The Symphony of the Ursus Factory
Jaśmina Wójcik director, co-writer | Igor Stokfiszewski cowriter | Rafał Urbacki choreographer | Dominik Strycharski composer | Kacper Czubak director of photography |  Jakub Wróblewski author of the films visual concept | With sounds and body memory, the ex-workers of the Ursus factory re-enact one day of work in a plant that no longer exists. The resulting symphony consists of the choreographed movements of the workers as well as of the technical, administrative and managerial staff, accompanied by the recreated phonosphere of the heavy industry.

Storyboards and sketches of visual grammar based on a script.
Presented on Gotong Royong Things we do together –  an exhibition at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art.

With sounds and body memory, the ex-workers of the Ursus Factory re-enact one day of work in a plant that no longer exists. The resulting symphony consists of the choreographed movements of the workers as well as of the technical, administrative and managerial staff, accompanied by the recreated phonosphere of the heavy industry. The Ursus Factory used to be one of the largest factory and producer of agricultural machinery in Europe. Throughout almost the entire 20th century it was the glory of the Polish industry. The collapse of communism was the beginning of the factory’s end. These days, the empty halls of Ursus are falling into ruin. Tens of thousands of employees’ working lives were dumped in the dustbin of history. The artists (Jaśmina Wójcik – director, co-writer; Igor Stokfiszewski – cowriter, second director; Rafał Urbacki – choreographer; Dominik Strycharski – composer; Jakub Wróblewski – author of the film’s visual concept) invited the plant’s exemployees – workers, technologists, managers, secretaries – to take part in an experimental documentary project to once more bring the factory back to life. With sounds and body memory, the ex-workers of the factory re-enact one day of work in the plant. The resulting symphony consists of the choreographed movements of the workers as well as of the technical, administrative and managerial staff, accompanied by the recreated phonosphere of the heavy industry. Yet there is even more to the symphony: the almost-forgotten values connected with the age of industry, such as the workers’ sense of community, solidarity and work ethos. The symbolic revival of the factory breathes life into the tractors, which were once produced by the Ursus workers and which are now scattered across the country. Attracted by the energy of memory, the machines return to the place where they were born to pay tribute to their makers: the workers of the Ursus Factory. The plant’s buildings will be gone, but the tractors and workers of the factory will remain its genius loci for ever.