Who is Afraid of the Present or the Sad Document of the Era

Abstract

The article presents an educational project inspired by Antoni Słonimski’s poem Document of the Era (Dokument epoki). Preserving and showing the picture of the present - as Słonimski did - is perceived here as a record of the contemporary world. At the same time it is the act of creative selection and configuration of elements that make up the world’s identity and image. Such a synthesis and assembly of pictures become a form of evaluation of the present, a testimony of the anxiety about the directions of its evolution and an expression of distance from what is dangerous and bad.

In this project the accent falls on the interpretation of Słonimski’s poem (and other cultural texts) as well as creative activities which use various codes and materials of artistic message. Aside from the doing s presented, but still closely connected, appears a reflection on the current Core Curriculum. This departmental dokument is also treated as a very important, yet not very glorious, testimony of the era.