The Position of the CDA Foundation Regarding the Defense of the Book Art Museum in Łódź - in the Form of a Parable.

A poor mother for many years single-handedly raised a very talented and promising child. She found an empty building — a historic, ruined villa in a park — and made it a home for independent, finally censorship-free, artistic activity in the field of book art on printing presses found in junkyards and restored to life after renovation. The mother was industrious, invested every penny in the child, and took pleasure in its obvious successes, which numerous visitors watched while frowning in that “magical place,” as they most often called it. The place truly had potential but required financial support from a guardian. Then the mother believed the maxim that “success has many fathers” and undertook the effort of looking for a better and more certain future for her child. It was not easy, because she was experienced in struggles for survival and did not succumb to the illusions of promises made by candidates for fatherhood.

In the end the proper guardian found her. He offered a hand at the last moment, when by the will of the municipal office the premises were to be taken for a purpose other than “the protection of cultural heritage” and the related “magical raptures.” He notarized agreements, allocated a budget for the livelihood and renovation of the premises, and guaranteed development plans. The mother was delighted — after 30 years doors opened before her beloved child with beautiful views of the future. Unfortunately the happiness was short-lived. After a year the father — the “guardian by choice” — had to leave, and in his role stepped a new “official guardian” — a neo-father, who at the outset took away the funds intended for the renovation of the “magical place,” not caring that part of them had already been used to prepare documentation and conservation plans for the historic building. After two years of being treated like a stepchild in all other matters, the neo-father declared that the child no longer needed the mother's care and that he himself would take charge of its future. This difficult role, however, quickly overwhelmed him and the neo-guardian began seeking a deputy for that function — another neo-guardian who would make the child literally be out of his sight.

For reasons of prestige the search for a replacement neo-guardian was conducted discreetly, so that the mother and child would not be aware of the inducements and pressure used to secure it. The secret, however, escaped the bounds of the caretaking arrangements necessary for the child's life. It is now the subject of public interest — the child itself and its “magical place.” The mother, who six months ago, for the child's good and without protest, gave the neo-father “exclusive rights to the child” — felt humiliation and shame, which are hard to admit and even harder to express, because she exposed it to the loss of its unique identity and even its real existence.

The only thing she can do now is cry out: BOOK ART MUSEUM must remain a LIVING MUSEUM!
That, in short and metaphorically phrased, is the position of the CdA Foundation.