On Saturday, 17 May (7 and 10 pm) Magdalena Ptasznik will debut her new project, created in collaboration with Eleonora Zdebiak, at the Art Stations Gallery in Poznań (Old Brewery, ul. Półwiejska 42).
surfing is a laboratory where the subjectivity of action is dispersed. It is a performance of an activation chain ? the physical action of the body makes objects move and the (re)actions of the objects initiate and transform further action. surfing is a ritual of releasing objects or, more precisely, a ritual of loosening our perception of the objects. In a wider perspective, it is a proposal for perceiving reality and adding new articulations to the experience of the environment and time.
surfing activates matter by focusing on its surface. It seeks experience in the contact with matter. It directs attention to what is on the surface, to what is visible and available. surfing provokes surface clashes, friction and abrasion. It observes directions within space, as well as the distances, the changing dynamics and the energetic differences of the actions in which surfaces meet.
The premiere will be part of the Long Night of Museums.
Choreography, performance: Magdalena Ptasznik
Dramaturgy, conceptual collaboration: Eleonora Zdebiak
Production: Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk
With the support of Fundacja Burdąg, Centrum w Ruchu
Financial assistance: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
The performance-related research was conducted as part of the NRW Tanzrecherche 2013 residency programme in Bielefeld, Germany.
Magdalena Ptasznik is a choreographer and performer. She is a graduate of the School for New Dance Development, Amsterdam, and of sociology at the University of Warsaw. In 2007 she completed a course for contemporary dance instructors at Mazowieckie Centrum Kultury i Sztuki, Warsaw. Magdalena has held scholarships of the danceWEB 2011 programme (ImPulsTanz Festival, Vienna) and the Meet the next Generation programme (eXplore Dance Festival, Bucarest). She has studied with Debora Hay, Ria Higler, Benoît Lachambre, Xavier Le Roy and Robert Steijn. Her focus is on creating solo works, which have included surface.territory (Solo Projekt 2012, Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk, Poznań), exercises for a Hero and secrets. Her shows have been presented in the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Romania and Poland. In 2013 she was a scholarship holder of NRW Tanzrecherche, an international residency programme for young choreographers in Germany, where she began work on a new solo project called surfing. The project deals with materiality, objects, their surfaces and the way they are perceived. Magdalena considers choreography a tool that provides conditions for an altered experience and perception of time, space and bodies. She sees the body as a vehicle for this experience. Magdalena lives in Warsaw, where in 2011 she co-founded Centrum w Ruchu, the first
the first venue in Warsaw for choreographers to work in and an association of independent artists.
Eleonora Zdebiak (1984) is a Polish-born dramaturge and dancer residing in Germany. She holds an MA degree in theatre and dance studies from the university in Utrecht. She studied dance at the Warsaw Ballet School, the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, and at the dance department of CODARTS, Rotterdamse Dansacademie (BA). As a dancer she has worked with Michael Schumacher, Amy Raymond, Nicole Caccivio, and Dieter Heitkamp. She has collaborated in numerous projects with students of the Institut für Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft in Giessen and the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach. She has also participated in many improvised performances, some of which were presented as part of the Urban Dance Festival in Dordrecht, the Rotterdam Film Festival, or at the NAI and de Doelen in Rotterdam.
As a dramaturge she assisted with the production of My Private Himalaya by Ibrahim Quarishi and Near Miss by Stephanie Thiersch. Currently, she is working with choreographer Magdalena Ptasznik on surfing, a project conceived during the pair?s research residency, NRW Tanzrecherche #11, in Bielefeld. Eleonora has also showcased her video installations and photography series at festivals and galleries across Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands.