5/9
In 2012, a group of my friends moved into a shabby but spacious apartment at 5/9 Sobieskiego Street in Kraków. Over the years, dozens of tenants – young musicians and aspiring artists – have passed through the apartment, moving back and forth, from room to room, forming relationships, breaking up, getting back together and breaking up again. The rent was low enough to survive without having to get a “real job”, and the nearest neighbors far away enough so that the party could go on until the last guest. For many years it was an island of freedom and creative chaos. A temporary autonomous zone where the oppressive structures of adult life, corporate jobs and mortgages, did not apply. Over time, however, a certain unease has started to creep in. No one knows when exactly, the unique compositions of clothes and trash on the floor began to resemble those of just a few weeks ago – or was it months? The parties, the conversations, the love affairs all began merging into one. As the years went by, the chaos took on more and more repetitive forms, until finally it stiffened into a routine. Something even sadder perhaps, than what we tried to escape in the first place; something almost grotesque. ———— Excerpts from a limited edition zine, all pictures taken at Sobieskiego 5/9, 2012-2022