Urban identities and identity of cities – debate after the screening of “Diagnosis”


Saturday, May 18th|6:00 p.m.| Światowid Cinema, Sala Duża (Large Auditorium)

Urban identities and identity of cities – debate after the screening of “Diagnosis” by Ewa Podgórska.

Partner institution: Silesian University Institute of Philosophy

Language: Polish

The city: a thick-skinned leviathan or a living organism? Whose lives power it? What is the city to its dwellers? What is hidden behind the façades of houses and glass panels of skyscrapers? How does the city affect us: our identity, consciousness, sense of safety or even of purpose in life? Do urban planning dilemmas concern ordinary people at all? Does the city heartbeat set the pace of their day-to-day activities? What are our mutual relations like? How tolerant are we of the city? How much desire, or perhaps determination, do we have to stay and change it or: to leave and free ourselves of it so as to find peace somewhere else?

Inspired by Diagnosis, Ewa Podgórska’s creative documentary, we will try to answer those questions with the help of the director herself and our other guests. We will talk about urban living, shifts in urban planning and ways in which urban existence affects individual and collective identity.

Our guests:     

Ewa Podgórska: Director of Diagnosis. Graduate of the Lodz Film&Television School, cultural studies at Lodz University and DOK PRO documentary filmmaking course at the Andrzej Wajda Warsaw Film Academy. Competitor at the Docu Talents from the East in Karlovy Vary, grantee of the Polish Film Institute. Her featurette entitled Jajko I kura (Egg and hen) portraying a difficult relationship between mother and daughter premiered at the Films de Femmes international film festival in Paris.

Mirosław Piróg: Doctor of sciences at the Silesian University Institute of Philosophy. He studied theoretical physics and philosophy. He is the author of Psyche i symbol (The Psyche and the Symbol, Krakow 1999), Williama Jamesa filozfia doświadczenia religijnego (William James’s philosophy of religious experience, Katowice 2011) and numerous scientific articles. He was the editor of the Odcienie grozy (Shades of horror, Katowice 2007) collective publication. Delivers public lectures and workshops in order to teach about links between modern science and ancient sapiential traditions. His main scientific focus are C.G. Jung’s depth psychology and its implications as regards philosophy and culture, and the anthropology and philosophy of religion.