Mischa Kuball
public preposition
Katowice
Project public preposition
Ghosttram
Year 2013
Institution Institution of Culture Katowice – City of Gardens /PL
Place Katowice /PL
Curator Piotr Zaczkowski, Karol Piekarski
Technique Tramway tracks of Katowice and other cities of the Silesia region after dark, unpredictable route and timetables, white film, extra bulbs
Thanks Daniela Berglehn, Thomas Decker, Iwona Jarzebska, Łukasz Kałebasiak, Stephan Muschick, Zbigniew Olszewski, Krzysztof Polak, Jennifer Schwiderowski, Katarzyna Sokołowska, Marcin Sroka, Mateusz Szega, Anna Warchoł, Piotr Zaczkowski, Marek Zielinski
Photographer Krzysztof Szewczyk, Katowice /PL
Archive Mischa Kuball, Düsseldorf /DE
Supported by Tramwaje Śląskie S.A., Katowice /PL

Ghosttram, Katowice, 2013

Looking back on a moving German-Polish history, the Upper Silesian region around Katowice is one of today’s flourishing Polish economic metropolises. Years of shifting borders, occupations, expulsions, settlements, and evacuations shaped its identity. The tramnetwork of Katowice and its surrounding cities, dating back to 1894, now belongs to one of the largest transit systems in the world. In cooperation with the Katowice Cultural Institute “City of Gardens” a historic tram from the 1980s was brightly illuminated and sent out on a nighttime journey, without passengers, scheduled service, stops or a destination. In the darkness of night the “ghost train” seemed to be on its way to “nowhere” like a glistening white cube, set free from its original function, history, and materiality, without background and without destination, without identity. (JO)