Relief by Jacek Krenz

Technique: ceramic sculpture

Dimensions: ca. 220 cm (height), ca. 800 cm (length)

Object: The relief is in the form of square panels with an uneven surface, arranged next to each other in strips to create a spatial, abstract composition. The object acted as street furniture meant to introduce an element of art into the newly-built Żabianka housing estate. Originally, the relief was in subdued earth colours, but the Żabianka Housing Cooperative – the object’s formal owner – repainted the relief in colours that are different from the original and incompatible with the artist’s vision.

Place: Żabianka was the first housing estate on the Polish coast where urban planners decided to experiment and intersperse grey blocks of flats with artistic installations. Swietłana Zerling and artists from the so-called “Kadyny” group (Edward Roguszczak, Maria Kuczyńska, Hanna Żuławska and architect Jacek Krenz) designed an innovative project called “Ceramics for Architecture”. It consisted of a fountain, sculptures and reliefs, as well as the spatial and visual concept of squares between buildings (hills, flowerbeds, “Indian village” and “Robinson Crusoe” adventure playgrounds, etc.). Everything was made using natural materials (such as clay and wood), contrasting with dehumanised, prefabricated concrete blocks.

Information about the author:  Jacek Krenz, PhD, Arch. Eng. (b. 1948 in Poznań) is an architect, painter and professor of the Faculty of Architecture, Gdańsk University of Technology, the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań and the University of Beira Interior in Covilhã. Since 1974, he has been designing public utility buildings, residential architecture, green areas and street furniture in his studio. Krenz co-founded the “Kadyny” group and co-designed the Osiedle Młodych housing estate in Gdańsk’s Żabianka district. He is the author of numerous modernisations, extensions, adaptations and interior designs in Gdańsk, Sopot and Warsaw.

His major projects include:

• Festus Art Hotel Sopot, 2007;
• The Cemetery of Lost Cemeteries – Gdańsk, 3 Maja Street, 2002. Team: Hanna Klementowska, Jacek Krenz, in cooperation with: Katarzyna Bogucka-Krenz, Michał Krenz, Andrzej Wójcicki, sculptors: Zygfryd Korpalski, Witold Głuchowski;
• Gdańsk’s pavilion at the international 11 Cities/11 Nations Contemporary Nordic Art and Architecture Festival, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, 1990; painting: Teresa Miszkin;
• Church in Wąglikowice, 1994 (in cooperation with P. Loch);
• Diabełkowo housing estate in Gdańsk, modernisation and extensions of houses 1986–1995 (in cooperation with: Loch, A. Kostka);
• Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970, 1980 (cooperation);

Krenz is a co-founder of the Wdzydze Art Village, member of the Association of Polish Architects (SARP) and the “Wet Canvas” International Society of Visual Arts. His architectural designs, sculptures, ceramics and paintings have been exhibited in Poland and abroad, e.g. at the Royal Watercolour Society in London.

Condition of the object: partially destroyed

Owner/guardian: Żabianka Housing Cooperative

Author of the entry: Kora Kowalska