Who said that the cycling season must eventually come to an end? After all, the bicycle is the best means of transport ever invented by man. That’s why in December, we are launching the “Winter Warm-Up” - a new series of events at the Institute of Reportage organized in collaboration with the Warsaw bicycle manufacturer - Antymateria. “Winter Warm-Up” consists of joint cycling trips, discussions about books and bicycles, coffee meetings, and the podcast #Bicycles, not fairy tales. We will meet once a month for a short but energizing bike ride, during which you will see Warsaw from a different perspective. Each route will end at the welcoming doors of Wrzenie Świata. There, we will sit down with something warm and nourishing to listen to interesting conversations with people who combine cycling with their creativity. The meetings will be led by Juliusz Ćwieluch, a journalist from the weekly Polityka and author of the podcast “Bicycles, not fairy tales,” and Filip Springer, a reporter-cyclist.

In the philosophical debate of whether man powers the bicycle or the bicycle powers man, we stand firm in our belief that it is indeed the bicycle that powers us. Let yourself be powered, let yourself be warmed up, put on your mudguards.

The guest of the second meeting will be Olga Drenda - a writer, essayist, and translator born in 1984. A graduate of ethnology and cultural anthropology from Jagiellonian University. Author of the books 'Polish Spiritology. Things and People in the Transformation Era,' 'Products. Ingenuity Around Us' (for which she received a nomination for the Paszporty Polityki and the Gdynia Literary Prize in the essay category), the conversations 'Whose is Our Life' (together with Bartłomiej Dobroczyński) and 'Books About Love' (together with Małgorzata Halber), as well as texts for the anthologies 'Dolphin in Raspberries,' 'Forecast of Bad Weather,' and 'Hourras et désarrois. Scènes d'une guerre culturelle en Pologne.' Author of essays accompanying the exhibition 'Spring Dreams' (Biała Gallery, Lublin) and photographs by Łukasz Rusznica from the series Subterranean River.

Since 2013, she has been running the Facebook page Duchologia dedicated to the specters of the transformation era.

Together with Jacek Paśnik, she hosts the podcast Dziś.

Event schedule:

9:45 - Antymateria Store, ul. Skolimowska 6 - tea and warm-up.

10:00 - 11:00 - ride along a route prepared by Olga Drenda (for health reasons, Olga will prepare the route and possibly also the tasks awaiting us on it, but she will not participate in the ride itself).

11:00 - arrival at Wrzenie Świata (Gałczyńskiego 7),

the meeting with Olga Drenda will be led by Juliusz Ćwieluch and Filip Springer. We provide coffee, tea, and basic calories!