Fot. Jacek Grudziński.
This autumn has been marked by Tadeusz Kantor. On 28-29 October, the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre (ul. Bogusławskiego 1) will host a range of events devoted to Kantor?s oeuvre, organized as part of another episode of the Polish-Japanese theatre project Kantor_Traces, initiated by Misako Ueda (Theatre X, Tokyo), and dr Katarzyna Pastuszak. Headlining the project will be the premiere performance of Kantor_Traces: ON A SUNNY DAY choreographed by Saburo Teshigawara/Karas in collaboration with the Amareya Theatre & Guests (29 October, 7 pm). Inspired by the works of Tadeusz Kantor, the piece strives to highlight and reinterpret the ?traces? of this exquisite artist. Saburo Teshigawara reads Kantor through the texts and sensitivity of Bruno Schulz, with whom he has been fascinated for several years. His performance is permeated by rain and ambiguous dampness, which act as a tangent for Teshigawara, Schulz, and Kantor.
The first day of the event at the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre will begin with Anna Królica?s lecture Nadać rzeczom cielesny kształt. O choreograficznych akcentach w twórczości Tadeusza Kantora [To confer things with corporeal shapes: on the choreographic features of the works of Tadeusz Kantor], and a presentation of the recently discovered sole complete recording of Kurka wodna (Tadeusz Kantor?s British debut, Edinburgh, 1972). Found in Richard Demarco?s archive, the recording caused a sensation, because the only recording of the piece known to-date had been the 12-minute piece produced by the Italian television. The world premiere of the recording took place at Richard Demarco?s archive during the exhibition The Water Hen: Kantor, Demarco & the Edinburgh Festival at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, in July 2015. The recording includes the performance, a film with the audience and interviews with Tadeusz Kantor and Richard Demarco. The screening will be accompanied by a meeting with Richard Demarco, supported by the Royal Scottish Academy, Richard Demarco Archive, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Dundee University, Culture.pl, Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh, and Cricoteka.
One of Tadeusz Kantor?s early ideas was an attempt to resolve the problem of Orpheus, which involved the creation of a new artistic language capable of conferring bodily/corporeal shapes on the figures, events, and places from the past. Among the director?s takes at the Orpheus dilemma was the staging of the theatre of the past. Treating this aspect of Kantor?s work as a starting point, I would like to trace the corporeal themes in his practice and see how they are related to contemporary choreography. (Anna Królica)
?Kantor_traces? in a way continues the attempts taken by Kantor, Hijikata, and Schulz. Together with the Japanese artists, we look for our own artistic language to communicate the experience of modern humans ? in COLLAGE, these people carry the burden of history, that of their own and the world that surrounds them; in ON A SUNNY DAY, they are humans taking the form of body-rain? Entities standing between the past, the present, and the future, a window pane dripping with drops of rain, a storm which weeps with rain? Bodies filled with rain, and immersed in history, they communicate the truth of the physical experience and embody the fractions of time which we cannot access directly in our daily lives.(Katarzyna Pastuszak)
One important addition to the project will be the photography exhibition U Schulza – Manekinada [At Schulz’s – Manequinade] presenting photographs by Mariusz Kubielas, who since 2009 has continued a project he had taken up in 2004 together with a group of models-actors, with whom he has staged and photographed scenes at the junction of performance and pantomime, resembling frozen frames from silent films. The poetic, black and white visions on the one hand evoke the inexistent Polish-Jewish-Ukrainian town of Drohobych before World War II, while also reflecting the dynamic of collective actions in the course of a complex creative process.
Following the exhibition will be the main event of the programme, the premiere of Kantor_Traces: ON A SUNNY DAY, coproduced by the Amareya Theatre & Guests in collaboration with Saburo Teshigawara. The Gdańsk performance will be followed by presentations in the Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor Cricoteca in Cracow and Theatre X in Tokyo as part of the Tadeusz Kantor GoEnNen Performance Festival 2015.
The event will also include presentations of a documentary on Tadeusz Kantor by Krzysztof Miklaszewski, entitled tadeusz.kantor@europa.pl, and a meeting with Mariusz Kubielas and the artists behind Kantor_Traces, which will conclude the day.
The project is also accompanied by its own publication in the form of a booklet promoting the event and including unique texts and visual materials about the reception of Tadeusz Kantor’s art in Japan and the relationship between Kantor and the world of dance. The booklet has been edited by Nikodem Karolak (Adam Mickiewicz University), Anna Królica (Jagiellonian University), and project coordinator Katarzyna Pastuszak (University of Gdańsk).
Bios of artists and guests of KANTOR_TRACES
List of events organised as part of the project on 28-29 October 2015:
28 October 2015 ? Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre
6 pm – Anna Królica’s lecture. Dance in Tadeusz Kantor’s works
7 pm – presentation of the documentation of the performance Kurka wodna (the British debut of Tadeusz Kantor, Edinburgh, 1972)
8:30 pm ? meeting with Richard Demarco
29 October 2015 – Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre
6 pm – exhibition of Mariusz Kubielas’s Photographs At Schulz’s
7 pm ? premiere of the performance Kantor_Traces: ON A SUNNY DAY chor. Saburo Teshigawara/Karas
8 pm ? presentation of the film tadeusz.kantor@europa.pl dir. K. Miklaszewski
9 pm ? meeting with artists participating in the ?Kantor_Traces? project and Mariusz Kubielas
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Organisers and co-producers: Młoda Polska, City of Gdańsk, Adam Mickiwicz Institute (culture.pl), Agency for Cultural Affairs, Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, Jewish Community in Gdańsk, Admirał Hotel, Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor ? Cricoteka, Theatre X (Tokyo) ? Misako Ueda, Polish Institute (Tokyo), Ewa Popiołek (President of the Board) ? The Commerce sp. z o.o.
Partners: Admirał Hotel, Gdańsk Archipelago of Culture, Arthur?s Manor, Winda Club, City of Gdańsk, Theatre X (Tokyo) ? Misako Ueda, Jewish Community in Gdańsk, ?Młoda Polska? Scholarship, Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor ? Cricoteka, Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, Polish Institute (Tokyo), Adam Mickiewicz Institute (culture.pl)
Media Patrons: TVP Kultura, Trojmiasto.pl, taniecPOLSKA[pl], Japonia ? online, Radio Gdańsk, Wrota Pomorza, Kultura Enter, Gazeta Wyborcza
The exhibition of Mariusz Kubielas?s photographs has been organised by:
The Commerce Ltd. – Ewa Popiołek (President of the Board
Kantor_Traces is supported by the ?Młoda Polska 2015? scholarship programme of the Ministry of Culture and National Education, the City of Gdańsk, and the grant of the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan awarded for the fiscal year 2015.
