The exhibition took the form of an immersive experience based on nearly 200 reconstructed and digitally colourised materials. Thanks to 360° projection, visitors became part of the city – they could walk its streets, visit cinemas, clubs, restaurants and peek into places that no longer exist today. The renowned Platige Image studio was responsible for the visual setting, and the sound layer was created by Jan Emil Młynarski – a master of pre-war Warsaw sounds.
The new spatial arrangement took ‘Retro Warsaw’ to a whole new level of immersion. Three connected rooms created a coherent, multidimensional space in which viewers could move seamlessly between two icons of the pre-war capital – the Splendid cinema and the Adria club.
Adria came to life thanks to original photographs, animations, a themed bar from the era and an animated floor imitating the rotating dance floor where all of Warsaw danced before the war. In turn, the Splendid hall presented remastered film trailers from the archives of the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute (FINA), period posters and digitally animated silhouettes of the stars of the time: Ordonówna, Bodo and Andrzejewska. Another unique feature was the opportunity to watch documentary films about pre-war Warsaw on four screens simultaneously.
Viewers also had the opportunity to travel back in time to the world of fashion of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as take an interactive retro bike ride around Piłsudski Square, admiring the animated panorama of the city.
‘Retro Warsaw’ was more than just an exhibition – it was a sentimental journey to a city that no longer exists, but which still lives on in our memory. The multisensory experience, which combined history with modern technologies, left viewers feeling nostalgic and reflective about the irretrievably lost beauty of the pre-war capital.