1 - Erasure and Recovery: Representing Labour in the De-industrializing Space of the Gdańsk Shipyard

Summary

Abstract

The chapter outlines the double erasure of working-class lives and spaces of labour from both the history of the Gdańsk Shipyard and the future of the de-industrializing space. Through a number of revitalization and commemorative efforts, the dismantlement of the facility, the rapid deterioration of working-class lives, and the disintegration of a space once treasured as unique working-class experiences are erased from public view. The chapter also examines art projects, created primarily in the 2000s and 2010s, which work against this obliteration. Often ephemeral and some no longer existing, the artworks sought to make the effects of de-industrialization visible, calling into question both the optimism of actors involved in gentrification processes and the victorious narratives promoted by cultural institutions.

Keywords: Gdańsk Shipyard; Solidarity; visual arts; working-class resistance; gentrification; public art

Gate Number 2, or, How to Enter the Shipyard?

If one were to ask an inhabitant of Gdańsk how to enter the shipyard, they would likely respond with the most obvious answer: through the gate. Officially named Gate number 2, the light blue metal structure is topped with a sign bearing the facility's name. An adjacent guard's booth painted in a deeper shade of blue stands next to it. When the shipyard was taken over by the new socialist Polish state after the Second World War, Gate number 2 was the most popular entrance, used by thousands of workers daily.1 The shipyard's heyday spanned the period of state socialism in Poland (1944–89) when it employed up to twenty thousand workers. Industrial facilities in Poland (as elsewhere) were closed-off spaces: a high wall marked the perimeter of the facility, and entry was restricted to workers and authorized guests, at times, including workers’ families. This city within a city stretched behind walls and gates with its own streets and squares, often named after shipbuilding professions. The shipyard was, of course, primarily a site of labour—with outdoor and indoor workspaces and a marina for docking vessels. However, the vast premises included many other types of spaces: sports and recreational facilities, dining halls, a health clinic, childcare facilities, a library, a ballroom, kiosks, a flower and vegetable garden, an auditorium for cinema screenings, concerts, and plays.