"It is hard to think of any country in Europe, rich or poor, that can’t learn something from Poland"

         The Economist

 

 

Performance is investigating the sociology-political situation of Central Eastern Europe and particularly Poland. Emphasizing the contrast the challenges and problems of today’s society with the historical events, traditions and cultural practices of the past. The goal of the project was to investigate and reveal the “back-bone” of the society we share; to identify the common and divergent, personal and collective, habits, manners, and routines from various cultural perspectives and to pose questions about how today’s societies are coping with the assimilation of western values.

Using a combination of contemporary performance, new media and installations, the artists created a subjective landscape of what Poland means for them.

Moving through the spaces of the former Wroclaw Brewery, the viewer became a witness and active participant in both public and intimate situations. Audience literally and imaginatively pass through places some forgotten by our collective consciousness and history, and others constantly recurring in our present. The brewery becomes a gallery of consumption, a pillory of the past and a grandstand built from the fragments of what for the artists, Polish and international, is the essence of the Polish soul.

 

Performers: Cécile Da Costa (France/Czech Republic), Agnieszka Ćwieląg, Marek Gluziński (Poland), Teodora Grano (Italy), Orfeusz Jakubiszyn, Kamila Klamut, Aleksandra Kugacz (Poland), Claude Mumbere (Congo/USA), Bartosz Ostrowski, Natalia Pieczuro (Poland/Belgium), Orest Sharak (Ukraine), Wiley Naman Strasser (USA), Konstantinos Symsiris (Greece)

Director: Matej Matejka (Slovakia / Poland)

Dramaturgical supervision : Malgorzata Jablońska

Assistant directors: Alexandra Kazazou (Greece/ Poland) and Irena Tomažin (Slovenia)

Stage manager: Racha Baroud (Liban/France)

Physical actions/Choreography: Matej Matejka, Magdalena Koza (Poland),

Set design: Tomáš Žižka (Slovakia/Czech Republic)

New media: meg janus (Poland) and Alexandra Bury (Poland)

Music: Maok (Slovakia) and DJ Teskko (Poland)

Costumes: Dominika Kuźniar (Poland) and Simela Ziota (Poland)

Concept and organisation: Matej Matejka, Agnieszka Ćwieląg, Marek Gluziński

Technical coordination and light design: Kamil Piwko

Technical supervision: Piotr Jacyk

Project coordinator: Aleksandra Konopko and Beata Wrońska (The Grotowski Institute)

Production: Studio Matejka Foundation in collaboration with the Grotowski Institute

PR: Monika Łuczkowska