20 December 2012 KFO's events among the TOPs of the Year!
Journalists of Dziennik Polski summarised the year 2012 in culture. Among five TOPs of the Year there were as many as three festivals organised by the Krakow Festival Office: Divine Comedy, the Conrad Festival and Sacrum Profanum, and two events involving the KFO as a partner: Off Plus Camera and the Selector Festival. Events nominated for the title of TOP also included the Film Music Festival. "It was likely that it would not take place, but, fortunately, it did and turned out to be the best festival in its history", writes Rafał Stanowski.
The Grolsch Art Boom Festival was also appreciated, mainly for its promotion of street art. "Street art not only electrifies connoisseurs, but, primarily, reaches the masses. The number of murals in Krakow is increasing, which is largely due to the ArtBoom Festival. But not only – the entire city is opening up to street art, including places such as Galeria Krakowska. What is missing the most, are artists" grassroots spontaneous initiatives. Street art must teem with life!" summarises Rafał Stanowski.
According to Marcin Wilk, the most important Event of the Year is the Conrad Festival. "It looks like pro domo sua, because it is literature. But, after all, Conrad also includes theatre, film, music, visual arts. And, last but not least, the committed audience. It is a rarity to see Pałac pod Baranami packed with listening readers. And this is what happened during the Conrad Festival this year", says Wilk.
In the opinion of Urszula Wolak, it is the Sacrum Profanum festival that deserves highest appraisal. "Particularly for the final concert, during which Sigur Rós performed. The Icelanders' hypnotic music carried the audience from the industrial interior of the ArcelorMittal plant to an entirely different dimension of aesthetic experiences. The charismatic leader of the band ? Jonsi and his falsetto voice undoubtedly played a very important role here; as a true master of ceremony, he proved the skill of building musical suspense. The organisers of the Sacrum Profanum Festival deserve the highest praise for continuing to swim against the current and proving that the power of good music is true art, which does not have to appeal to the masses. To me, the concert of Sigur Rós was the most important event of the year 2012 not only in Krakow, but also in Poland", she asserts.
Łukasz Gazur expressed a very favourable opinion on the Divine Comedy Festival: "It is the festival that Krakow was waiting for. You can see the most important events of the season in the Polish theatre in one place. Performances by Warlikowski, Jarzyna, Kleczewska, Lupa, Zadara one after the other. And all of them are evaluated objectively by an unbiased international jury. Thumbs up!"
Rafał Stanowski included the Off Plus Camera Festival among his TOPs: "Without asking for permission, the youngest Krakow film festival invites spectacular personages of the international film world. "This year, Krakow was visited by Luc Besson and Roland Joffe. There may have been not as many stars as previously, but we had the opportunity to watch a set of strong films from the entire world. The organisers did a very good job".
Paweł Gzyl thinks that the Selector Festival is the best event of the year: "This festival has showed us that modern electronic music can be presented live in an attractive manner. This was proved, for instance, by concerts of Chase & Status, Buraka Som Sistema, Niki & The Dove or Miike Snow. Young people could see for themselves that techno, house or dubstep are not less exciting than pop or rock music. This was a festival with great power."
