When the Local Community Matters: The Transformation of Polish Music Festivals
When the Local Community Matters: The Transformation of Polish Music Festivals

Author(s): Waldemar Kuligowski
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Music, Culture and social structure
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: festivalisation; culture industry; McDonaldization; National Stadium; Jarocin Festival; Rock on the Swamp
Summary/Abstract: Practically every day Poland hosts around a dozen of festival-like events. The 2010s witnessedfestivalisation taking over all forms of cultural activity in our country. In an attempt to understand this phenomenon, I will situate it in the contexts of culture industry (Frankfurt School) and McDonaldization (Ritzer). These theoretical considerations are illustrated with two case studies. The first concerns “the National Stadium” and allows a diachronic overview of how politics is done through festivals. The stadium was constructed two times, first for the World Festival of Youth and Students in socialist era, and then for European Football Championship in liberal-capitalist era. Both these instances show how major events legitimise spectacular interferences in public space. The second case study focuses on two music festivals—the Jarocin Festival and Rock on the Swamp, with the first exemplifying attempts at commercialisation and sentimentalisation of counter-culture. Conversely, the latter shows how a provincial festival becomes a contact zone and a space of diversity, and evolves from a remembrance of a legendary festival into an intriguing community-based festival.

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