truly digital one. We’re living in interesting times, facing the task of creating foundations for a culture that for many of us will no longer be comprehensible. ‘

‘Photography, Stills and Gnash: Which Way Photojournalism’ by CHRIS NEIDENTHAL

‘The ABC of New Culture': B as in Blog’ by Mirek Filiciak / Alek Tarkowski

‘A good blogger writes primarily for himself, while internet users read over his shoulder’

NOT IN ENGLISH YET is a fantastic and tantalising glimpse into the ocean of material not yet available in translation.