“On the ground floor jazz blasted […] Regardless of the weather, on a couple of square meters, a packed crowd of people was dancing. Upstairs, at two lines of square tables, every afternoon and evening, sat busy fours of bridge players. The sound of flipped cards and stereotypical murmur of conversation mixed with the monotonous rustle, sometimes also with muted sounds of a saxophone, weepy moans of a violin and a dull whirr of a piano,” This is how the atmosphere of pre-war bridge meetings in Poland was described. Although those times have passed, the Wrocław club, Klub Pod Kolumnami, has managed to revive their spirit. The club, one of the venues managed by the Wrocław Institute of Culture, regularly hosts events combining art with community engagement. Workshops and meetings are often organised in a retro style, evoking nostalgia for the interest clubs of the past, which united informal groups of enthusiasts, often accompanied by the swinging sounds of jazz in the background.
Thursday Social Bridge Meetings are now a permanent feature at Klub Pod Kolumnami. Thanks to collaboration with Wacław Nosek, the initiative’s creator, Wrocław-based seniors not only improve their bridge skills but also teach others.
In collaborating with the Wrocław community, it has become evident that not much is needed to cultivate passions and hobbies. The bridge group only requires a square table, snacks, coffee, and a deck of cards. Bridge was once immensely popular, and today it is crucial to maintain the tradition of meetings that combine intellectual challenges with building rapport. To truly understand why this game requires social interaction, one must first grasp its rules.
Bridge is played by two pairs of players seated opposite each other. The aim is to win “tricks” – rounds – by playing cards strategically. The game begins with an auction, where players declare how many tricks they intend to win. They then proceed to play according to the agreed contract. Success depends on precise communication between partners, achieved through the cards played, as well as strategic thinking.
At first glance, bridge may seem complex, but it offers immense satisfaction through its tactical nuances and the joy of partnership play. Observing the rituals of bridge – green tablecloths, hours-long games – and hearing the unique bridge jargon can inspire a desire to uncover the secrets of this game. During conversations with bridge players, the idea arose to depict this community through art. This led to an experimental collaboration with two Wrocław-based artists, Marcin Dominiak and Maciej Kowalczyk, residents of the Magic Carpets project.
The artists, through regular interactions with bridge players, learned the game’s rules, while the seniors embraced acting roles to become characters in the film Rozgrywka (“Gameplay”). The movie, based on interviews with participants, portrays the bridge community sharing their memories. For many, bridge represents a return to a passion first discovered during their school or university years. Participants described their involvement in the film production as a unique challenge that provided an engaging and intriguing departure from their daily routines. It also enabled members of a non-artistic community to participate in a creative endeavour.
Remarkably, this is the first time artists have sought to tell the story of this interest group, despite bridge’s popularity among previous generations. “Just as the years after the war could be called ‘the jazz era’, the interwar period could be called ‘the bridge era’,” says Private Life of the Elites of the Second Polish Republic. “Bridge was played by everyone, everywhere – men and women, civilians and military personnel, the rich and the poor.”
Through their interdisciplinary approach, combining acting and filmmaking, the artists juxtaposed bridge’s mathematical rules with a magical, almost surreal card-based narrative. The resulting film tells the story of artists becoming novice players and bridge players becoming novice actors.
“Gameplay takes us into a magical card world with a group of bridge enthusiasts. Together, we embark on a performative journey on the border of form, narration, and convention. And in this journey through places, people, and stories, there is only one rule – following the rules of bridge!” said Marcin and Maciej.
The film was inspired by the artistic explorations of Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky, known for psychomagic – a system using imagination and symbolic acts to foster personal transformation. The film’s narrative weaves in the history of bridge meetings, which took place from May to July in two Wrocław locations: Borek Community Activity Centre and Klub Pod Kolumnami.
The story is narrated by the Joker (played by Maciej Kowalczyk), a character excluded from the bridge deck. The Joker, dressed in a green suit and a mysterious mask, plays the role of an observer and provocateur, performing “psychomagical acts” with the bridge players. His silent presence, at first met with indifference, reflects the initial difficulty of gaining the community’s trust. Over time, mutual respect developed, and the collaboration flourished, becoming what the artists called a “rite of passage”.
The process culminated in the First Tournament of Social Bridge Meetings, held at the scenic Arboretum Wojsławice, and an open premiere of the film on 4th September at Klub Pod Kolumnami. The event invited a multigenerational audience into the alternative card world depicted in the film, with props, costumes, and interactive exhibits enhancing the experience.
This collaboration between artists and bridge players highlights how different disciplines can intertwine to create narratives that straddle truth and fiction. Inspired by Jodorowsky’s psychomagical concepts, the film introduces elements that transform bridge into a performative and reflective art form.
Artists: Marcin Dominiak, Maciej Kowalczyk
Curator: Paulina Brelińska-Garsztka
Expert support: Karolina Jaworska
Project’s participants: Wacław Nosek, Arnold Mazur, Elżbieta Łokuciejewska, Jerzy Fornalczyk, Jerzy Lewandowski, Sławomir Dąbrowski, Krystyna Bochemkiewicz, Krzysztof Boerner, Witold Robaczewski, Bożena Rochala, Zofia Staszek, Elżbieta Sosińska, Jadwiga Jabłońska, Michalina Kręziewicz, Włodzimierz Małolepszy, Wiesława Ilnicka, Janina Kłossak, Maria Mizera, Włodzimierz and Halina Lelonkiewicz, Bogumił Kwiatkowski, Cecylia Stec, Mirosław Dąbrowski, Krzysztof Domagała, Zofia Staszek, Jerzy Formalczyk, Ada Koba, Bożena Hanczyr.
About the artists:
Maciek Kowalczyk works in theatre and has been collaborating with the Wrocław Contemporary Theatre since 2012. Marcin Dominiak specialises in film, photography, and multimedia activities. Together, they run the Proces Postaci Foundation, which combines the languages of theatre, film, and new media – enabling them to engage swiftly in socialised filmmaking processes, as demonstrated during their residency from July to September at the Wrocław Institute of Culture.
The MagiC Carpets Project is co-funded by the European Union programme – Creative Europe.
Curatorial text by Paulina Brelińska-Garsztka