Wszędzie źle, gdzie jesteśmy : przestrzenie w reportażach Marcina Kołodziejczyka

Abstract

The article deals with two key spaces for Marcin Kołodziejczyk’s work: the province (B. Opowieści z planety prowincja, Bardzo martwy sezon. Reportaże naoczne, Morze po kolana) and cities (Dysforia. Przypadki mieszczan polskich). The aspirations and illusions of city dwellers and advertising messages overlap with the callousness or the gloomy past of the space, the lack of bourgeois models, and the indelible provinciality and identity crises of the newcomers who strive for prestige. The province, often idealised, is characterised by lifelessness unable to be erased by official slogans or rash initiatives, and the clash of the “old” and the “new” only sharpens the absurdities of its reality. Subsequent layers revealed by the author show both spaces as palimpsests – under the cover of success the city turns out to be a nightmare, and the province is lifeless despite elegant “overlays”. In his reports, Kołodziejczyk unmasks both the frustrations of the big city and the naivety of those who think that mere fact of wanting is enough to magically change the province.