Komuna. Collection
A Civic Collection of Performing Arts to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Founding of the Teatr Komuna Warszawa Association
Tickets: free entry
Is performance disappearing? We already know it isn’t. Performance persists even after it ends—when the performers leave the stage and their actions cease. But what happens to the remnants of performance? To its traces, residues, and recordings? In Poland, not much. Although the experiments of the performance art community represent the most fascinating developments in our art scene in recent years, no domestic institution has taken on the task of systematically collecting them.
The Komuna Warszawa Theater wants to change this, which is why it is launching the CITIZENS’ COLLECTION OF PERFORMING ARTS.
The first stage of building this collection is an exhibition in previously inaccessible spaces at Komuna’s headquarters on Emilii Plater Street in Warsaw.
The exhibition will be open until October 4—we will announce the schedule with opening hours soon.
KOMUNA. COLLECTION is a unique collection of several dozen objects and video works created by artists associated with Komuna, and at the same time a rich presentation of the most significant practices of the Polish performing arts scene over the past decades. The works include both recordings and documentation of classic performances produced at Komuna, as well as original video art pieces: performances filmed for the camera and experimental films employing performative strategies. This is strong evidence that a captivating performance can take place not only live but also on screen.
Photos
Teatr Komuna Warszawa: Dokument, 2019; Agnieszka Mastalerz, H (Reconstruction of Position), video still (I), 2018 |
The works at the exhibition
The artists include: Akademia Ruchu, Janusz Bałdyga, Mirosław Bałka i Katarzyna Krakowiak, Tim Etchells, Marta Jalowska/Edka Jarząb/Sebastian Winkler, Teatr Komuna Warszawa, Grzegorz Klaman, Martyna Miller, Ramona Nagabczyńska, Ania Nowak, Krzysztof Maniak, Agnieszka Mastalerz, Markus Öhrn, Wojciech Pustoła, Wojciech Puś, Kuba Stępień, We Will Fail, Dominik Więcek, Zorka Wollny, Wojtek Ziemilski, Marta Ziółek.
The exhibition is curated by Tomasz Plata.
The collected works form a report on alternative scenarios of life and creativity. The starting point here is the legacy of the 20th-century avant-garde; the endpoint is the diverse experiences of existence outside the norm or in conflict with it. In the leading roles: rebellious women, queer individuals celebrating their own otherness, and ecological explorers seeking a space for themselves outside the modern city. All of this is presented in an optimistic tone—in keeping with the conviction expressed in one of the works: „I hate this system, but I love the opportunities it creates”.
Co-financed
The event is co-financed by the Warsaw City Hall as part of the Komuna Warszawa – Social Institution of Culture project.
