Projekt zrealizowano ze środków Prezydenta Miasta Białegostoku

Why In Białystok. The historical justification.

Modern Białystok, but most of all its citizens, are actually still seeking their own historical cultural identity. This situation is characteristic for places, where the majority constitutes of immigrants, in other words collectivity that doesn?t have particular historical bonds with the place they live in. This situation arises because the feeling of belonging is often rejected. The present belongs to us, the past is distant, not ours.

One should remember that when we become the citizens of a particular place, its history and culture is associated with us, and so is the memory about the place. One of the most important needs of every community is the need of creating the awareness and social identity. No society can exist if its members don?t have the feeling of belonging to the community. Consequently the meaning of social and historical memory is very important in this case as the creation of the social identity is based on the feeling of our common past. The recreation of the city?s history is simply a necessity.

The plans for creation of the Museum of Fashion and Textiles ?ITE? are aimed to present one of the most important periods in city?s history and its development, when from being the barony it turned into a resilient industrial centre. It?s the very textile industry that became the leading industry in the Manchester of the North, which is how the Bialystok was called at that time. This was the period when numerous factories had been founded, such as: Małka Blochowa?s factory, Eugeniusz Becker?s factory, Hendricks? factory, brothers Commichau?s factory, Chaim Nowik?s factory, Bolesław Polak?s factory, Dawid Szapiro?s factory, Tryllings? factory and many others. Bialystok owes those incomers from different places of Europe not only its industrial development, but most of all an enormous contribution to the development if the cultural life. Apart from the factories there had been founded magnificent residences, becoming on many occasions cultural salons of the city, for instance the Commichaus?s house on the Warszawska street. The industry needs resulted in the creation of the technological innovations such as the telephone landlines, sewage systems or the electricity plants. At that time Bialystok was characterized by the specific charm of the multiethnic town. Unfortunately, today not much of the ?texitile Bialystok? remained for our eyes, in fact nothing that would remind the present inhabitants and tourists visiting our city the history of so important for Bialystok period.

Is it worth creating the Museum of Fashion and Textiles ?ITE? in Białystok?

One of the most important arguments in favor is the lack of a similar museum in Poland. In the era of electronics such Museum would combine modern multimedia with the traditional collections. So the arguments are as following:

wide promotion of the city all over Poland and outside of the country

cooperation with similar cultural units all over the world

the place for realization of youth?s own ideas

promoting the gifted young people in Poland, cooperation with ?ITE? Association , the scholarship program

opening the city to the new technological and designers? ideas

becoming an attraction for tourists

the important point in the program of the East metropolis

excellent staff of the Museum with international experience.

The Museum of Fashion ?ITE? will also be an important place on the map of the institution of culture in Poland. Its creation is going to be an important voice in the European dialogue about overcoming the stereotypes. Building a new Polish quality and its image will also be an important factor. As a professional cultural institution it will be the only place gathering the data and the collections of the Polish designers thought. It will also be responsible for promoting Polish fashion on the international arena through cooperation with similar units all over the world.

The Museum of Fashion and Textiles ?ITE?

the exhibition halls

the café in the museum

the museum boutique

the workshop and educational room equipped with computer workstations with the access to the Internet

the warehouse library part

the office

The main assumption data:

the art of fashion ? big names, well known artists, masterpieces

the centre of multimedia documentation (stocks concerning fashion shows, films about fashion, video clips, performances and dance shows, art shows concerning fashion)

material resources

educational curriculum for pupils form schools with a clothing profile, from artistic schools within the city and the region (cooperation in the creation and the realization of the curriculum, cooperation with the newly opened department of utilitarian graphics in the Technical University of Bialystok)

presenting new trends in the widely understood concept of fashion, i.e. clothing industry, cosmetic industry, advertising and motoring industry.