In Kraków’s Podgórze district stands a monument to anonymous urban labour. Unlike memorials for individual achievements, this structure celebrates collective efforts forming the city. The monument, erected by local residents who took the initiative to honour their community’s everyday contributions, transforms day-to-day through their continued care. Neighbours add discarded items that tell the story of daily life. Office workers place coffee receipts and worn business cards. Bus drivers leave ticket stubs and frayed uniform buttons. Cleaners add broken watch straps and lost earrings found during their work. Across the monument’s surface, clear and visible faces appear, deliberately crafted by residents from these everyday materials. During morning commutes, a shopkeeper might rearrange bottle caps to subtly change an expression. A student adjusts fabric scraps during lunch break, transforming a stern visage into a smiling one. A postal worker shifts torn movie tickets to create a new profile entirely. These faces remain distinct and recognizable but constantly evolve as locals modify them during their daily routines. No permission is needed – altering the faces is considered both right and responsibility. The elderly adjust features to resemble departed neighbors, while children create whimsical expressions from discarded toys. The same residents who built the monument continue reshaping its identity through these small, intentional changes. Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition) is a part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025 at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków(PL). Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop
