LANDSCAPE, curator: Weronika Szczawińska
In 2019, Weronika Szczawińska was the curator of the residency program. She proposed the theme “Landscape.” The program included six performances, including those by Agata Maszkiewicz, Grzegorz Laszuk and the curator’s master performance. Among those who responded to the open call for young artists, Dobrawa Borkała, Wojciech Grudziński and Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak qualified for the program.
A solo project as part of the “Landscape” residency was also to be realized by Rafał Urbacki. The artist passed away before the premiere took place. His friends and colleagues, together with curator Weronika Szczawińska and Komuna Warszawa, decided to pay tribute to the artist by attempting to reconstruct his last work.
Idiom: Landscape
Scenery, landscape and landschaft, and paysage.
Landscape as a possible theatrical genre, performative and performed landscape.
Imagine your landscape.
Is your landscape natural, or not natural at all? Are you in it? Or do you rather look at it? Are you experiencing it or describing it?
Or do you think about it in a completely different way yet?
Landscape can be associated with many fields: both humanities, social sciences, art, as well as natural sciences. The aim of the idiom thus formulated is therefore to inspire artists of the performing arts in the broadest sense to create multidisciplinary works that transcend the boundaries of narrowly defined disciplines, works based on non-obvious collaborations and associations. The idea of “landscape” has been outlined broadly – so as not to impose any perspective on artists, but to suggest at the same time some basic starting points.
The word “landscape” and its idea can refer to something existing (or perceived), but also to its representation. Hence, work on “landscape” performance implies a creative negotiation between experience and representation (and a reflection on the rules of representation). A landscape is also something perceived, so working on it also involves thinking about contemporary regimes of visibility and invisibility. We also ask the question of the “naturalness” of the landscape, and are in line with important conversations about art in the age of the Anthropocene. The idea of “landscape” also refers to the current of theoretical reflection capturing the space of theater (or more broadly: performing arts) as a kind of landscape art. We take inspiration from visual arts, which have long engaged in a discussion of the idea of landscape. The goal of the curatorial year is to produce works that will present the audience with a map of contemporary landscapes, realized in different paradigms, using a variety of media and aesthetics.
Premieres as part of the “Landscape” residency program:
• “Taki pejzaż”, dir. Agata Maszkiewicz, premiere 9 May 2019;
• “Rozmowa o drzewach”, dir. Weronika Szczawińska, premiere 6 June 2019;
• “Manat. Romans podwodny”, dir. Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak, premiere 6 September 2019;
• “Rodos”, dir. Wojciech Grudziński, premiere 6 September 2019;
• “Symfonia oddechowa. Jaśnienie”, dir. Dobrawa Borkała, premiera 6 września 2019
• “Fatamorgana”, dir. Grzegorz Laszuk, premiere 29 December 2019
"Solo" by Rafał Urbacki
On February 28, 2019, Rafał Urbacki made a post on his Facebook profile: “already I can share this great news with you. I became a resident in Weronika Szczawińska’s curatorial program. In the Landscape of Komuna Warszawa. And there will be a premiere of performance activities in the fall. And I’m already inviting. And I’m already looking forward to it. Aaaa!” The title Urbacki chose for his performance was Solo. He began preparations, discussing with the curator, collaborators and friends ideas for the course of the work and the shape of the presentation of its results. Rafał Urbacki passed away on May 22. Rafał’s mother, Mrs. Krystyna Grabowska-Urbacka, bequeathed to his close associates items that she considered part of the artist’s professional legacy and that could be related to the preparations for Solo – including notes and props. After Urbacki’s death, his friends and colleagues, together with curator Weronika Szczawińska and Komuna Warszawa, decided to pay tribute to the artist by attempting to reconstruct his last work. What might Rafał Urbacki’s Landscape have looked like? What does the landscape look like after Urbacki?
Development and performance:
Anu Czerwiński, Kacper Lipiński, Magdalena Przybysz, Igor Stokfiszewski, Weronika Szczawińska, Jaśmina Wójcik, Jakub Wróblewski, Katarzyna Żeglicka.
Rafał Urbacki (1984-2019) – director, choreographer, performer, anthropologist. Studied drama directing at the L. Solski State Higher School of Drama in Kraków and cultural studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice. A student of Iwona Olszowska. Two-time scholarship holder of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in the field of literature and civic activity, Art Stations Foundation by G. Kulczyk (Solo Project 2010) and the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship in the field of culture. Author of numerous performance activities with the community, autobiographical, performances, choreodocumentaries: Mt. 9,7, In Overflow, The Shape of Things. About coal and porcelain, Protected species, Let the sun never shine on this day, Jaram się, Let the Erinyes stay behind the door. He has realized productions for the National Old Theater in Kraków, the Z. Raszewski Theater Institute in Warsaw, the Old Brewery in Poznań, the Silesian Museum and the Silesian Theater in Katowice. He has collaborated as a theater choreographer with Monika Strzępka, Radosław Rychcik, Katarzyna Kalwat. Author of choreography in Jaśmina Wójcik’s creation documentary Symphony of the Ursus Factory. Lecturer at IKP UW in the fields of theater pedagogy and social arts. Three-time beneficiary of IMiT’s “Scene for Dance” programs. For more than 11 years he moved exclusively using a wheelchair. Through working with awareness techniques for dancers, he learned to walk.