Het Zuid Manifest – WET + Subway Pool + SuperSamNL

WET + Subway Pool + SuperSamNL

📅 Dates: 28–30 March 2025 (times TBA)
📍 Locations: Subway Pool Bar & SuperSam.NL, Charlois, Rotterdam

As part of Het Zuid Manifest: I Love Carlos, WET presents a selection of video works and an intervention featuring Polish and Ukrainian artists installed in the pool bar and a Polish shop in Charlois, Rotterdam.

Through a cinéma vérité approach, reflection on the archive, and social critique, these works explore the complexities of migration, identity, and political agency.

Featuring Zuza Banasińska’s GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT, Leszek Dawid’s A BAR AT THE VICTORIA STATION, Marta Romankiv’s IMMIGRANT, TAKE A VOTE!, and Anna Łuczak’s SUPERSAM.NL (1989–2004), the program brings together perspectives spanning the last 40 years. Through diverse narratives, the works invite audiences to rethink the roles of memory, citizenship and national identity in today’s world.

Three video works will be on view in a side room of Subway Pool Bar (Wolphaertsbocht 196), while a video intervention at the neighbouring SuperSam.NL (Wolphaertsbocht 212) will complement a dialogue.

Works on view at Subway Pool: 

GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT (2024, 24 min) 

Constructed from archival footage of the Educational Film Studio in Łódź, GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT reimagines a matriarchal lineage through the eyes of a child navigating ideological and gendered systems. Originally intended as communist propaganda, the material is transformed into a site of auto-fictional memory, where the Slavic witch figure Baba Yaga emerges as a prehistoric goddess of resistance. This evocative work interrogates the politics of representation, reclaiming historical imagery as a space for alternative kinship and self determination. 

Zuza Banasińska (b.1994. Warsaw, Poland) is an artist and filmmaker from Warsaw, currently based in Amsterdam. Their essay films and installations explore archival materials and the ways knowledge is shaped and standardized. Educated in Kraków, Berlin, and Amsterdam, Banasińska has exhibited work internationally. Their work is currently supported by the Mondriaan Fund, Netherlands Film Fund and Stimuleringsfonds, and is distributed by Video Power and EYE Filmmuseum. 

A BAR AT THE VICTORIA STATION (2003, 55 min) 

On the brink of Poland’s accession to the EU, Mark and Piotek, two unemployed thirty-year-olds, leave their hometown in search of a better future in London. Through a cinéma vérité approach, A BAR AT THE VICTORIA STATION captures their struggles with economic hardship, homelessness, and the dream of building something of their own. The film paints a raw and deeply human portrait of migration, resilience, and the shifting social landscapes of Europe, highlighting the everyday heroism found in the pursuit of a better life. 

Leszek Dawid (b. 1971, Kluczbork, Poland) is a filmmaker and educator. A graduate of Wrocław University and the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź, he has directed both documentaries and feature films, including Ki (2011) and You Are God (2012). His work has been recognized at festivals in Venice, Paris, and Kraków, among others. 

IMMIGRANT, TAKE A VOTE! (2020, 16 min) 

In recent years, Poland has become one of the world’s leaders in accepting migrant workers, yet these individuals remain largely excluded from political participation. IMMIGRANT, TAKE A VOTE! examines this contradiction by staging an impossible event: a symbolic vote for non-citizens. Through video, a ballot box, and a voting curtain, the work raises urgent questions about democracy, integration, and the enduring perception of the “other” in a rapidly globalizing world. Who has the right to shape a nation’s future, and how do outdated political structures continue to reinforce exclusion? 

Marta Romankiv (b. 1995, Lviv, Ukraine) is an interdisciplinary artist working with installation, video, and participatory art. Her work explores themes of nationality, citizenship, and social inequality, often blurring the lines between activism and artistic intervention. She studied in Lviv, Cracow, and Szczecin and is currently pursuing a PhD at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. She lives and works in Poland. 

Work on view at SuperSam.NL 

SUPERSAM.NL (1989-2004) 

 Video compilation presents a selection of advertisements for Western products that aired on Polish television between 1989 and 2004. These commercials, marking Poland’s transition from communism to capitalism, capture the fascination with Western lifestyles, consumer goods, and cultural ideals. From the early influx of global brands to the growing presence of localized marketing strategies, these ads reflect the shifting aspirations, desires, and everyday realities of a society navigating rapid economic and social change. The compilation offers both a nostalgic and critical lens on the promises of consumerism and the construction of modern identity in post-communist Poland. 

Born in 1984 in Łódź, Anna Łuczak lives and works between Rotterdam and Berlin. She graduated from the Piet Zwart Institute (NL, 2013) and the Willem de Kooning Academie (2005-09). Łuczak is a co-founder of WET Film, a Rotterdam-based cooperative dedicated to the production and distribution of film and video art (www.wetfilm.org).Her practice spans video, installation, and performance, often intertwining craft with broader socio-political narratives.