From the beginning of the year, a new permanent exhibition “City-Fashion-Machine” can be visited at the Central Museum of Textiles in Lodz. Three thematic threads, three floors, over 2.5 thousand square meters of space filled with almost 400 items from the museum’s collection make up a multi-layered story of how Łódź was shaped by the textile industry.

The ground floor of the oldest wing of the White Factory is devoted to textile machinery and techniques. This part of the exhibition recreates the atmosphere of a factory hall. The space is closed by the Laboratory, where guests can learn about processing linen, cotton, wool, spinning, weaving and printing. Visitors can try their hand at using a spindle or a handloom. The microscope stand will allow them to enlarge and research the structure of fabrics and weaves.

The first floor takes visitors on a journey through the history of this growing and ever-changing city. Here they can see snapshots of Lodz and its inhabitants’ lives, from the creation of large factories, through their takeover by the state, through their collapse and unemployment, privatization processes, to the revitalization of factories in modern times.

In this part of the exhibition, visitors can also see Lodz urban projects from the 1960s and 1970s, which were never implemented. It is a futuristic vision of Lodz, which was not put into practice, remaining testimony to the extraordinary panache and imagination of architects. The exhibition’s guests can also see what free time activities were offered by Lodz workplaces, in which park Łódź people most liked to rest and where the best ice cream in the city was served.

The last floor is dedicated to fashion. The exhibition will take visitors to the heart of the city – to Piotrkowska Street, which is the longest fashion runway in Europe. On both sides of it, visitors can see flickering neon signs from the 1970s, and the graphic symbols of famous industrial plants of the past.

The exhibition is complemented by applications presenting the non-existent network of Łódź factories with locations and addresses, fragments of newsreels and documentaries as well as audio recordings that convey stories of Lodz residents and their memories of the transformation period and living in Lodz. The exhibition was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński