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Białystok
Home grown tourism Monika Szewczyk – director of Białystok’s Arsenał art gallery which promotes contemporary art, with a particular focus on cultural relations in Eastern Europe. One of Białystok’s great assets are its beautifully maintained parks – just like the one next to our gallery in the Branicki Palace (top). We also have a cycling route network which whisks you out of the city, namely to the beautiful town of Supraśl with its well-preserved old buildings and highly original Wierszalin puppet theatre. If you’re looking for an evening out in good company and interesting events, the clubcum-cafe Zmiana Klimatu on Warszawska Street, is a good place to start. It’s an informal cultural space which invites people to come and stay for a while. I’d also recommend the new (second) branch of our gallery Arsenał, housed in a very inspiring, post-industrial interior of the Old Power Station (above right). The building’s layout has meant that we can finally organise large-scale exhibitions. I’m also a big fan of Białystok’s Jewish Heritage Trail
which was set up by the University of Białystok Foundation. On the way to Kruszyniany, with its Tatar minority, is the village of Krynki, home to a cultural organisation which I really admire – Villa Sokrates. The organisation is run by Paweł Grześ, who works alongside the outstanding artist Leon Tarasewicz, and
is centered on the town’s local values and Belorussian community, as well as presenting the work of Poland’s most distinguished artists. I always want to drop by and see what’s happening there •