One more edition of Polish assembly of fantasy fans – Polcon took place in Wrocław. It’s one of the most important events devoted to fantasy in the country. How did the organisers do it, is it one more successful event for Wrocław to be proud of?

It’s not a secret that Wrocław was trying to become the host of Polcon for many years, however it was losing elections to more easily accessible cities or more popular in the world of fantasy ones. This time Wrocław won and in my opinion they did it great.

First of all, the promotion. On the one hand, logically constructed website, full of necessary information and its constant updating constituted a perfect information spot for those who were interested. We could watch the trailer (available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1ATlP2jMw8) which became a highly disputable issue, in this case based on the principle "haters gonna hate" which is impossible to explain. Its quite old-fashioned style cannot be denied but this apocalyptic atmosphere (yet we’ve got "the last" 2012 year) seems to be fitting into the whole idea of the organizers.

The one thing which is always missing at each Polcon, no matter where it is, is a banner marking the main entrance to the event. I know that it means additional costs, nevertheless it is a form of advertisement inviting people straight from the street. Perhaps it’s worth consideration for the next time? Talking about the location, the buildings of Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences seemed to be a great idea – large lecture-rooms, a lot of space for exhibitors... despite the possible three thousand people visiting it was impossible to feel like in the crowd. There was a place for everybody.

Apart from exhibitors and publishers and lecture-rooms we could also play some board games or eat something in Polcon Grill Bar – pretty nice stuff. Some people were disappointed that there is no beer. My dearest beer lovers, it is a building of the University not International Fairs like in Poznań. The fact that it’s convent taking place there does not make the university to change their habits. One of the Polish fantasy writers also should take it into consideration.

Well, fantasy convents create a great opportunity to meet a lot of writers and artists whose works make us more or less delighted. And this is what the organizers did perfectly – among the invited guests we could see Erich von Daniken and Andrzej Sapkowski who was fighting with some myths about himself. Those who hadn’t heard anything about Sapkowski’s personality could get to know the author of Wiedźmin and Trylogia Husycka. Everybody had a chance to change his opinion which I am grateful for. The greatest star becomes familiar to simple fantasy fans, the more easily we can notice that "the stars" are humans, too. With their virtues and vices.

When it comes to Daniken, Swiss writer and "paleoastronaut" – inviting him came out to be a great success which surely make Wrocław a competitive candidate for the host of Polcon again. This man, who is quite controversial even in the world of fantasy, appeared to be a very nice guy, patient and ready to answer all questions, even those trivial and derisive ones. Perhaps these ideas about aliens’ influence on world’s history, their sexual intercourse with female terrestrials and some clues in the Bible and other ancient legends seem to be a nonsense, but Mr. Daniken believes in them truly and willingly shares his believes. He did not try to convert anyone or force his point of view but he explained everything calmly. He is in a class of his own which I cannot say about some other guests – apparently they do not know what humility is. I don’t give you any names... I just invite you for some convents ;)

There are a lot of Polcon 2012 coverages in the internet, more or less detailed but I’m pretty sure (perhaps I shouldn’t) that mostly our Readers know what fantasy convents are about. Scientific and quasi-scientific lectures, Star Wars, concerts, shows... in this respect this Polcon gets the highest mark. Fans could not be bored – those who know convents perfectly could find something for each hour of their visit without even slight possibility of getting bored. I invite you to watch our photo gallery.
Unquestionably the most important part of each edition of Polcon is Zajdel prize giving for the best writers of last year. This time the winners were Maja Lidia Kossakowska for her novel "Grillbar Galaktyka" and Janusz Ćwiek for his short story "Bajka o trybach i powrotach". The prize is important because these are the readers who decide whom to give it – and it is hardly ever practised in the world of art.

The new thing in the form of Polcon was a fusion of "classic" understood as an entirety of output rooted in all forms of alternative thoughts and rich imagination and quasi-scientific ideas of Daniken and UFO fans. It was funny and enjoyable for some but for the others not really nice, anyway it seemed to be a good idea. Of course the ufologists persisted in their rights, however, for most of the participants of their lectures it was only a part of fantasy. Who knows, maybe some of them were convinced? It could be like that, though some people I asked about it looked at me forgivingly.



There would be no convent without music, which for our crew is obviously the most interesting part of it. Unfortunately, I don’t want to talk much about the first music act – both the music and visualisations simply should be passed over in silence because of the quality presented by the artist. It was no tension, no emotions evoked, no passion to create some ideas... I don’t want to ask if the artist knows such star as Pierre Henry. Visualisations appeared to be incoherent and seemed to be created in a hurry with some poor equipment. Fortunately, the next performers were much better and far more professional... It’s a pity that we could only hear electronic versions of music – there used to be some convents with live music and the participants miss them. After all, there was music, and even a lecture devoted to it – so this aspect was treated properly.

This year edition of Polcon surely can be considered as successful. Qualified crew of organizers were ready and willing to help. Despite small shortcomings, such as postponing the lecture without any clear information previously, everything was exactly as it was supposed to be that’s why participants assessed it positively. If Wrocław wins the contest and organises Polcon once again, we can hope for the best – Wratislavia Fantasica will know what to do to make it great. Good job Wrocław!