In 2019, Komuna Warszawa embarks on an innovative residency programme that couples material support for young artists with artistic oversight and an array of performance opportunities.
Each season of the programme will have a guest curator who will set a theme, creating a context and thematic inspiration for the works created as part of the programme.
The curators of the Residencies 2019–2022 are:
Weronika Szczawińska,
Tim Etchells / Marta Keil / Grzegorz Reske,
Markus Öhrn,
Anna Smolar.
The curator’s role will be oversight of the residency participants and the creation of their own performance.
Each of the four seasons will see the creation of four performances linked by a common theme treated from different artistic and generational perspectives.
The objective of the programme is not only to allow for independent and free artistic work but most of all to present its results and help introduce them to the art world.
The programme will be divided into three sections:
A.
Eight-week master courses spread over the year for artists under the age of 30 selected through an open-call. In the course of the master courses by the curator, performances will be created and presented to the public. One of the projects will be developed into a full-length performance.
B.
Rezydencje dla zaproszonych przez Komunę i kuratora sezonu artystów (do 40. roku życia). Rezultatem każdej rezydencji ma być praca performatywna / spektakl.
C.
Performances created by the curator and by Komuna Warszawa.
LANDSCAPE
The year 2019 at Komuna Warszawa will be a year of LANDSCAPE.
A year of landscape and landschaft, and paysage.
A year of lanscape as a possible theatrical genre, a performative and performer landscape. A year of multidisciplinary landscapes brought to life by the invited artists at the Komuna venue.
Imagine your landscape.
Is your landscape natural or not at all? Are you there? Or are you looking at it? Experiencing or describing it? Or perhaps you think of it in a different way altogether?
The curatorial idiom for the year 2019 is Landscape. The word brings many associations: with humanities, social sciences, arts, but also with natural sciences. The objective of selecting this idiom is to inspire artists in the broadly conceived performative arts to create multidisciplinary works that transcend genres, works based on non-obvious collaborations and associations. The idea of the landscape is broadly conceived so as to avoid imposing an outlook on the artists but to suggest some possible points of departure. The word landscape and its idea may refer to an objective reality (or perception), but also to its representation. Hence the work on a “landscape” performance assumes creative negotiation between experience and representation (and reflection on strategies of representation). Landscape is something perceived, thus working on it entails reflection on contemporary regimes of visibility and invisibility. We also pose the question of “naturalness” of landscape, joining in the important discourse of the age of Anthropocene. The idea of landscape also refers to the theoretical current that conceives of theatre (or more broadly, performing arts) as a kind of landscape art. We are inspired by visual arts, which have long ago taken up the issue of landscape. The objective of the year-long curatorship is to create works that will present audiences with a map of contemporary landscapes, realised in different paradigms and with a variety of media and aesthetics.
This year’s residents are Agata Maszkiewicz and Rafał Urbacki, distinguished dance artists, both perform and create choreographies. Their works focus on the motif of the body as landscape. The artists invited represent differing artistic techniques and their actions will revolve around bodies of differing motor skills, normative and alternative. Alongside the mapping the body on the basis of Maszkiewicz’s unique artistic style, Urbacki will develop reflection on the sick body – he is one of the few Polish performing artists to explore the narratives and debates surrounding the corporality of the terminally ill. The presentation of the works of both artists may prove to be a landmark artistic event: as Agata Maszkiewicz lives and works in France, her works are long overdue a confrontation with the Polish audience, while the works of Rafał Urbacki have long been absent from Warsaw.
In addition to the invited residents, Komuna will host young artists selected via an open call: Dobrawa Borkała, Wojciech Grudziński, Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak. They will receive support and artistic oversight. The programme “Landscape” will see the creation of new performances by Komuna Warszawa (dir. Grzegorz Laszuk) and Weronika Szczawińska with collaborators.
(B)
AGATA MASZKIEWICZ
Such a Landscape
A new space. White walls, a squeaky, wooden floor.
Agata, Vincent and Christophe in a new space. White walls, a squeaky, wooden floor. Windows without curtains.
Agata, Vincent and Christophe in a new space. White walls, a squeaky, wooden floor. Windows without curtains. Two columns.
In the corner, a black platform. (2 weeks. Winter.)
Agata on a black platform, Vincent with a lamp, Christophe playing. Natalia looking for something. (2 weeks. Spring.)
Agata under the black platform on wheels, Vincent shining with the lamp, Christophe listening. Natalia watching on. Hanna sits next to the wall, Leon stands behind Joanna. Olga lies down by Zbyszek.
Agnieszka blocks Mateusz’s vision, Marek touches Waldek. Piotr approaches, Agata disappears. Jan doesn’t know Mrs Abdoulaye. Piotr avoids Tomek. Danuta enters.
That is the landscape in the Komuna interiors.
Idea, execution: Agata Maszkiewicz, Vincent Tirmarche, Christophe Demarthe
text: Vincent Tirmarche, Agata Maszkiewicz
music: Christophe Demarthe
costumes: Natalia Mleczak
Premiere: 9–11 May 2019
Bio:
Agata Maszkiewicz (b. 1981) – choreographer and performer. Graduate of the Institute of Dance Arts, Linz and ex.er.ce. at the Choreographic Centre, Montpellier. Scholar of Dance Web 2006. Participant in the European programmes Modul Dance (2012) and Identity.move! (2013/2014). Since 2017 associate artist of l’Avant Scene at Cognac. Regular collaborator of Art Stations Foundation at Poznań. In addition to her own choreographies (including Polska, Don Kiewicz & Sancho Waniec, Pojedynek), she works with other artists such as the Superamas collective, Weronika Szczawińska and Agnieszka Jakimiak. Her works have been performed at festivals around Poland and Europe.
(C)
WERONIKA SZCZAWIŃSKA
A Talk about Trees (working title)
Weronika Szczawińska’s performance will be devoted to landscape reduced to a single object: the tree. A tree as a physical object and an imaginary one; a natural tree and a purely aesthetic one; a tree as a victim and symbol of resistance; a tree as a subject of poetry and politics; a tree as a being linked to pop-therapies of our neurotic age. We will be introduced to it by the tree-focused poems of Bertolt Brecht and Philip Larkin, walks around the forest and shinrin-yoku. The performance will be created by a multidisciplinary team of artists from a variety of performative traditions: Aleksandra Gryka, Małgorzata Pauka, Maciej Pesta, Katarzyna Sikora, Marta Szypulska, Piotr Wawer jr.
Premiere: 7–9 June 2019
Bio:
Weronika Szczawińska (b. 1981) – director, dramaturge, culture theorist and performer. Graduate of the College of Inter-Area Individual Studies In the Humanities and Social Sciences (MISH) at Warsaw University, PhD from the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). Has worked with a number of prestigious theatres around Poland (including Narodowy Stary Teatr in Cracow, Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw, Komuna Warszawa, Wrocławski Teatr Współczesny) and Slovensko mladinsko gledališče in Ljubljana. Nominated twice to the prestigious “Passports” of the Polityka weekly (2014, 2018), for “consequence in creating an individual artistic language” and a “mature vision of social responsibility of the theatre. Her latest works include: Genialna przyjaciółka based on Elena Ferrante (Wrocławski Teatr Współczesny, 2018), Lawrence z Arabii (Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw, 2018), Nigdy więcej wojny (Komuna Warszawa, 2018). S
(B)
Rafał Urbacki
Solo
there exist spaces with no access. roswell with the sign quarantine. or government area. bottomless caves. surgeries with fifty-fifty chances. sometime somewhere fear projected into it. repression. looking in another direction. curiority remains. moderate or obsessive. like watching horrors. weird landscapes with philoctetes. spaces bringing pain. pain as a hole in a high-voltage fence. pain as the only path to keep you from getting lost. flanagan’s path. it’s wives demanding that their principles be found. because you won’t survive – you’ll flee if you can. then there are inaccessible ones. like the places where mum won’t ever go. she’ll just take pics on a small tv on a small smartphone. because she is the mother of her son and his disability. in poland pharmacoreality. pills with extra time. synthetic time – life of an inferior quality. pills for human love – because you can doubt yourself on them. pills to stop the body devouring itself. all of me made up of pill jewellery. pain killers make you forget the crushed spine. you just cavort on tramal and morphine pills. landscape off a small tv set with an identical small dancer. with dirty blood. With these images with me without me with me without me watched by my friends. and mum. because in a moment all that’ll remain will be pics from this performance. and a cart cut up with a chainsaw.
Premiere: November 2019
Bio:
Rafał Urbacki (b. 1984) – director, choreographer, performer, anthropologist. Studied directing at theatre school in Cracow and culture studies at UŚ in Katowice. Student of Iwona Olszowska. Twice scholar of the culture ministry and of Art Stations Foundation by G. Kulczyk (Solo Projekt 2010) and of the Śląsk regional government. Author of a number of performative actions with the community, autobiographical performances, choreodocuments: Mt 9,7, W Przechlapanem, Kształt rzeczy. O węglu i porcelanie, Gatunki chronione, Niech nigdy w tym dniu słońce nie świeci, Jaram się, Erynie niech zostaną za drzwiami. Has produced performances for Narodowy Stary Teatr in Cracow, Instytut Teatralny im. Z. Raszewskiego in Warsaw, Stary Browar in Poznań, Muzeum Śląskie and Teatr Śląski in Katowice. Has worked as theatre choreographer for Monika Strzępka, Radosław Rychcik, Katarzyna Kalwat. Author of choreography in Jaśmina Wójcik’s film Symfonia Fabryki Ursus. Lectures at Polish Culture Institute of the Warsaw University in theatre pedagogy and social arts. Three-time beneficiary of IMiT „Scena dla tańca”. Was a wheelchair user for over 11 years. Learnt to walk thanks to an awareness programme for dancers. Is terminally ill.
(A)
Dobrawa Borkała
During her residence, she wishes to explore Landscape as a space created by the surrounding air; an invisible atmosphere changed by the breathing of the performers and the audience. She wants to demonstrate the dynamism of the aerial landscape. The performers will be the members of the Warsaw Experimental Breathing Choir. Since the air passes between participants, building their bodies, the artistic material will fluidly join the performers and the audience with the Komuna Warszawa venue.
Bio:
Dobrawa Borkała (ur. 1990) – visual artist and performer. Graduate of École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and psychology from SWPS University in Warsaw. Diploma in clinical psychology on art therapy of PTSD patients in women’s prisons. Currently working as EMDR therapist. During her studies in Paris, she worked on plant perception. Works in drawing, video art and textile art. Has exhibited solo and in groups. Developing Breathing Symphony, the proposal for a new artistic language to affect human psyche via breathing. Using a proprietary alphabet, she documents breathing patterns and composes scores.
Premiere: 2–4 September 2019
(A)
Dobrawa Borkała
During her residence, she wishes to explore Landscape as a space created by the surrounding air; an invisible atmosphere changed by the breathing of the performers and the audience. She wants to demonstrate the dynamism of the aerial landscape. The performers will be the members of the Warsaw Experimental Breathing Choir. Since the air passes between participants, building their bodies, the artistic material will fluidly join the performers and the audience with the Komuna Warszawa venue.
Bio:
Dobrawa Borkała (ur. 1990) – visual artist and performer. Graduate of École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and psychology from SWPS University in Warsaw. Diploma in clinical psychology on art therapy of PTSD patients in women’s prisons. Currently working as EMDR therapist. During her studies in Paris, she worked on plant perception. Works in drawing, video art and textile art. Has exhibited solo and in groups. Developing Breathing Symphony, the proposal for a new artistic language to affect human psyche via breathing. Using a proprietary alphabet, she documents breathing patterns and composes scores.
Premiere: 2–4 September 2019
(A)
Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak
The project starts with Appadurai’s thinking on landscape. He defines it as a place being everywhere and nowhere – as imagined worlds, which according to the Indian-American anthropologist are constitutive for the production of contemporary subjectivity and which reorganise community-generating mechanisms. […] The objective of the project is to create a cartography of non-places, a “new geography” of imagined worlds functioning outside time and space, becoming intangible and deprived of a visual realisation. What does it mean to design and then to produce an arbitrary collection of landschafts of non-places, which as part of a performative project get the opportunity to assume a temporary material autonomy? What is the political potential of a cartography of non-places?
Premiere: 2–4 September 2019
Bio:
Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak (b. 1990) – dramaturge; student of directing at the theatre academy in Cracow. Has directed: Chinka (TR Warszawa, 2018), Dziki (Teatr Dramatyczny im. J. Szaniawskiego in Wałbrzych, 2018), Szukając Romea (Teatr Bagatela, 2018, Festiwal Szekspirowski 2018), Tkacze. Historia jak z życia wzięta, a przez to bardzo smutna based on G. Hauptmann’s Weavers (PWST Cracow, 2016; Łaźnia Nowa, 2017), which won an award at the Young Directors’ Forum 2016; co-author and director of performative installation Przedwiośnie. Ćwiczenia z wyobraźni historycznej (Teatr im. Juliusza Osterwy in Lublin, 2017); author of installation Maszyna choreograficzna na aturii i mimozy wstydliwe (PWST Cracow); co-author and director of installation Kartoteka rozrzucona 2.016 (Instytut im. Jerzego Grotowskiego, 2016). Director of performative readings at MALTA Festiwal, „Klasyka żywa”. Scholar of the Cracow municipality 2018, member of the Dramaturgy Workshop of the Cracow theatre academy.
(A)
Grzegorz Laszuk
Mirage
The mirage is a special kind of a “landscape”, a juxtaposition of imagination and bent light waves. The physical mechanism that leads to a mirage is well known. But what about its mental effect? A lost ship, an afterimage of a new land, non-existent islands on the map, utopian visions, revolutions – all that is hidden behind the horizon and so ardently desired.
The performance of Fatamorgana (Mirage) will tell of a ceaseless journey beyond the horizon.
Premiere: November 2019
Bio:
Grzegorz Laszuk (b. 1967) – director, graphic designer, activist, co-founder of Komuna Warszawa. Has authored over 50 performances and theatre events that are politically engaged or deal with political engagement.