Art in Post-Industrial Facilities—Strategies of Adaptive Reuse for Art Exhibition Function in Poland

Abstract

Along with the socio-economic changes in Poland after 1989 and the beginning of the industrial restructuring process, many industrial architecture objects lost their original purpose. At present, sustainable processes of reusing the building stock left over from the industrial period are proceeding. One of the possibilities includes adaptation to culture-related goals, where such activities have an established tradition in the world. The aim of the article is to analyze the adaptive reuse of post-industrial facilities in Poland for the functions of art exhibitions, such as museums, galleries, and art centers. The study was based on descriptive qualitative and quantitative research, in the following stages: identification and analysis of adapted objects; developing a typology of adaptive reuse strategies; questionnaire research aimed at institutions located in adapted facilities. The analyses show that the leading group of adapted facilities constitute former power plants, which ensure favorable exhibition conditions. The main result is the recognition of five types of adaptive reuse strategies implemented in Poland, resulting from a diversified approach to the historic substance, such as: the method of extension of an object; placing an exhibition; the character of the exhibition space, along with the type of intervention in the interior of a historic building.