REPORT
report 2012/2013 I
REPORT
It gives me great satisfaction to present you with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute’s latest report. I hope it proves that our 13th season not only wasn’t an unlucky one, but in fact abounded in momentous events and substantial successes.
Among the most important of these was the appointment of the Board of the Institute, whose illustrious members include Professor Jerzy Buzek (Chairman), Dr Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Professor Jerzy Hausner, Professor Edmund Wnuk-Lipiński, Ambassador Jerzy Koźmiński and, ex officio, Undersecretary of State Monika Smoleń (Ministry of Culture and National Heritage) and Undersecretary of State Beata Stelmach (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
The 2012/2013 season was important not only in terms of the international successes of Polish culture, to mention Polska Arts in Edinburgh or the multidimensional Lutosławski 100/100 project, of which international critics wrote that it successfully brought this great composer into the repertoires of the world’s best orchestras, soloists, conductors and concert halls. We have months of many musical and theatrical thrills behind us, also in Poland. In spring 2013 we welcomed the best Russian productions to Warsaw during the Da! Da! Da! festival – a review that became an unquestionable sensation, enthusiastically received by critics and audiences alike. In other countries, we devoted the season to developing our long-term programme promoting Polish design and consolidating the Polska brand in such important places as London, Milan, Paris as well as Asia where we have been building our position consistently for the past four years. The I, CULTURE Orchestra has also been gaining in strength as a brand, concluding its third, “northern” tour with a concert in Vilnius during the Eastern Partnership summit.
There are new challenges before us – the most immediate of these is the multidisciplinary cultural project in Turkey marking the 600th anniversary of our diplomatic relations.
Finally, this is where we always thank our partners from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Polish diplomatic missions, creative organizations and cultural institutions in Poland and abroad, artists and cultural organizers, and as of this year also our partners PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos S.A. for their kind support in the name of shared values.
paweł potoroczyn director of the adam mickiewicz institute EDINBURGHE KLOPSZTANGAK PROJECTA ASIA
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EEPAP LUTOSŁAWSKIL ДA! ДA! ДA! ДFESTIVAL
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DDESIGN SzSZYMANOWSKI TTURKEY
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4 adam mickiewicz institute MMUSIC THEATRET AND PERFORMING ARTS
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FFILM VISUALV ARTS AND DESIGN
p. 106 p. 98
ABOUT PUBLICATIONSP THE INSTITUTE
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report 2012/2013 5 EEDINBURGH
• Teatr Biuro Podróży in Ediburgh
EDINBURGHE
GOLD Four festivals, 180 events, 10 stages, and almost 30,000 spectators – this sums up our participation in the Cultural IN EDINBURGH Olympiad in Edinburgh. Culture has accompanied games since the times of Ancient Greece, when the Olympic Games were as much a contest between athletes as they were a festival of poets, singers, and actors. Due to its magnitude, the Cultural Olympiad accompanying the London 2012 Olympics was split between London and Edinburgh. We chose Edinburgh because the city is a hub of cultural life in the United Kingdom in July and August, and we have been appearing there for years as well. The programme in 2012 was the first one presenting such a broad spectrum of what Polish culture has to offer. We were everywhere: Valery Gergiev conducted the London Symphony Orchestra performing all four of Szymanowski’s symphonies and both his violin concertos, the Cleveland Orchestra gave an amazing performance of Lutosławski’s music, Teatr Biuro Podróży presented
• Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski at the Cultural Olympiad in Edinburgh
Aleksandra Borys, Lost In Details
8 adam mickiewicz institute three productions (performing them a total of 24 times), Teatr We chose Edinburgh because the city is a Pieśń Kozła/Song of the Goat Theatre won a Fringe First award, and hub of cultural life in the United Kingdom Grzegorz Jarzyna’s Macbeth wowed critics and stunned audiences. in July and August, and we have been Strong proof of appreciation is found in the fact that the two most appearing there for years as well. important festivals opened with Polish performances. The avant- garde Fringe Festival began with Biuro Podróży’s Macbeth: Who Is That Bloodied Man?, while the oldest and most prestigious Edinburgh International Festival was inaugurated by a performance of 2008: Macbeth by TR Warszawa. Jarzyna’s show was announced by all the major UK newspapers, which wrote that it was a fountain of artistic excellence (The Sunday Times) and the top event in Scotland (The Scotsman).
Polish artists also took part in the Jazz & Blues Festival (Aga Zaryan, Marcin Wasilewski, Mitch&Mitch, Maciej Obara Quartet, Profesjonalizm) and in the Edinburgh Art Festival where we presented the exhibition Here/Now at the Royal Scottish Academy as well as Robert Kuśmirowski’s installation Pain Thing.
At Dance Base (one of the best dance centres in the world) Aleksandra Borys whirled solo in the piece Lost in Details and Leszek Bzdyl taught a master class.
report 2012/2013 9 EDINBURGHE
The premiere of Paweł Passini’s Puppet: Book of Splendour performed by neTTheatre Strong proof of appreciation is found in the fact that the two most important festivals opened with Polish performances. EDINBURGHE
Our most numerous presence was at the Fringe Festival. The centre of Polish life during this time was the extraordinary space of Summerhall, a former vet school converted into a creative hub for the arts. This was the venue for performances by the ZAR theatre, komuna//Warszawa, and Teatr Usta Usta Republika; this was where the Song of the Goat Theatre enjoyed great success, The Herald Tribune wrote about their show Songs of Lear that if the review were a song, it would be a hymn of gratitude.
Raphael Rogiński worked his magic for four nights at the festival club, presenting a mix of Hassidic music and surf rock as well as blues songs interlaced with some Native American trance-like rhythms.
At Summerhall children could watch Polish animated films in the series If You See a Cat & Other Animal Tales while grownups could enjoy Little Black Riding Hood & Other Surreal Stories as well as Borowczyk’s short films Boro in the Box and Guide to the Poles.
Another festival venue, the Old College Quad, was the scene of outdoor performances. Next to shows already familiar to local audiences – Carmen Funebre and Macbeth, Teatr Biuro Podróży presented Planet Lem and the KTO theatre performed its show The Blind.
Every year the Edinburgh festivals draw in the most original artists, leading impresarios from all over the world, and an international audience. If this had been a sports Olympics, in 2012 we would have won all the gold medals.
Cadillac, a production by Teatr Usta Usta
Teatr ZAR photo: Douglas Robertson Photography
• Mitch&Mitch performing in Edinburgh
12 adam mickiewicz institute • A fragment from Teatr Biuro Podróży’s Carmen Funebre
Artists: Aga Zaryan, Agata Dymus-Kaźmierczak, Aleksandra Borys, Aleksandra Zawada, Alte Zahen, Cukunft, Grażyna Dobrzelecka, Grzegorz Bral, Grzegorz Jarzyna, Grzegorz Laszuk, Grzegorz Reske, Jarosław Fret, Jarosław Siejkowski, Jerzy Zoń, Joanna Łyczko, komuna//warszawa, Leszek Bzdyl, London Symphony Orchestra, Maciej Obara Quartet, Magda Błasińska, Marcin Brzozowski, Marcin Masecki, Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Mitch & Mitch With Their Incredible Combo, neTTheatre, Olga Rek, Paweł Passini, Paweł Szkotak, Profesjonalizm, Raphael Rogiński, Robert Kuśmirowski, Teatr Biuro Podróży, Teatr KTO, Teatr Pieśń Kozła/Song of the Goat Theatre, Teatr Szwalnia, Teatr Usta Usta Republika, Teatr ZAR, Valery Gergiev, Wacław Miklaszewski, Wojciech Wiński, Wojtek Ziemilski, Wovoka.
Partners: Dance Base, The Edinburgh International Festival, The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, The Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, The Polish Cultural Institute in London, The Polish Consulate in Edinburgh, The Royal Scottish Academy, Summerhall, The Universal Arts.
report 2012/2013 13 KLOPSZTANGAK
• The Coming Soon exhibition at the Temporary Gallery Köln photo: Marcin Oliva-Soto
KLOPSZTANGAK
A CARPET-BEATING The aim of the Klopsztanga. Poland Without Borders project was to move beyond the framework of historical Polish- FRAME INSTEAD OF German relations. We meet at the carpet-beating frame [which children playing outdoors in Poland use as a climbing FACEBOOK frame and meeting place]. In the Silesian dialect, klopsztanga means carpet-beating frame. A carpet-beating frame isn’t a thing, an object, it’s a Place. It evokes hamburg 25.07–09.09.2012 images of childhood, youthful imagination, innocent emotions, fun, a sense of security, initiation. It is a symbol of relationships. The klopsztanga pictured in the project’s logo is a symbol of communication, exchange of experiences, and dialogue through culture – without ceremony or conventions.
In 2012 at the Polish-German carpet- beating frame we worked mostly with visual and performance arts. The meetings in 2013 were all about music.
Joanna Kiliszek – Deputy Director of the IAM, Maria Kozłowska – Klopsztanga and Aleksander Gowin – Klopsztanga Project Manager at the Schauspiel Köln press conference photo: Marcin Oliva Soto
The Laboured Memory exhibition at Zollverein in Essen photo: Marcin Oliva Soto
16 adam mickiewicz institute • Concert by Baaba, M.Bunio.S, Gaba Kulka during the launch of the Klopsztanga project at Schauspiel Köln, photo Marcin Oliva-Soto
• Joanna Kiliszek – Deputy Director of the IAM speaking at the Schauspiel Köln press conference
In 2012 we launched a series of presentations enabling our artists to become known in twenty cities of North Rhine-Westphalia, from Aachen, through Bochum, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Cologne, all the way to Straelen, Unna, and Witten.
North Rhine-Westphalia is the economic and cultural equivalent of Upper Silesia. Until recently a coal and steel basin, with the disappearance of heavy industry the region turned its mines and steelworks into art centres, becoming a cultural industry basin of European magnitude. The post-industrial spaces have become the perfect home for cultural institutions such as the Ruhrtriennale and PACT Zollverein.
report 2012/2013 17 KLOPSZTANGAK
In 2010 the Ruhr Basin and Essen received the title of European Capital of Culture. With its infrastructure and institutions enjoying stable financing, today the region has a global impact.
In 2012 at the Polish-German carpet-beating frame we worked mostly with visual and performance arts. The meetings in 2013 were all about music.
The most important effects of this project include establishing cooperation with the Ruhrtriennale festival which is managed by one of the greatest contemporary composers, Heiner Goebbels. Expanding the collaboration with the festival and the c/o pop creativity convention in Cologne are examples of model activities in promoting contemporary music. The presentation of Polish bands initiated in 2012 is being developed with the growing involvement of artists and music industry representatives from Poland.
One result of the unusual installation called Laboured Memory, presented in the summer of 2012 at the Weltkulturerbe Zollverein in Essen (the effect of the mutual inspiration of 50 Polish and German artists), is that the project will be continued and developed in Katowice/Szopienice in 2013.
Following the IAM’s development of a special programme of study visits to Poland, we received invitations to take part in events held at other cultural centres in Germany, including the Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg, Jazzahead in Bremen, and Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen.
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute also supports the exchange of contacts and ideas between curators, playwrights, and theatre producers from Poland and Germany as well as countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which is the purpose of the East European Performing Arts Platform (EEPAP). Klopsztanga and EEPAP are • The Coming Soon exhibition milestones in a project to expand the global network for exchanging at the Temporary Gallery Köln cultural experiences. photo: Marcin Oliva-Soto
18 adam mickiewicz institute Artists: Agnieszka Kalinowska, Agnieszka Kurant, Ana Vujanović, Andrzej Tobis, Anna Molska, Arkadiusz Gola, Artur Żmijewski, Cezary Bodzianowski, The Chorus of Women, Christoph Westermeier, DJ Motyl, Dominik Lejman, Ensemble musikFabrik, Felix Kubin, Gaba Kulka & m.bunio.s, Giulietta Ockenfus, Harakiri Farmers, Jacek Sienkiewicz, Janen Ritsema, Janusz Orlik, Juergen Staack, Julia Marcell, Kamp!, Katarzyna Kozyra, Katarzyna Przezwańska, komuna//warszawa, Konrad Smoleński, Maciej Obara Quartet, Magdalena Kita, Small Instruments, Małgorzata Haduch, Martin Pfeifel, Mirosław Bałka, Mitch&Mitch, Olaf Brzeski, Oskar Dawicki, Paula & Karol, Piotr Bosacki, Piotr Wójcik, Poznań Chamber Choir, Radek Szlaga, Radical Guru and KDMS, Seb Koberstädt, Sławomir Rumiak, SLG, Stephan Stroux, Tomek Jeziorski, Transkapela, Weronika Pelczyńska, Wojciech Bąkowski, Wojtek Ziemilski, Yula, Zorka Wollny.
Partners: Ars Cameralis Silesiae Superioris, The c/o pop festival, C’n’B Convention, Concerto Koeln, Ensemble musikFabrik, Art & Present Time Foundation, The Polish Institute in Düsseldorf, The Juicy Beats Festival, Kelner Gesellschaft fuer Alte Musik ZAMUS, The Polish Consulate General in Cologne, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kunstsammlung NRW, , Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach, NRW Kultursekretariat, Open Source Festival, SOHO, Stadt Mönchengladbach, Stiftung Zollverein, The “Where Is Art?” Association, Transmission e V., Silesia Voivodship Marshal’s Office, The Zachęta National Gallery of Art.
report 2012/2013 19 PROJECTA ASIA
• Aleksandra Cwen in The Odyssey by the Jan Kochanowski Theatre from Opole
PROJECTA ASIA
KOREAN Agnieszka Holland left her handprint in the Avenue of Stars, people watched Wajda in the Demilitarized Zone, Stańko OCTOBER delighted listeners on the island of Jara, Warlikowski opened a major theatre festival.
In South Korea, October is the month of leading cultural festivals. In autumn 2012 we took part in almost all of them, and enjoyed the status of a special guest at most of these. It started back in April with concerts by the Royal String Quartet with Ingolf Wunder at the Sejong Center, continuing in August with the exhibition Unpolished - Young Design From Poland at the Korea Foundation Cultural Gallery in Seoul. In September, we presented a programme of works by leading documentary makers, famous directors, and filmmakers of the young generation at the DMZ Korean International Documentary Film Festival held in the Demilitarized Zone. Krzysztof Warlikowski’s (A)pollonia opened the Seoul Performing Arts Festival in October. We also presented The Odyssey by the Jan Kochanowski Theatre from Opole, while its director Krzysztof Garbaczewski taught workshops Since the end of 2008, as part of its on Gombrowicz in Seoul, concluding with a performance reading (in Korean) of Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy. During this time, the Project Asia, the Institute has carried out Dada von Bzdülow Theatre danced its Invisible Duets at the SIDance more than 60 separate projects and 22 festival at the Seoul Arts Center, and at the film festival in Busan we study visits, operating in China (Beijing, presented a 10-film retrospective of masters of Polish cinema. The films in competition were Imagine, Yuma, and My Father’s Bike. The Shanghai, Tianjin) and Hong Kong, the Korean version of Polish Cinema Now, an exhaustive compendium of Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore and information about contemporary Polish cinema, was released near Taiwan. the end of the year.
• Agnieszka Holland in the Busan International Film Festival’s avenue of stars
Concert by the Maciej Obara Quartet at the Jarasum International Jazz Festival 2012 in Korea
22 adam mickiewicz institute At the PAMS market, together with our partners from the Visegrad Artists: Agnieszka Bar, Agnieszka Holland, Dorota Kędzierzaw- Group we organized a series of theatre events and a joint stand under ska, Hory, Ingolf Wunder, Jacek Petrycki, KDMS (Max Skiba, Kathy the PACE.V4 (Performing Arts Central Europe) logo. Audiences at the Diamond, Artur Koryciński), Krzysztof Garbaczewski, Krzysztof Za- huge Jarasum outdoor jazz festival were wowed by Tomasz Stańko, nussi, Maciej Cuske, Maciej Obara Quartet, Michał Chaciński, Mike the Maciej Obara Quartet, Nikola Kołodziejczyk’s Stryjo Trio, and the Polarny, Natural Born Chillers, Radosław Rychcik, Royal String ragamuffin-dancehall Senk Że band. Quartet, Senk Że, Stryjo Trio, Tomasz Januchta, Tomasz Stańko Qu- artet, William Youn, Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre, Jan Kochanowski The Korean press wrote extensively about Poland’s road to freedom, Theatre in Opole, Nowy Theatre in Warsaw, Stefan Żeromski Theatre Polish values, artistic sensitivity, and the universal contexts of Polish in Kielce. art. Audiences gave our presentations an enthusiastic reception and, despite the cultural differences, shared their fascinated opinions via Partners: The Polish Embassy in Seoul, The Arts and Theatre social media. Institute (Czech Republic), The Busan Dance Market, The Busan International Film Festival, The DMZ Docs, The FF Club, The Han- guk Performing Arts Center, The Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute, The Jarasum International Jazz Festival, The Jazztopad, The Korea Arts Management Service, The Korea Foundation, The In- ternational Visegrad Fund, The Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola, The Sejong Center, The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, The Seoul Section of the International Dance Council CID-UNESCO, The StaffS eoul, The Theatre Institute (Slovakia), The Wajda School, The Department of Polish Studies at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
report 2012/2013 23 PROJECTA ASIA
EEPAP projekt logo East European Performing Arts Platform wersja: CZŁOWIEK EEPAP
NETWORKING The East European Performing Arts Platform (EEPAP) is an organization that fosters the development of performing EUROPE arts (theatre and dance) in Central and Eastern Europe. The Platform’s core activities include supporting and facilitating international exchanges between artists and officials as well as designing and developing educational programmes involving the performing arts. As the first institution of the Eastern Partnership, EEPAP operates at the Centre for Culture in Lublin with financial support from the Lublin City Office and the IAM.
We want to share with our neighbours the best practices in performing arts production, distribution, marketing, education, and workshops. The project involves 18 countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, EEPAP carries out artistic projects, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, educational and residency activities, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Poland. The Platform is targeted becoming an important alternative and mainly at independent artists, curators, critics, theoreticians, and complement to existing academic centres in operators of independent cultural centres and festivals. EEPAP is a Central Europe. platform that initiates and supports cooperation among artists and specialists involved in the performing arts. It runs artistic projects, educational activities and residencies, becoming a major alternative and supplement to the existing academic centres of Central Europe.
Identity – Autonomy – Critical Discourse. Dance in Central/ Eastern Europe After 1989, a conference held in Lublin on 8-9 November 2012 photo: Blow up
EEPAP congress held in Lublin on 15-16 October 2012 photo: Blow up
28 adam mickiewicz institute The First Residence Programme was implemented in Belgrade during Desant educational project comprising a series of seminars with well- the BITEF International Theatre Festival. “In Belgrade I saw many known theatre curators. Students were very happy to receive practical excellent shows and discovered the culture of Serbia. The residency information (e.g. where to seek grants, how to establish contacts), but gave me a creative impulse and enabled me to look differently at also important was the contact with the teachers, who showed the reality, which is extremely important for me as a director”, wrote Denis participants how to design event programmes by situating them in a Fedorov, a residency participant from Belarus. social context. The issue of the threat of nationalism and the danger that society could become depoliticized and favour art detached A participant in the residency in Sarajevo during the MESS International from reality, discussed by Borka Paviciević, the director of the Centre Theatre Festival, Michaela Zakutanska from Slovakia, has this memory for Cultural Decontamination in Belgrade, turned out to be a very of taking part in the festival: “One of the more important aspects was important topic for the seminar participants, especially given that it is getting to know other playwrights and dramaturges of a similar age, seldom touched upon in Ukrainian theatre. who struggle with the same problems and analyse drama and theatre in the context of their own country. I think strong ties with the other The second EEPAP plenary congress was held in Lublin in October workshop participants were formed during the festival”. 2012. Besides representatives of the countries working with EEPAP, the meeting was attended by a Turkish representative and two curators The turn of July and August 2012 in Kiev, during the International from Germany. The first, founding congress had taken place a year Summer School for Theatre Curators, saw the first edition of our earlier in Cracow, during the Polish Presidency of the European Union.
Collaborating institutions: Institute of Contemporary Arts in Yerevan, Armenia; Les Kurbas Centre in Kiev, Ukraine; Art Corporation in Minsk, Belarus; Mladinsko Theatre and Glej Theatre in Ljubljana, Slovenia; Theatre Confrontations Festival, Lublin, Poland; Cracow Theatri- cal Reminiscences Festival, Cracow, Poland; BITEF International Theatre Festival in Belgrade, Serbia; MESS International Theatre Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; ColectivA Organization, Cluj, Romania; Derida Dance Centre in Sofia, Bulgaria; Teatr Stary in Cracow, Poland; Drabina Association in Lviv, Ukraine; Art Office inS ofia, Bulgaria; GoetheI nstitute; Ruhrtriennale Festival, Germany; Institute of Music and Dance in Warsaw, Poland; Lublin Dance Theatre, Poland; Drama Theatre in Grodno, Belarus; Theatre Institute in Prague, Czech Republic
Partners: Centre for Culture in Lublin
report 2012/2013 29 LUTOSŁAWSKIL
• Poster for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Witold Lutosławski’s birth, by Marcin Łagocki Lutoslawski_plakat_500x700_print.pdf 1 1/18/13 1:52 PM
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A HUNDRED CONCERTS “I couldn’t even have dreamed of such sound, such an interpretation”, said Witold Lutosławski after listening to FOR A HUNDREDTH Chain 2 performed by Anne-Sophie Mutter in Zurich in 1989. Twenty-four years later, the legendary German violinist’s ANNIVERSARY performance in Warsaw inaugurated the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the maestro’s birth.
CELEBRATION A resolution of the UNESCO General Conference had erlier stated that the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth would be included on a list of anniversaries celebrated under the auspices of UNESCO, while the Polish Sejm declared 2013 the Year of Witold Lutosławski. Working together, many Polish cultural institutions are carrying out an extraordinary programme of concerts, educational events, and publications to celebrate the work of this composer and conductor Lutosławski, creator of one of the most whose importance, oeuvre, and international recognition (including glorious musical landscapes of the 20th the music equivalent of a Nobel Prize – the Polar Music Prize) has ensured him a permanent place in the music pantheon. century. The Cleveland Orchestra’s concerts at the Edinburgh International The Independent Festival were a spectacular success. The conductor was Franz Welser- Möst and the British press enthused about the music being “a joy for its plain-speaking expressivity” (The Guardian) and “played with an irresistible combination of needlepoint accuracy and swaggering energy” (The Telegraph).
Witold Lutosławski in 1960 photo: A. Zborski ©POLMIC
32 adam mickiewicz institute One unique project in its magnitude is the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Esa-Pekka Salonen in Warsaw during the Philharmonia Woven Words series of concerts which has continued since January Orchestra’s concert 2013. The London orchestra’s Warsaw concert was the biggest event in the Woven Words cycle of the season. photo: Konrad Ćwik ©IAM
Apart from producing many concerts and bringing Lutosławski’s music back into the repertoire of the world’s great orchestras, the IAM runs the press office of LutosławskiY ear and posts regular updates about the projects on the celebration’s official website, www.lutoslawski.culture.pl.
After the first part of the season, public opinion no longer seems to doubt that the Polish composer (not only a brilliant musician but also Artists Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jennifer Koh, Krystian Zimerman, a philosopher and erudite who successfully combined the creative Mathias Goerne, Truls Mork, Philharmonia Orchestra process with theoretical reflection) was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. The process of restoring Lutosławski’s music Partners The Institute of Music and Dance, The Lutosławski So- to its rightful place in the repertoire of great orchestras and famous ciety, The National Philharmonic, The National Audiovisual Institu- concert halls, which was such a success in the first half, continues. te, The Polish Embassy in Baku, The Polish Consulate in Irkutsk, The More performances, recordings, and publications are planned for the Polish Institute in Rome. 2013-2014 season.
report 2012/2013 33 FESTIWAL ДДA! ДA! ДA!
• Lear. A Comedy, a show directed by Konstantin Bogomolov
ДFESTIWAL ДA! ДA! ДA!
RUSSIAN THEATRICAL In 2011 Polish theatre conquered the hearts of Russians; this time around we surrendered Warsaw to Russians. “I have SPRING IN POLAND no doubt that the approaching events will become a huge impulse for the development of our relations”, wrote Vladimir Medinsky, the Russian Federation’s minister of culture, in the introduction to the programme of the ДА! ДА! ДА! project.
The festival began with an unprecedented satellite broadcast on May 17, 2013. The audience gathered at Warsaw’s Teatr Dramatyczny was connected with the audience at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre (MKhT) to watch Konstantin Bogomolov’s cult play An Ideal Husband. A Comedy being performed there. From that day, for more than two weeks theatres in Warsaw (Narodowy, Studio, Dramatyczny, TR Warszawa) and the Cartonovnia Art Centre presented the best productions from theatres in Moscow and St. Petersburg. These were accompanied by meetings with artists, discussion panels, and the conference Konstantin Stanislavsky: Theatre, Cinema with which we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the maestro’s birth. The festival’s • Zamknięte drzwi photo: Douglas Robertson grand finale was the premiere of Pavel Pryazhko’s Life Is Grand directed Photography by Marat Gatsalov at the Teatr Studio.
36 adam mickiewicz institute • A scene from Gorki-10
We brought ten productions to the Russian theatrical spring in The festival’s curators arranged the Warsaw, all of which – as Russia’s minister of culture emphasized – productions presented in Warsaw into were chosen by independent Polish theatre critics. The curators of ДА! ДА! ДА! Contemporary Theatre, Drama, and Performance From Russia, two segments: one settling accounts with Agnieszka Lubomira Piotrowska and Roman Pawłowski, arranged historical memory, the other concentrating the project into two segments: one settling accounts with historical memory, the other concentrating on the present time. Together they on the present time. build the image of a society coping with its totalitarian past while undergoing rapid modernization. Watching the performances, it is easy to notice that Polish and Russian people share a similar attitude towards theatre as one of few media of social debate, serious dialogue, and identity of elites. As the curators of ДА! ДА! ДА! underline, “in both countries, despite the commercialization and globalization of culture, [theatre] has preserved its high social status and continues to be a
report 2012/2013 37 ДFESTIWAL ДA! ДA! ДA!
Konstantin Bogomolov’s An Ideal Husband by the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre (MKhT) from Moscow inaugurated the ДА! ДА! ДА! festival in Warsaw photo: Ekaterina Tsvetkova The festival began with an unprecedented satellite broadcast of Konstantin Bogomolov’s cult production An Ideal Husband. A Comedy. ДFESTIWAL ДA! ДA! ДA!
place of important discussions on humanity and not just a branch of show business”. Audiences were able to experience this personally by watching plays such as Life and Fate directed by Lev Dodin (an adaptation of Vasily Grossman’s epic novel, banned in the Soviet Union, about the fate of the Russian intelligentsia during the Great Fatherland War), Dmitry Krymov’s Gorki-10 (an auteur production dealing with three pillars of Soviet mythology: the revolution, the war, daily life), Lear. A Comedy – a show directed by the great rebel of Russian theatre, Konstantin Bogomolov, and Shoot / Get Treasure / Repeat by St. Petersburg’s Post Theatre. This last production was the leading representative of theatre focused on the present day, seeking universal mechanisms governing human fate. All the performances were applauded by critics and audiences alike, the latter giving them standing ovations.
ДА! ДА! ДА! Contemporary Theatre, Drama, and Performance From Russia is the second stage of a pioneering project begun five years ago with the aim of creating a Polish-Russian platform of cooperation for developing new trends in theatre. The first stage was the Polish Theatre in Moscow project presented at the Golden Mask Festival in Moscow in 2011, in which the IAM showcased five Polish productions. In 2012 Warlikowski’s (A)pollonia won the Golden Mask (Russia’s most prestigious theatre award) for the best foreign performance of 2011, and when tickets ran out for the performance of Krystian Lupa’s Persona. Marilyn there was a huge row at the box office! According to the words of the festival’s director-general Maria Revyakina, the Polish performances “triggered unbelievable creative enthusiasm, defined the direction of artistic quests, and inclined Russians to give some thought to the role of theatre in public life”.
The Polish Theatre in Moscow and ДА! ДА! ДА! Contemporary Theatre, Drama, and Performance From Russia projects have become a permanent element of the search for shared visions. The nearest step is next year’s premiere of Konstantin Bogomolov’s Ice. The enfant terrible of Russian theatre is adapting Vladimir Sorokin’s prose in a collaboration with Warsaw’s Teatr Narodowy. Premiere: January 2014.
A scene from Lev Dodin’s Life and Fate photo: Viktor Vasilev
Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat by Dmitry Volkostrelov and Semion Aleksandrovsky photo: Julia Lyustarnova/teatr post
The Uzbek directed by Talgat Batalov photo: Golden Mask Festival Press Office
40 adam mickiewicz institute • Leningrad, a musical show by Artists Directors: Aleksandr Vartanov, Dmitry Krymov, Dmitry Volkostrelov, Yuri Muravitsky, Łukasz Czuj photo: Natalia Borzymowska Konstantin Bogomolov, Lev Dodin, Łukasz Czuj, Marat Gatsalov, Sasha Denisova, Semion Aleksandrovsky, Talgat Batalov. Actors at the following theatres: Maly Drama Theatre in St. Petersburg, MKhT Theatre in Moscow, Teatr Piosenki in Wrocław, the Post Theatre in St. Petersburg, the Priyut Komedianta Theatre in St. Petersburg, the Teatr Studio in Warsaw, the Theatre of the School of Dramatic Art and Krymov Laboratory in Moscow, the Teatr.doc in Moscow.
Partners The elwerowicz Theatre Academy, BARSTUDIO, The Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding, The Cartonovnia Art Centre, The Sputnik Over Poland Festival of Russian Films, The Gol- den Mask Festival – co-organizer, The National Film Archive and Iluzjon Cinema, Orlen – Patron of the Festival, Teatr Dramatyczny, Teatr IMKA, Teatr Narodowy, Teatr Studio, TR Warszawa
report 2012/2013 41 DDESIGN
• The Kristoff porcelain collections Great Inventors (design by Kaja Kusztra) and Nathalie & George (design by Maria Jeglińska), the Cloud modular table (design by Lorens). The Polish Innovation in Milan exhibition presented at MOST.
DDESIGN
OBJECTS THAT Friendly furniture, a vertical indoor garden, a self-watering plant frame, eco-friendly toys, dream bicycles, household LOVE PEOPLE appliances, and even trains and trams – the first year of promoting Polish design internationally is behind us.
Just as poster art was a Polish speciality in the past, in recent years design has started being our national trademark among creative industries. Design is flourishing in Poland, with a new generation of fantastically creative talents coming to the fore and excellent schools and regions of design emerging, to mention Cieszyn Castle, Poznań’s School of Form, and the Łódź Design Festival.
The Year of Polish Design programme involved taking part in key international trade fairs, festivals, exhibitions, biennials.
• The RM58 armchair designed by Roman Modzelewski, a Polish design icon now implemented into mass production by Vzór photo: Vzór
• The Euclid porcelain collection designed by Ewelina Wiśniowska (School of Form) created during the Art Food ceramic workshops at the Ćmielów Design Studio
44 adam mickiewicz institute • Kupala Night masks (design by What is design? It is objects loving people. The objects don’t Kosmos Projekt). The Collective necessarily have to be trendy or pretty, but they do have to Unconscious exhibition, Salone Internazionale del Mobile in communicate values or emotions, fill a specific need, express an idea. Milan.
The Year of Polish Design programme involved taking part in key international trade fairs, festivals, exhibitions, biennials. In 2013 we presented all that was best in Polish industrial design at the world’s leading festivals: the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, the London Design Festival, the Business of Design Week in Hong Kong, Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan. Through exhibitions like Must Have From Poland, Polish Design, Polish Innovation in Milan, we built awareness of the existence of strong Polish brands that embrace innovative technologies, are in production, represent the highest quality of workmanship, respond to contemporary trends, and anticipate buyers’ expectations.
One important aspect of the programme is networking: providing designers and design businesses with opportunities to establish cooperation, build a network of contacts, exchange know-how and experience, also among Polish and foreign students. We do all this through meetings, workshops, study visits, residencies, being present at major trade events.
report 2012/2013 45 DDESIGN
The Polish Design exhibition presented at Superstudio Piu during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan We build awareness of the existence of strong Polish brands that embrace innovative technologies, are in production, represent the highest quality of workmanship, respond to contemporary trends, and anticipate buyers’ expectations. DDESIGN
• • The Must Have From Poland exhibition, Ventura Lambrate, Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan
48 adam mickiewicz institute Projektanci Agata and Arek Seredyn, Agata Dudek, Agnieszka Bar, Agnieszka Czop, Agnieszka Lasota, Aleksander Modzelewski, Aleksandra Gaca, Aleksandra and Daniel Mizieliński, Aleksandra Niepsuj, Alicja Patanowska, Arobal, Aze Design, Bartek Mejor, Bartosz Mucha, Baskho Trybek, Beton, Beza Projekt, Bogdan Kosak, Boho, Bongo Design, bro.Kat, Cookie, Damian Nowak, Dawid Ryski, Dbwt, Dizeno Creative, Dominik Cymer, Edgar Bąk, Emilia Bartkowska, Endesign, Fera Bikes, Filip Zagórski, Fontarte, Gagani, Gravika, Grzegorz Cholewiak, Grzegorz Laszuk, Hakobo, Halina Kamińska, Homework, Izabela Kaczmarek-Szurek, Jadwiga Husarska-Chmielarz, Jakub Jezierski, Jan Bajtlik, Jan Lutyk, Jarosław Hulbój, Jerzy Cielecki, Joanna Rusin, Justyna Medoń, Justyna Popławska, Kafti Design, Kaja Gliwa, Kaja Kusztra, Kamila Kanclerz, Karina Marusińska, Karolina Kotowska, Kasia Bogucka, Katarzyna Modrzejewska, Katarzyna Turczyńska, Kompott, Kosmos Project, Krecha, Kristoff, Kuba Sowiński, Lapolka, Lorens, Maciej Gąsienica Giewont, Magdalena Łapińska, Magdalena Pilaczyńska, Malafor, Małgorzata Gurowska, Małgorzata Żółkiewska, Maliny, mamsam, Marcel Kaczmarek, Marcin Pogorzelski, Marek Cecuła, Maria Jeglińska, Marta Krupińska, Mateusz Przybysz, Matylda Krzykowski, Maurycy Tryuk-Moczulski, Michał Jońca, Miinio, Mikołaj Wierszyłłowski, Monika Patuszyńska, Monomoka, Mops Design, Mowo Studio, Nioska, Od Rzeczy, Oskar Zięta, Pan Tu Nie Stał, Pani Jurek, Paweł Grobelny, Paweł Grunert, Piotr Młodożeniec, Poorex, Puff- Buff, Rafał Jarmołowski, Rene Wawrzkiewicz, Robert Czerniawski, Studio Colorofon, Tabanda, Tomasz Augustyniak, Tomek Rygalik, Trzy Myszy, Twożywo, Tymek Borowski, Tymek Jezierski, Wzorowo.
Partners The Polish Embassy in Brazil, The Polish Embassy in Havana, The Polish Embassy in Copenhagen, The Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, The Depot Basel, The Design Trade in Copenhagen, The Creative Project Foundation, The Munkeruphus Gallery in Denmark, The Polish Cultural Institute in London, The Polish Consulate General in Hong Kong, The Polish Consulate General in Sao Paulo, The Korea Foundation, The 2+3d quarterly, The London Design Festival, The Lviv Academy of Fine Arts, The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Modus Design, The Łódź Design Festival, The Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola, The Design Critique Platform, The Pratt Institute, The Royal College of Art, The School of Form, The Association of Applied Graphic Designers, The TXT Publishing, The Typo Berlin, The Wallpaper Magazine, The Cieszyn Castle.
The exhibitions held in the programme present not only excellently designed utilitarian goods but also innovative technological solutions proving that Polish designers are ready to work together with industry, are open to experiments and innovation. As the authors of the Polish Innovation in Milan exhibition write, “we introduce audiences around the world to Polish design and change our image from that of a country focused solely on reproduction of goods to that of a country of originators and designers supported by a strong industrial base”.
report 2012/2013 49 SzSZYMANOWSKI
Karol Szymanowski photo: NAC
SzSZYMANOWSKI
a TRIUMPHANT “[Something] I had never heard before,” wrote The Herald commenting on the completely sold-out concerts following TOUR the first presentation of Szymanowski’s music at the Edinburgh International Festival.
In 2004, Scottish-born violinist Nicola Benedetti won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition after performing Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1. She was 16 years old at the time. She chose Szymanowski’s music for its sensual, mystical charm and the challenge it poses for the musician.
Last year the Adam Mickiewicz Institute invited her to perform at After the concert at Usher Hall in the Edinburgh International Festival with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. This memorable concert Edinburgh, The Herald published an inaugurated the London Symphony Orchestra’s international tour enthusiastic review of the brilliant commemorating the 130th anniversary of Karol Szymanowski’s birth Symphony No. 2 by Szymanowski, writing and the 75th anniversary of his death. The main aim of this project was to restore Szymanowski’s music, considered difficult and risky that it was absolutely magnificent, as rich in terms of audience numbers, to the global festival and repertoire as a piece by Strauss. circuit. Rarely performed until recently, thanks to the involvement of
Nicola Benedetti in rehearsal © Edinburgh International Festival
52 adam mickiewicz institute • Valery Gergiev one of the world’s best orchestras and the personal commitment of © Douglas Robertson Photography the legendary conductor, Szymanowski is returning in great style to the most prestigious concert venues.
Besides the London Symphony Orchestra’s international concert tour, Szymanowski’s spectacular return also includes recordings and broadcasts of London concerts by the Mezzo TV station, a production A reviewer writing for The Scotsman of the opera King Roger in Santa Fe (USA) and Bilbaó (Spain), and the raved about a fantastic concert in which BBC Symphony Orchestra’s recording of the composer’s works for Chandos Records. Nicola Benedetti had returned in one of her greatest triumphs.
Artists London Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski, Jeremy Ovenden, Stephen Wadsworth, Mariusz Kwiecień, Valery Gergiev.
Partners The Edinburgh International Festival, The Santa Fé Opera Festival, The Polish Cultural Institute in New York, The Cite de la Musique – Salle Pleyel, The Polish Cultural Institute in Paris, The UBS, The Mezzo.
report 2012/2013 53 SzSZYMANOWSKI
King Roger, a production directed by Michał Znaniecki, being performed at the Palacio Euskalduna, Bilbao, Spain photo: E. Moreno Esquibel © ABAO OLBE
TTURKEY
TTURKEY
THE ROOTS OF In 1414 Jakub Skarbek of Góra and Gregory the Armenian – envoys sent by King Władysław Jagiełło – arrived at the EUROPE Sultan’s court. This was the beginning of diplomatic relations between Poland and Turkey, relations that have never been severed.
In 2014 we will celebrate the 600th anniversary of Polish-Turkish diplomatic relations. This is an unprecedented occurrence. Our shared history is complicated but abounds in great moments. It is no legend that sessions of the Turkish parliament were opened with the words “the envoy from Lechistan has not yet arrived”. Turkey never officially recognized the partitions of Poland.
Turkey is the cradle of Europe and currently a very rapidly developing economy as well as being a country of more than 70 million people, where the average age is less than 30 and cultural life is of a very ambitious standard. The celebration of 600 years of our relations is Istanbul is one of the places where Polish culture will be presented an excellent opportunity to show young Turkish people contemporary photo: PANATO Poland – the homeland of free and ambitious people – through Polish values, which could turn out to be similar to Turkish ones.
58 adam mickiewicz institute The IAM has been tasked with designing and carrying out a cultural Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski in programme celebrating this great anniversary. The season will begin Turkey with the exhibition Poland – Turkey. 600 Years of Political and Cultural Relations and close with the exhibition Orientalism in Polish Paintings, Drawings, and Graphic Art (with a lot of attention devoted to the work of Stanisław Chlebowski, court painter and drawing teacher of Sultan Abdülaziz 1861-1876). Both exhibitions are being prepared by the National Museum in Warsaw and will constitute a historical bridge welding the programme into a whole. The core will comprise The celebration of 600 years of our a presentation of all that is best about our culture today: music, relations is an excellent opportunity to show theatre, dance, cinema, new forms in visual arts and design. Polish young Turkish people contemporary Poland artists will appear at leading Turkish festivals. Thanks to the Minister of Culture and National Heritage’s Turkey 2014 – Promesa programme – the homeland of free and ambitious we will have almost 100 presentations in a dozen or so cities. people.
As a prelude to the celebration of the 600th anniversary, talks were held between Polish and Turkish film industry representatives during artists Apollon Musagète Quartett, Krzysztof Penderecki, Marcin the Meetings on the Bridge at the Istanbul International Film Festival Wasilewski Trio 2013, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio played a concert at the 20th Izmir European Jazz Festival, a concert by the Apollon Musagète Quartet Partners The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), closed the 27th International Izmir Festival, and Krzysztof Penderecki The Izmir Foundation for Culture, The Arts and Education (IKSEV), received an award for lifetime achievement at the 41st Istanbul Music The Polish Consulate General in Istanbul Festival.
report 2012/2013 59 MMUSIC
Zakopower performing in Asia
MMUSIC SzSZYMANOWSKI
“The baritone Mariusz Kwiecien gives a towering THE BEST OPERA IN performance as King Roger, whose turbulent psychological journey concludes with a paean to the sun…”, wrote George THE WORLD Loomis in the Financial Times. In The New York Times, American music critic guru Anthony Tomassini wondered why this beautiful, mystical and bold opera was not staged Santa FÉ 21.07–14.08. 2012 more often in his country. The premiere of King Roger at the famous Bilbao 24.11–3.12.2012 American opera festival in Santa Fé marked the Polish composition’s triumphant entry into the U.S. music mainstream. American critics unanimously demanded more productions of Szymanowski’s works, comparing the composer to Scriabin and Ravel (Santa Fé Reporter), Debussy and Bartók (Santa Fé New Mexican), Strauss and Berg (San Francisco’s Classical Music Blog), and enthusing over Mariusz American critics unanimously demanded Kwiecień’s talent. In the United States the great Polish baritone (born more productions of Szymanowski’s works, 1972) is associated with Don Giovanni from the opera by Mozart. He has been singing this part at the world’s leading opera houses for a comparing the composer to Scriabin, Ravel decade, including the Metropolitan Opera. Kwiecień discovered King and Bartók. Roger while working with Krzysztof Warlikowski in Paris and Madrid. After his U.S. success in November, Mariusz Kwiecień appeared in Bilbao in a production of King Roger directed by Michał Znaniecki and conducted by Łukasz Borowicz. This production was equally enthusiastically received. “The show is very attractive. It takes the plot into the present day, which is understandable because the work has a timeless dimension” (Jose M. Irurzun in Beckmesser).
A scene from the opera King Roger staged in Bilbao photo: E. Moreno Esquibel
62 adam mickiewicz institute The London Symphony Orchestra’s performances at Usher Hall conducted by Valery Gergiev became a sensation of the Edinburgh International Festival.
Valery Gergiev photo: Marco Borggreve
“Nobody in their right mind would give fewer than five stars to the playing of the London Symphony Orchestra … on Saturday night”, wrote The Herald Scotland’s reviewer, and this was just one of many enthusiastic reports from the concerts of Karol Szymanowski’s music in Edinburgh.
The London Symphony Orchestra’s performances at Usher Hall SzSZYMANOWSKI conducted by Valery Gergiev became a sensation of the Edinburgh International Festival. By the end of the next two days, they had played the complete symphony cycle and both violin concertos.
Valery Gergiev is a Russian music legend. He has been conducting opera productions at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg RUSSIAN HERO (formerly the S. M. Kirov Leningrad State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet) since 1978 and has been its artistic director since 1996. Two years ago, during the celebration of the 200th anniversary Edinburgh 21–22.08.2012 of Chopin’s birth at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, he was presented with a Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Service to Culture.
The LSO’s Edinburgh concerts were accompanied by a debate entitled Szymanowski’s Homeland – Europe’s Forgotten Orient. The participants were prominent intellectuals, including Prof. Daniel Beauvois, Prof. Steven Downes, Dr Roman Berchenko, and participants from Poland.
report 2012/2013 63 MMUSIC
INTEGRATION, The I, CULTURE Orchestra founded by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute is a group of exceptionally talented FRIENDSHIP, MUSIC young musicians from Poland and Eastern Partnership countries. As a flagship project of the International Cultural Programme of the Polish Presidency in 2011, the orchestra launched its activity playing concerts at some of Europe’s Lublin, Warsaw, Minsk, kiev, Chişinău, Tbilisi 12.08–1.09.2012 most prestigious venues (London, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid). We now form it every year.
The ICO is a symbol of respect for cultural diversity, solidarity, and friendship as well as the European idea. As an educational project, it enables talented young people to change their artistic perspective and improve their skills with the help of musicians from the world’s best orchestras (Philharmonia Orchestra, Pyotr Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, Royal Academy of Music, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the El Sistema programme from Venezuela, London Symphony Orchestra, to name a few).
As an educational project, the ICO enables talented young people to change their artistic perspective and improve their skills with the help of musicians from the world’s best orchestras.
Kirill Karabits, conductor of the I, CULTURE Orchestra photo: Konrad Ćwik ©IAM
64 adam mickiewicz institute A competition to participate in the project’s next edition is held every • The I Culture Orchestra year. In 2012, almost 400 people entered the first stage by applying in rehearsal in Gdańsk online. After the auditions of stage two, held in seven countries, we selected the 97 most talented musicians. The project’s artistic director was Ilyich Rivas, a 19-year-old Venezuelan considered to be one of the most original conductors of the young generation.
A year ago the 12-day ICO residency, during which the young musicians work on the repertoire for their concert tour with a group of maestros, was held in Lublin. This was also where the ICO began their tour which later took them to Warsaw, Minsk, Kiev, Chişinău, and Tbilisi.
For the second year in a row, Polish President Bronisław Komorowski was the orchestra’s official patron.
The ICO performing in Gdańsk photo: Konrad Ćwik ©IAM
report 2012/2013 65 MMUSIC LUTOSŁAWSKIL
MUSIC BEGINS WHERE The Lutosławski concerts in Edinburgh were described as “an irresistible combination of needlepoint accuracy WORDS END and swaggering energy” (The Telegraph), “a polished interpretation full of clarity” (The Times), as shimmering, unforgettable, sparkling… Edinburgh 21–22.08.2012 The concerts of Witold Lutosławski’s music performed by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst at the Edinburgh International Festival were a spectacular success. This unusual performance was the official inauguration, the welcoming of the festival. A brilliant work brilliantly performed, tickets sold out, critics enthusiastic, audiences ecstatic.
Austrian Franz Welser-Möst has been the Cleveland Orchestra’s music director for ten years, and has held the same position at Vienna’s Staatsoper for the past three years. He is regarded as one of Franz Welser-Möst and Cleveland Orchestra the best conductors in the world.
66 adam mickiewicz institute KLOPSZTANGAK
PAULA I KAROL
Hamburg 21.09.2012
The Guardian included them on its “world sound of 2011” list and called them the new Polish superheroes. In September 2012 the time came to wow German audiences.
Paula & Karol’s third tour culminated at the famous Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg. Apart from playing and singing songs the two of them wrote together, Paula also took part in a panel discussion on the role of studio recordings in the music market of the future. On their way to Hamburg the duo, who sing in English, gave several club concerts as well as performing at the Berlin Music Week and the Soundcheck Festival in Göttingen.
Just three years ago they were perceived as a local, Warsaw phenomenon. Today they have several hundred concerts behind them, in Poland, Europe, and America. They have performed at the Eurosonic, Liverpool Sound City, Europavox, and Culture Collide festivals, delighting audiences in the Netherlands, France, New York, Texas, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Canada, Germany, and Ukraine.
report 2012/2013 67 MMUSIC PROJECTA ASIA
JARA ISLAND Every year thousands of Koreans camp out on a small island to spend the weekend at the biggest outdoor jazz festival in AND DADA East Asia. A major attraction of the Jarasum International Festival 2012 was the Focus on Polska project – four concerts by Polish ensembles. Jara Island, Gapyeong 12–14.10.2012 In September The Korea Herald daily wrote that Tomasz Stańko was Seul, Busan 9–12.10.2012 “regarded as Poland’s greatest jazz musician and also a pioneer in free jazz shows … [he is] famous for delivering the message of freedom by associating it with jazz when his country was under communist regime”, adding that the Jarasum festival in 2012 was largely dedicated to Poland.
“Great jazz in a great place … including international acts like the Duke Ellington Orchestra, John Scofield Trio and Tomasz Stanko Quartet”, Seoul Weekly announced this must-see event.
A Korean fan of the Stryjo band Our most famous jazz brand – trumpeter Tomasz Stańko and his The Stryjo band in concert Quartet – played at the main venue, Jazz Island, on Friday. Saturday at the same venue saw a performance by saxophonist Maciej Obara and his Quartet, while the Stryjo Trio band (pianist Nikola Kołodziejczyk and his musicians) gave a concert at the Festival Lounge, also on Saturday. Getting everyone going during the Party Stage on Sunday night – the wildest night on the island – was the Senk Że group of seven musicians. The Polish concerts drew an audience of 35,000 people and garnered enthusiastic reviews in the press and on the Internet.
68 adam mickiewicz institute Senk Że in concert
While Polish jazz was resounding on Jara Island, Polish dance “Great jazz in a great place … including delighted audiences at the Seoul International Dance Festival international acts like the Duke Ellington (SIDance). Teatr Dada von Bzdülöw’s founding duo, Leszek Bzdyl and Katarzyna Chmielewska, appeared at the prestigious Seoul Arts Orchestra, John Scofield Trio and Tomasz Centre. With the help of the universal language of dance, their Invisible Stanko Quartet”, Seoul Weekly announced Duets told the Korean audience a story of romantic relationships, this must-see event. different shades of feeling between a woman and a man, expressing the elusive, naming the unnamed. The duet also performed at the Busan Dance Market.
report 2012/2013 69 MMUSIC LUTOSŁAWSKIL
INAUGURATION Friday, 25 January 2013 was the 100th anniversary of Witold Lutosławski’s birth. At the National Philharmonic in OF LUTOSŁAWSKI Warsaw, legendary violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter began her concert.
YEAR She was accompanied by the National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antoni Wit. The international year celebrating the great Polish composer’s birthday had officially begun. warsaw 25.01.2013
Anne-Sophie Mutter and Antoni Wit after the concert inaugurating Lutosławski Year at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw photo: Konrad Ćwik ©IAM
It’s hard to imagine a better way of inaugurating Lutosławski It’s hard to imagine a better way of Year. Anne-Sophie Mutter was the composer’s muse, his friend, inaugurating Lutosławski Year. he composed many pieces with her in mind. Her world premiere performance of Chain 2 at the Tonhalle in Zurich (1986) has achieved Anne-Sophie Mutter was the composer’s almost cult status. The maestro was enthralled. He was convinced muse, his friend, he composed many his composition couldn’t have been performed any better. “I always pieces with her in mind. recall her performance when I think about my future works for the violin. For this I am extremely grateful to her”, the composer said about Anne-Sophie Mutter.
Conductor Antoni Wit’s repertoire includes all of Lutosławski’s symphonies, which the maestro has also recorded.
The concert also featured a premiere piece by Paweł Szymański. The ovations continued without end.
70 adam mickiewicz institute LUTOSŁAWSKIL
WOVEN WORDS “Music begins where words end” is the motto of the European portrait of Witold Lutosławski painted through concerts, seminars, film reportages, and articles. The project is called Woven Words. London, Warsaw, Tokyo, Madrid, Ljubljana, Dresden, Berlin, Vienna, Modena, Udine, paris It was prepared by the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Adam 7.03–9.09.2013 Mickiewicz Institute in connection with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Polish composer Witold Lutosławski. The series advisor is Steven Stucky. The concerts by the Philharmonia Orchestra featured a juxtaposition of works by the Polish composer with the French music he loved so much (Ravel, Roussel, Debussy). Performances took place all over the world, including London, Tokyo, Dresden, Modena, Madrid, Vienna, Udine, Rome, Ljubljana, and Paris. All the symphonic concerts were conducted by Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (regarded as one of the best performers of
Esa-Pekka Salonen classical music in the world) – a former student of Lutosławski, his photo: Konrad Ćwik ©IAM friend and associate. They met in the mid-1970s at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy where Lutosławski was teaching composition. Salonen celebrated his maestro’s anniversary with an international concert tour which – besides Woven Words – included performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
“Lutosławski is quite simply one of the most important voices of the 20th century. This retrospective of his life … brings his absorbing, rich, intensely atmospheric music to new audiences, and our digital resources will create a lasting legacy. … Our partnership with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute is allowing us to access source material, archive and historical material that has never been seen before outside Poland and illuminates Lutosławski’s life and work in unprecedented ways. I can’t wait to show the world everything that we are discovering”, Esa-Pekka Salonen emphasized before the concerts.
Lutosławski is quite simply one of the most important voices of the 20th century.
Esa-Pekka Salonen
report 2012/2013 71 MMUSIC
DON’T PANIC! This year was the fourth time in a row that we took part in one of the biggest British music showcases: Liverpool Sound IT’S ONLY SUCCESS City. Then there was also Waves Vienna, SWSX in America, and Primavera.
The 2012/2013 season saw a saturation attack on international vienna 2.10.2012 festivals by the project Don’t Panic! We’re From Poland. In October Austin 12.03–17.03.2013 2012, together with France, we were the musical hosts of the Waves Liverpool 3.05–6.05.2013 Vienna festival, an event of a similar format to The Great Escape Barcelona 21.05–26.05.2013 and Liverpool Sound City, Germany’s C/O Pop and Reeperbahn, and Eurosonic in the Netherlands. Focusing its attention on the potential of Eastern European music markets, WV gives preference to young talents of alternative music, indie rock, electronic and club music. The slogan of the 2012 edition was “East Meets West”. The performers from Poland were Oszibarack and Miloopa, Łódź’s Kamp!, Novika and Lex, Twilite, Paula & Karol, Mike Polarny from the Pompon group, and Łukasz Seliga aka SLG.
The 2012/2013 season saw a saturation In spring 2013 we presented the most interesting Polish projects at attack on international festivals by the the world’s biggest music and film conference – SXSW in Austin, Texas. SXSW is a networking platform. Polish bands drew in project Don’t Panic! We’re From Poland. audiences of over 2,000 and garnered many reviews in the specialist press: Alfitude, Music Broadway World, The Von Pip Musical Express, Wanderless. We closed the spring season at Primavera Sound in Barcelona – the most prestigious festival of alternative music in Europe and a key element in promoting current Polish music.
One of the Don’t Panic concerts at the SXSW Festival in Austin
Monika Brodka performing at SXSW in Austin
72 adam mickiewicz institute In May 2013 the global music industry’s attention was wholly focused on Poland, the special guest and strategic partner of The Great Escape Festival. TGE is the event that kicks off the popular music festival season in Europe. Each year it features performances by 300 artists from 30 countries, attracting an audience of 16,000 as well as hundreds of professionals, managers, programmers and leading fi gures of the music industry from all over the world. It is precisely to their active and numerous attendance that The Great Escape owes it reputation of a trend-setting festival, the best place for spotting new talents who will later become international successes. Brighton’s club scene saw performances by as many as 8 Polish artists and bands: tres.b, Brodka, Kamp!, Daniel Drumz, Teielte, Pictorial Candi, Enchanted Hunters, and THE KDMS. They played a total of 13 concerts, in the festival’s main programme and the Don’t Panic! We’re From Poland showcase. TGE wasn’t just about music, it was also about expertise and conferences, including the networking meeting Meet the Polish as well as The Polish Party – the event that opened the festival. report 2012/2013 73 MMUSIC
INVESTING June 2013: Jarosław Płonka wins Composer Collider. The final concert features the first performance of hisightly l IN TALENT touched/heavily pressed by Ensemble musikFabrik. The work is rebroadcast by WDR German public radio.
Having a work commissioned and recorded is the prize in the Warsaw, berlin 03.2013 Composer Collider: Poland study workshops organized by the IAM and Ensemble musikFabrik in Cologne. Held as a biennial event, the project was created to foster the development of the most talented young Polish composers by enabling them to work with one of the leading contemporary music groups, namely Ensemble musikFabrik.
Performed by musikFabrik, lightly touched/heavily pressed was the main part of Płonka’s doctoral dissertation. “This piece is music about music, a multi-layered composition which gives listeners the option of concentrating on listening to the general whole or to one Held as a biennial event, the project was selected layer”, says the composer (born 1984). created to foster the development of the most talented young Polish composers Founded 13 years ago, Ensemble musikFabrik focuses on collaborating with the youngest composers and conductors but also works with by enabling them to work with one of the the greatest writers of contemporary music: Heiner Goebbels, Péter leading contemporary music groups. Eötvös, Georg Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang Rihm, Rebecca Saunders and Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Ensemble musikFabrik’s musicians © Ensemble musikFabrik
74 adam mickiewicz institute PROJECTA ASIA
The Lutosławski Quartet: Artur Rozmysłowicz, Maciej Mołdawski, Marcin Markowicz, Jakub Jakowicz
VIRTUOSO PROJECT March 2013: further Project Asia activities in China. The Lutosławski Quartet gives concerts in Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Singapore and China (Hangzhou and Beijing). Hong Kong, korea, japan, singapore, china The Hong Kong Arts Festival is one of the largest and most prestigious 21–30.03.2013 cultural events in Asia. It has been held for the past 41 years and features the world’s greatest musicians and performance artists.
A year ago there were more than 170 shows and concerts, including 12 international premieres, among them TR Warszawa’s famous production of 4.48 Psychosis directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna.
This year at the Hong Kong Arts Festival the quartet from Poland performed the string quartets of Witold Lutosławski, Karol Szymanowski, and Marcin Markowicz. The quartet later played at one of the most important classical music festivals in the region: the Tongyeong International Music Festival in Korea, followed by performances in China and Singapore.
This year at the Hong Kong Arts Festival the quartet from Poland performed the string quartets of Witold Lutosławski, Karol Szymanowski, and Marcin Markowicz.
report 2012/2013 75 MMUSIC KLOPSZTANGAK
SHOPPING FOR JAZZ Jazzahead is the world’s biggest jazz market, held for the past eight years in Bremen.
Four festivals were represented at the first Jazz in Poland stand in the Bremen 25–28.04.2013 history of Jazzahead: the Sopot Jazz Festival, Lotos Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa, Krakow Jazz Autumn, and Jazztopad Festival Wrocław. Also present were Jazz Forum magazine, the Jazzarium.pl portal, the Zbigniew Seifert Foundation, and the IAM. Lado ABC, a Warsaw- based publishing business and group of musicians, had a separate stand. The stands enjoyed a steady interest for three days. The Polish jazz scene – both its musicians and its animators – had long been awaited in Bremen. Next year we expect even stronger involvement from Poland’s jazz community.
500 exhibitors from 31 countries, 2,000 delegates from 42 countries, more than 10,000 people watching 70 concerts on 25 stages.
Participants and the Polish stand at the Jazzahead trade show
76 adam mickiewicz institute TTURKEY
POLISH MUSIC AT In March a Polish trio performed at the 20th Izmir European Jazz Festival, and in July a Polish quartet closed one of TURKISH FESTIVALS Turkey’s most important festivals of classical music. Apollon Musagète is counted among the world’s leading string Izmir 12.03.2013 quartets – they have performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Louvre in Paris. At the 27th International Izmir Festival they played Josef Suk’s Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale St Wenceslas, Op. 35a, Krzysztof Penderecki’s String Quartet No. 3 Leaves of an Unwritten Diary, and Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13.
Four months earlier the Marcin Wasilewski Trio – Marcin Wasilewski (piano), Sławomir Kurkiewicz (double bass), Michał Miśkiewicz (percussion) – performed at the 20th Izmir European Jazz Festival. These Fryderyk Award winners, who record regularly for the legendary ECM label, started making music together as teenagers. The Apollon Musagète Before they embarked on a separate career as a trio, they were part Quartett performing in Izmir photo: ©ONURACIMAZ of Tomasz Stańko’s band.
report 2012/2013 77 MMUSIC PROJECTA ASIA
COURTLY BEIJING WITH The Meet in Beijing Arts Festival has been held since 2000. Zakopower and Cracovia Danza performed there in April A HIGHLAND TWIST and May, during the 13th edition. The festival, which is organized by China’s Ministry of Culture, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and the Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Beijing 29.04–29.05.2013 City of Beijing, aims to promote international cultural exchange. It encompasses a broad spectrum of arts and events (shows, exhibitions, concerts, galas, seminars). So far, more than 1,000 artistic ensembles from 100 countries have performed there, including such star acts as the Bolshoi Theatre ballet company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The festival, which is organized by China’s Ministry of Culture, the State The Chinese cultural spring of 2013 welcomed Polish artists at the Chaoyang Sports Centre – concerts by Zakopower, and at Tongzhou Administration of Radio, Film and Canal Park – performances by Cracovia Danza. Besides concerts at Television, and the City of Beijing, aims to the festival, both groups gave a series of performances in different promote international cultural exchange. Chinese cities. The project was organized together with the Polish Embassy in Beijing.
Zakopower during a meeting with their Chinese audience in Xining
Zakopower performing in China
78 adam mickiewicz institute reportraport 2012/2013 79 MMUSIC
THE GREAT ESCAPE TOWARDS POLAND
Brighton 16–18.05.2013
“… There was a long queue waiting at the door. Is there a chance that Polish music could become trendy?” asked the Gazeta Wyborcza web portal’s reporter in his correspondence from The Great Escape festival in Brighton.
Poland was a host country at TGE 2013 in the UK; this meant a special place in the programme and an opportunity for greater promotion than other countries. “We managed to make sure that every festival participant had Poland on hand for the entire weekend, or, more precisely, on their neck, because the festival ID badges had very visible, white lanyards with the slogan promoting Polish music internationally: ‘Don’t Panic, We’re From Poland’”, wrote Przemysław Gulda for gazeta.pl.
Performing at the festival were Kamp!, Brodka, très.b, Daniel Drumz, Teielte, Pictorial Candi, THA KDMS, and the Enchanted Hunters trio. Our final showcase was the biggest success. The hall at the famed Brighton club where the last four Polish concerts took place (Brodka, Pictorial Candi, très.b, and Kamp!) was absolutely packed and there were people still queuing up. “The great majority of the audience were British, so a very rare effect was achieved, namely not playing abroad exclusively to expatriate Poles”.
The success of the Polish bands at TGE is the result of the strategy to promote new music connected with the Don’t Panic, We’re From Poland brand. The activities launched in 2009 have resulted in participation in many major international festivals. Polish artists first appeared in Brighton in 2010 during the Polska! Year project. The Great Escape is one of the biggest festivals of its kind, with 300 artists from 30 countries performing there every year to an audience of 16,000 and to influential music industry personalities from all over the world.
très.b at The Great Escape Festivale
80 adam mickiewicz institute Poland was a host country at TGE 2013 in the UK; this meant a special place in the programme and an opportunity for greater promotion than other countries.
report 2012/2013 81 MMUSIC TTURKEY
MAESTRO IN ISTANBUL “It is an extraordinary coincidence that Maestro Penderecki is receiving his award when Istanbul is the scene of demonstrations and people are fighting for their rights”, the festival’s artistic director Yesim Gurer told the Polish Press Istanbul 17.06.2013 Agency (PAP). She also said she hoped the maestro would write a composition inspired by the events in her country.
The decision to present Krzysztof Penderecki with an award for lifetime achievement at the 41st Istanbul International Music Festival had been made much earlier. The Polish composer received it on 17 June 2013 during a gala concert at the Aya İrini basilica.
The Istanbul Music Festival is Turkey’s The concert featured the Munich Chamber Orchestra conducted most important classical music event. by Alexander Liebreich. The programme included Igor Stravinsky’s Concerto in D Major for String Orchestra, Krzysztof Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, Haydn’s Symphony in F-sharp Minor “Farewell”, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major with Khatia Buniatishvili as the soloist; she was also the soloist during the I, CULTURE Orchestra’s tour this year.
Krzysztof Penderecki receives his award in Istanbul photo: PANATO
82 adam mickiewicz institute The Istanbul Music Festival is Turkey’s most important classical Elżbieta and Krzysztof Penderecki photo: PANATO music event. During the 41st Festival the Turkish capital’s main concert halls were the venue of 22 concerts featuring world-famous soloists (Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Shlomo Mintz, Maria João Pires) and orchestras (the Munich Chamber Orchestra and the German Chamber Philharmonic from Bremen).
The year 2014 is the 600th anniversary of Polish-Turkish diplomatic relations. This means we can expect more Polish artistic events of the highest standard at the festival’s next edition.
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COLOGNE ON POP Don’t Panic! We’re From Poland made its second appearance at the C/O Pop International Music Festival. Held for the AND ITS MANY ROLES past 10 years, Cologne On Pop is one of the two hottest venues (next to Hamburg’s Reeperbahn) for presenting young talent in Germany. Cologne 19–23.06.2013 The jubilee edition of C/O Pop brought together 150 international artists who played 50 concerts at 35 venues in the city centre. Three participants came from Poland: Rebeka, Coldair, and How How.
An intensive conference for the music industry, the C’n’B Convention, and meetings of the Europareise European music networking platform were held at the same time as Cologne On Pop. Since recently, C/O Pop has also been operating as a thriving booking agency for promising European artists.
C/O Pop 2013 participants How How, Rebeka and Coldair
84 adam mickiewicz institute André Tchaikovsky
The world premiere of the opera The Merchant of Venice THE OTHER by Andrzej Czajkowski (André Tchaikowsky), co-produced by the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera and the Adam TCHAIKOWSKY Mickiewicz Institute, took place at the Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria, on Lake Constance. Bregenz 18.07.2013 The premiere was accompanied by a three-day symposium about Czajkowski. The participants included scholars studying the composer’s oeuvre, his friends and former associates: John O’Brien, András Schiff, Christopher Seaman, and Uri Segal.
The director of the Bregenz festival – David Pountney – described Czajkowski’s opera as “polytonal, existing in a world somewhere The director of the Bregenz festival – David between Britten and Berg”. The composer worked on it from 1968 Pountney – described Czajkowski’s opera as until his death in 1982. Based on the play by Shakespeare, the libretto was written by John O’Brien (who attended the premiere). “polytonal, existing in a world somewhere between Britten and Berg”. Andrzej Czajkowski’s greatest success was as a world-famous pianist. Endowed with an extraordinary memory, he could learn to play a new piece overnight. His greatest passion, however, was composition.
Apart from The Merchant of Venice, the Bregenzer Festspiele 2013 celebrated other works by Czajkowski, including The Inventions Op. 2, Seven Sonnets of Shakespeare, String Quartet No. 2, and Piano Concerto Op. 4 featuring soloist Maciej Grzybowski, an expert on and enthusiast and populariser of the great composer.
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THEATRET AND EEdinburgh PERFORMING ARTS
TRIUMPHANT SONG “It is a full-body detox; catharsis pure and simple and transcendent. In a Fringe chock-full of profanity, Songs of Lear OF THE GOAT is something sacred”, wrote the Edinburgh Festival Guide. Director Grzegorz Bral chose key scenes from Shakespeare’s King Lear to create a story composed of gestures, words, and music. Dialogues Edinburgh 3–27.08.2012 have been replaced with a play of emotions expressed through a cycle of 12 songs.
Apart from the Fringe First 2012, in Edinburgh this production from Teatr Pieśń Kozła/Song of the Goat Theatre won a Musical Theatre Matters Special Award (for an experimental work showing excellence in where the musical form may develop), the prestigious Herald Archangel from The Herald daily, and won first place in the theatre critics’ ranking published by the culture magazine The List. From among approx. 3,000 shows presented at the Fringe, Bral’s work got the most stars.
Every year the Fringe Festival brings in an audience of half a million The Song of the Goat Theatre receives its Fringe First award people and is considered to be the world’s biggest theatre festival. In photo: Douglas Robertson Photography summer 2012, we presented 12 shows there, most of them playing for
88 adam mickiewicz institute two weeks and some even for a month. The Song of the Goat Theatre …a full-body detox; catharsis pure and also presented their Macbeth, while Paweł Passini’s Puppet: Book of simple and transcendent. In a Fringe chock- Splendour had its world premiere. About the latter, Exeunt Magazine wrote “…Viewing the human condition through the lens of cabalism, full of profanity, Songs of Lear is something director Pawel Passini’s creation is a contorted compendium of sacred. dreams, desires and nightmares”. Edinburgh Festival Guide Audiences at Summerhall and the press, which gave Polish theatre an extremely enthusiastic reception, could also see Teatr Szwalnia’s We Are Chechens!, Teatr ZAR’s Caesarean Section: Essays on Suicide, political theatre in the form of komuna//warszawa’s Sierakowski, and an outdoor game played with the audience, namely Teatr Usta Usta Republika’s Cadillac.
A scene from Songs of Lear In the performance art segment we presented Wacław Miklaszewski’s photo: Karol Jareh installation 24h as well as the Relatives video project and Small Narration monodrama by Wojtek Ziemilski.
Teatr Biuro Podróży (a Fringe award-winner in the past) reigned supreme at the Old College Quad, performing Carmen Funebre, Planet Lem, and Macbeth. Teatr KTO presented their show The Blind.
report 2012/2013 89 THEATRET AND EEdinburgh PERFORMING ARTS
TRIUMPH FOR As Jonathan Mills, director of the Edinburgh International Festival said, there was no better way to open the festival and MACBETH, TRIUMPH Scotland’s new culture centre than with 2008: Macbeth. It was the first time that a show from Poland inaugurated one of FOR JARZYNA the world’s most prestigious theatre festivals. Jarzyna was ranked alongside the greatest living classics of European theatre: Ariane Mnouchkine and Christoph Marthaler. Edinburgh 3–27.08.2012
Grzegorz Jarzyna’s production is a work involving extraordinary scenery as well as visual effects and pyrotechnics that were too much to fit onto any of Edinburgh’s stages. A new space was built for the Polish Macbeth at Lowland Hall, a warehouse not far from the airport.
Jarzyna was ranked alongside the greatest Lyn Gardner from The Guardian praised Jarzyna for understanding living classics of European theatre: Ariane that Macbeth was mainly a soldier, adding that “It is war that provides Macbeth with the opportunity to seize power, and war that will also Mnouchkine and Christoph Marthaler. destroy him … sex, power and violence are intimately connected here, not just in the relationship between Macbeth … and his wife … but in the brutal behaviour of the soldiers towards each other”.
Tickets were sold out for all seven performances, and two days after the premiere The Guardian live-streamed the whole show on its website. The show had 11,000 hits, including 7,000 unique users. A recording of the live stream is available on www.culture.pl.
Macbeth directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna
90 adam mickiewicz institute report 2012/2013 91 THEATRET AND PERFORMING ARTS
ANYTHING GOES “We are taking a leap into the unknown. City of Dream lets you poke around inside yourself with impunity”, actress Monika Niemczyk told Gazeta Wyborcza daily. It was she who gave Krystian Lupa the idea to return to Alfred Kubin’s Paris 5–9.10.2012 The Other Side.
The first time this director adapted the utopian novel, which is also one of the most unusual novels of the 20th century, was for the Teatr Stary in Cracow. The result of his work on the piece through which Alfred Kubin fought against his schizophrenia and artist’s block was a “record of the individuative catastrophe” of the protagonist. Twenty-seven years later, the story of the painter in the Dream Land concealed from the world became reality on the stage of TR Warszawa, where Lupa dished it out in a way bordering on sadism. The show premiered at the Théâtre de la Ville on the Seine, as part of the Festival The show premiered at the Théâtre de la Ville on the Seine, as part of the Festival d’Automne à Paris 2012, and immediately grabbed d’Automne à Paris 2012, and immediately the attention of French critics. Christophe Candoni writing on the grabbed the attention of French critics. toutelaculture.com portal noted that Lupa was leading us towards intangible areas of emotion, neurosis, phantasmagoria; the way he exposed the weakness and instability of the mind made us feel ill ourselves.
92 adam mickiewicz institute …a brilliant production, very well received by the public in Seoul. The Odyssey fits in perfectly with the convention of this festival and its quest for new theatrical forms.
Hanpac View
A scene from The Odyssey by the Jan Kochanowski Theatre from Opole
Not only the Russians came to love Warlikowski’s (A)pollonia, awarding it a Golden Mask two years ago. It has also come to be loved by audiences in Korea, though it might seem that a production which even Polish people find hard to understand would be incomprehensible in other countries, especially in such a different culture.
PROJECTA ASIA Korea’s Yonhap News daily wrote that sacrifice was a theme familiar to people all over the world, and that (A)pollonia was universal. Krzysztof Warlikowski’s play opened the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) on 5 October 2012. The five-hour-long (A)pollonia was performed three times there. The Odyssey from the Jan Kochanowski Theatre in Opole was also performed three times. Theatre monthly Hanpac View described it as a brilliant production, very well received, THE ODYSSEY fitting in perfectly with the festival’s convention, and seeking new theatrical forms. Besides taking part in meetings with audiences, AND (A)POLLONIA The Odyssey’s director Krzysztof Garbaczewski held five-day theatre workshops with Korean actors. They were devoted to Yvonne, Princess Seoul 5–15.10.2012 of Burgundy and ended with a public reading of the play at the Seoul Theatre Centre. Gombrowicz’s text was translated by Lee Okjin, a Korean scholar of Polish language and literature. All these events were held as part of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute’s Project Asia.
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JARZYNA GETS SCARY
London 31.10–3.11.2012 Pariż 16–18.11 2012, 20–23.11.2012 adelaide 14-17.03.2013
Two years after the success of Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna, TR Warszawa returned to the London festival, this time bringing vampires.
Ever since the Twilight series of novels became a sensation among females all over the world, and the man playing the lead character in the film adaptations, British actor Robert Pattinson, became the embodiment of their dreams, it has been hard to get sophisticated Europeans interested in vampires. This makes it all the more gladdening to read enthusiastic reviews from the first foreign trip of Nosferatu which included presentations of the show at the Barbican – London’s most famous cultural centre – and then at the Odeon Theatre during the Festival d’Automne in Paris.
“Grzegorz Jarzyna’s staging of the Dracula story uses drama to venture into dark and disturbing emotional territory”, wrote Sarah Hemming appreciatively in the Financial Times. Precisely: the contemporary vampire mass-produced by Western show business is a balm to the soul whereas Jarzyna’s, which invokes Gothic classic Bram Stoker, continues to disturb. It is also a magnificent show. Together with stage designer Magdalena Maciejewska and lighting designer Jacqueline Sobiszewski, the director has created terrifying, ghastly episodes drawing upon the horror film tradition.
As the Financial Times wrote, “Jarzyna’s staging draws no clear-cut distinction between good and evil, but evokes a dream world of submerged desires and fears, and suggests that there is a little of the vampire in each of us”.
After its autumn successes, in March 2013 Nosferatu left Poland once again for the prestigious Adelaide Festival in Australia.
A scene from Grzegorz Jarzyna’s production
94 adam mickiewicz institute Together with stage designer Magdalena Maciejewska and lighting designer Jacqueline Sobiszewski, the director has created terrifying, ghastly episodes drawing upon the horror film tradition.
report 2012/2013 95 THEATRET AND PROJECTA ASIA PERFORMING ARTS
PEACE FROM THE A project by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute served to showcase Polish arts at the Performing Arts Market in VISEGRAD GROUP Seoul (PAMS). We presented In the Solitude of Cotton Fields performed by the Stefan Żeromski Theatre from Kielce.
Radosław Rychcik’s excellent production got an exuberant, seoul 8–12.10.2012 enthusiastic reception. It was shown on the stage of the National Theatre of Korea as part of the showcase event PACE.V4 Performing Arts Central Europe – Visegrad Countries Focus.
The “Visegrad Focus” involved sharing a stand at PAMS, at the National Theatre of Korea, with theatrical institutions from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. PACE.V4 also included discussion panels at the same venue, theatre lectures at the K’Arts University, and a screening of Anna Błaszczyk’s artistic animated film about the PACE.V4 project.
As the PACE.V4 group, we were the hosts of one of the PAMS Night evenings for the market’s participants. Artists from the V4 countries performed at the Live Jazz Club in Deehangno on 10 October. This “Visegrad night” opened with the Maciej Obara Quartet, followed by some club music courtesy of DJs from the Pompon group: Mike Polarny & Hory. An anthology of plays from the Visegrad Group countries was published as part of the PACE.V4 project as well.
The IAM stand
and a scene from In the Solitude of Cotton Fields at the PAMS market
The “Visegrad Focus” involved sharing a stand at PAMS, at the National Theatre of Korea, with theatrical institutions from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
96 adam mickiewicz institute THE MUEZZINS’ CALL The torturers have no faces. Their roars drown out every other sound. They move on stilts, armed with whips. So begins Carmen Funebre – a universal metaphor describing the fate of exiles, a manifesto against ethnic wars. Sulaymaniyah, Halabja, Erbil (iraq), Kerala (india) 26.11–14.12.2012 The show was created in 1993, after the Teatr Biuro Podróży artists’ meeting with exiles from the former Yugoslavia. In December 2012 it was shown in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan.
A total of more than 3,000 Iraqis saw “We are assembling the scenery in a square in the centre of Carmen Funebre. In Sulaymaniyah, a Sulaymaniyah. The police thought the Mercedes with Culture.pl painted on it could be a car bomb, so they are searching us”, Marta university city, the theatre’s artists held Strzałko wrote for the e-teatr.pl portal. Passers-by gathered to watch workshops for young people. the stage being built. The song of the muezzins calling the faithful to evening prayer became part of the show. After the performance the moved audience helped take down the installation. The next stop was Halabja – depopulated in 1988 by a chemical attack of the Saddam Hussein regime. The Polish theatre company’s visit was the first event of its kind in the town since the massacre. They performed in the middle of a wide street. The spectators, most of them men, reacted with shouts, laughter, tears. News of the performance spread across the nearby towns of a country exhausted by war. In Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, a long queue formed to shake the actors’ hands.
A total of more than 3,000 Iraqis saw Carmen Funebre. In Sulaymaniyah, a university city, the theatre’s artists held workshops for young people.
January 2013 saw the company in India at the Fifth International Theatre Festival of Kerala combined with the biennale of contemporary art in Kochi. Here, they presented Macbeth: Who Is That Bloodied Man?
“As usual, there were stilts, motorcycles, fire, and a few tonnes of iron scenery”, says director Paweł Szkotak. The press in India wrote that the performance showed how violence became everyday reality in an increasingly hostile world. A total of 1,500 people came to watch.
report 2012/2013 97 FFILM
FFILM PROJECTA ASIA
POLISH The review of Polish documentary films presented at the DMZ Korean International Film Festival included the latest SPECIAL works of respected documentary filmmakers (among them Marcel Łoziński’s Tonia and Her Children, Katyn Forest, and How It’s Done; Jacek Petrycki’s Notes From the Underground). Korean Demilitarized Zone 21–27.09. 2012 We also presented documentaries by famous Polish directors known mainly for their feature films (early works by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Andrzej Wajda) and projects from the younger generation of Polish filmmakers, including documentaries by Lidia Duda, Adam Palenta, Piotr Bernaś, Maciej Drygas, and a set of short films, Andrzej Wajda: Let’s Shoot!, made by students of the Wajda School, a partner of the Polish Doc Special project. Jacek Petrycki and Maciej Cuske gave lectures and held workshops at the festival. The festival had a very unusual venue, namely the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
The Demilitarized Zone, 13 films, an audience of 2,000, over 230 materials about Polish documentaries in the Korean media.
Jacek Petrycki at the opening of the DMZ Docs Festival
100 adam mickiewicz institute Dorota Kędzierzawska, Agnieszka Holland and Krzysztof Zanussi at the BIFF
“In the 1960s and 1970s Polish cinema boldly competed with Western European films. At the same time, only selected Western productions representing a high artistic standard reached communist Poland. These were the films that the mass audience watched.” PROJECTA ASIA That is how the Korean magazine Cine21 explained the phenomenon of Polish audiences’ above-average sensitivity in its special edition celebrating the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).
The Korean press wrote a great deal about the Polish film industry BIFF AND STARS last autumn. Three of our films took part in the competition: Andrzej Jakimowski’s Imagine, Piotr Mularuk’s Yuma, and Piotr Trzaskalski’s My Father’s Bike. In addition, we brought 10 film classics to the BIFF Busan International Film Festival 4–13.10.2012 as well as three great filmmakers: Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi, and Dorota Kędzierzawska.
“See why Scorsese loved The Saragossa Manuscript so much that he financed its restoration, and why Wajda is regarded by some as the greatest Polish director of the 20th century; find out what won Polański a Golden Bear in Berlin and Zanussi a Golden Lion in Venice”, the BIFF programmes advertised our cycle. Thanks to this retrospective, Korea could see Wajda’s The Promised Land, Zanussi’s A Year of the Quiet Sun, Skolimowski’s Identification Marks: None, Munk’s Bad Luck, Hass’s The Saragossa Manuscript, Kawalerowicz’s Night Train, Kieślowski’s Blind Chance, Kędzierzawska’s Crows, Polański’s Cul-de-sac, and Agnieszka Holland’s In Darkness; Holland left her handprint in the Korean avenue of stars on the first day of the festival.
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FROM DVD The Poland Film Festival 2012, a feast of Polish cinema classics, was organized by Japanese distributor and publisher TO THE BIG SCREEN. Nobuo Murata from Mermaid Films. The programme featured twenty cult-status Polish films which were Polish films in Japan screened at the Image Forum in the heart of Tokyo. Besides Polish diplomatic representatives in Tokyo, the festival’s opening was attended by film directors Jerzy and Michał Skolimowski, who also Tokyo, Osaka, Yoto, Nagoya 24.11.12–20.01.13 took part in discussions with audiences.
Nobuo Murata is a businessman to whom Japan owes its DVD releases of films such as Four Nights With Anna, Essential Killing, and 1960s films by Jerzy Skolimowski, Andrzej Wajda, and Jerzy Kawalerowicz. Since these films garnered substantial interest but people knew little about them, Murata organized the festival to raise his countrymen’s awareness of Polish cinema. Thanks to Thanks to the production of film copies, the production of film copies specially for the event (18 films with Japanese subtitles), Polish classics finally found their way to the big Polish classics finally found their way to the screen in Japan. The festival’s second edition will take place in 2013. big screen in Japan.
His Excellency Polish Ambassador to Japan Cyryl Kozaczewski with Jerzy and Michał Skolimowski at the opening of the Poland Film Festival Tokyo 2012
102 adam mickiewicz institute ART OF FREEDOM Art of Freedom by the Słota/Kłosowicz directing duo has won ten awards at international festivals of mountaineering films.
To them the Himalayas weren’t about geography but about mountain culture. The documentary about Polish Himalayan mountaineering is not just a ballad about Polish national virtues like courage, persistence, It wasn’t an escape, because they always solidarity, but also a story about extraordinary enterprise. Without returned. It was the practice of freedom. it, it would be hard to understand how some crazy people from a country that refused to issue passports, with no hard currency and using equipment they had made themselves, ruled in the Himalayas for two decades. The story is all the more believable because the main narrator of this film about Jerzy Kukuczka, Krzysztof Wielicki, Wanda Rutkiewicz and other great mountaineers is their biggest rival: Reinhold Messner.
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ART OF DISAPPEARING what did a voodoo shaman see in poland during martial law? Did he manage to drive out the demon from the general?
The year is 1980; People’s Poland is a country of crisis, dullness, and wArSAw cinema premiere: 18.07.2013 communism. At the invitation of theatre reformer Jerzy Grotowski, young voodoo priest Amon Frémon comes to Poland with a group of Haitians; he is a descendant of Polish legionaries from Napoleonic times. Fascinated and amazed by everything he sees – queues of silent people, stadiums, rain and snow, Amon stays on in Poland. He wants to help the land of his forefathers open up the hearts and minds of his “compatriots”. Art of Disappearing represented our country in switzerland this year, at Art of Disappearing, by Bartek Konopka and Piotr Rosołowski who were Oscar nominees for Rabbit à la Berlin, looks at Poland during Visions du réel – one of the world’s largest martial law from the perspective of a diff erent culture. A stranger documentary fi lm festivals. sees more and more clearly. The fi lm is the latest project in the Guide to the Poles series.
104 adam mickiewicz institute TTURKEY
A prelude to the 600th anniversary of Polish-Turkish MEETINGS diplomatic relations celebrated in 2014. Representatives of the Polish and Turkish film industry held talks during this ON THE BRIDGE year’s Istanbul International Film Festival.
Festival audiences could watch three Polish films: Małgorzata Istanbul 8-9.04.2013 Szumowska’s In the Name of…, Andrzej Jakimowski’s Imagine, and Agnieszka Polska’s Hair. In addition, Małgorzata Szumowska was on the jury (chaired by Peter Weir) of the festival’s main international competition, the filmmakers held discussions with audiences, and a group of people from Polish film schools and communities who came specially to Istanbul took part in the Meetings on the Bridge for the first time. This industry event, held for the past eight years, offers a platform for presenting international film projects and an opportunity for meetings between producers, screenwriters, directors and film organization representatives from Turkey and Europe. It also includes workshops, discussions, and exchanges of ideas.
Meetings on the Bridge during the Istanbul International Film Festival photo: IAM
report 2012/2013 105 WVISUAL ARTS AND DESIGN
WVISUAL ARTS AND DESIGN
COMMUNITY ACTION
Warsaw, plAC zbawiciela
During the Polish presidency it graced the square in front of the European Parliament, then it appeared in Zbawiciela Square in Warsaw. Its aim was to uplift the spirit and please the eyes. It became the object of vandalism and an ideological dispute. The IAM team under The Rainbow, a project by Julita Wójcik, winner of the Polityka Passport and Gazeta Wyborcza Cultural Storm of the Year awards. photo: Marcin Oliva-Soto
Koncert zespołu Marcin Wasilewski Trio photo: Douglas Robertson Photography WVISUAL ARTS PROJECTA ASIA DDESIGN AND DESIGN
Unpolished in SEOUL Unpolished – Young Design From Poland has been presented 14 times, most recently at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center Gallery in Seoul. Seoul 5–30.08. 2012 Changing each time a new artist joins in, the exhibition is a means of seeking a common denominator in Polish design. Choosing designs for consecutive editions, the curators look for unique features setting our design apart from other designer brands around the world. The choice of works by our best 20- and 30-year-old designers also depends on the place and context in which they are to be displayed.
In Seoul, we presented a great number of glass and porcelain objects. The Korean edition of Unpolished Also on display were blow sofas from the Malafor group, which are greatly admired in Asia, and carpets by the Czop/Rusin duo. Most of comprised 18 works by 16 designers and the objects are prototypes, one-off items or limited series. designer groups.
The Unpolished exhibition at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center Gallery in Seoul
110 adam mickiewicz institute In all, the Korean edition of Unpolished comprised 18 works by 16 designers and designer groups: Aze Design, Agnieszka Bar, Beton, Grzegorz Cholewiak, Agnieszka Czop and Joanna Rusin, DBWT, Maciej Gąsienica Giewont, Kafti, Kompott, Bogdan Kosak, Malafor, Karina Marusińska, Alicja Patanowska, Wzorowo group, and Oskar Zięta.
The public in Seoul could also attend lectures by Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka (one of the exhibition’s two curators), designer Agnieszka Bar and Korean scholars of Polish studies. These events were supplemented by screenings of four Polish documentaries in the Guide to the Poles series.
This was the second presentation of the work of young Polish designers in Asia. A year before, the exhibition took part in the Inno Design Tech EXPO in Hong Kong.
Agnieszka Cielecka Jacobson during the exhibition’s opening night
report 2012/2013 111 WVISUAL ARTS LUTOSŁAWSKIL AND DESIGN
Experimenting LutoScratch is a new project by Paweł Janicki. The artist, who focuses on the relationships between visual arts and sound, with Lutosławski has created an interactive, aleatoric installation inspired by Lutosławski’s oeuvre and dedicated to him.
The project transfers images and sounds into the realm of DJ Wrocław 5.04.2013 operations. At three stations with gramophones within the exhibition space, viewers can conduct an experiment singly or a few people at a time, operating on images of the performance of a piece of percussion music created specially for the installation. The work begins with a brief invocation featuring Lutosławski’s text on aleatorism and its principles. LutoScratch is an interactive, aleatoric LutoScratch was first presented during the 15th Biennale of Media Art installation inspired by Lutosławski’s 2013 at Wrocław’s WRO Art Center. The exhibition’s curator is Piotr oeuvre. Krajewski.
The LutoScratch installation in Wrocław © WRO Art Center
112 adam mickiewicz institute DDESIGN
WHAT YOU MUST HAVE FROM POLAND
Milan 9-14.04.2013
This was the second time the Must Have From Poland The Must Have From Poland exhibition was shown at the design fair in Milan, attracting exhibition, Ventura Lambrate, Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan more than 80,000 people.
The Salone Internazionale del Mobile is the leading international review of what’s new in industrial design. It also rings in the new trends for the season. The Must Have From Poland exhibition presented 32 carefully selected designs from Polish designers. The display encompassed several dominating tendencies, including The Must Have From Poland exhibition nostalgia for 1960s and 1970s design, eco-friendly design, and much presented 32 carefully selected designs from more. Promoting creativity and the highest quality of workmanship are noteworthy features of Polish design. Designs carrying the Must Polish designers. Have From Poland logo are exactly that: must-haves for enthusiasts of contemporary design.
report 2012/2013 113 WVISUAL ARTS DDESIGN AND DESIGN
Bells Bells rang out at the 55th Biennale. The Polish pavilion in Venice turned into a monumental music installation. Konrad in Venice Smoleński’s project is called Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More.
The jury who chose it described it as a multi-element sound Venice 1.06–24.11.2013 installation invoking a vision of a machine-driven, futuristic world. Huge sound structures almost claustrophobically filled the entire space of the Polonia pavilion.
“The work may be considered an audio installation, a sculpture, a The work may be considered an audio musical composition or even a performance. Automated instruments play a composition every hour. The music is recorded and processed installation, a sculpture, a musical live”, the artist himself told Michał Woliński in an interview for composition or even a performance. culture.pl.
Installation by Konrad Smoleński
Konrad Smoleński working on his installation
Polish First Lady Anna Komorowska and Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski during the opening of the Polish pavilion at the 55th Biennale in Venice
114 adam mickiewicz institute Apart from two bronze bells, the installation comprises enormous A fragment from the installation speakers and metal cabinets serving as instruments with which Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More Smoleński builds a symphony of sounds and silence, resonance and retardation. His 15-minute concert of the end resounded every hour for six months at the 55th Biennale.
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Polish design Our participation in the Salone del Mobile – Europe’s biggest design trade fair – was one of the key elements in the long- term programme for promoting Polish industrial design around the world. Milan 1.06–11.11.2013
Milan 2013 saw six Polish exhibitions. The best projects of the previous year were showcased at Ventura Lambrate as Must Have From Poland. The Temporary Museum for New Design hosted the Polish Design exhibition presenting leading Polish brand-name objects. The next project, by designers who use innovative technologies in their work, was Polish Innovation in Milan at the MOST museum. At the same venue, in the Let’s Cook the Future project an industrial robot served various dishes, having been programmed by students of Poznań’s School of Form. In the heart of the Brera artistic district Milan 2013 saw six Polish the designlink.pl project presented the work of Zięta Prozessdesign, exhibitions. Aleksandra Gaca, Vzór, Malafor, Velt, Maria Jeglińska, Jan Lutyk, and Bashko Trybek. One huge star of the exhibition was the RM58 armchair – an icon of Polish design created by Roman Modzelewski in 1958, currently implemented into production.
The Polish Innovation in Milan exhibition presented at the Museum of Science and Technology (MOST)
The Let’s Cook the Future project, Museum of Science and Technology (MOST), Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan
The designlink.pl exhibition, EDIT by designjunction, Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan
The Collective Unconscious exhibition, Ventura Lambrate, Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan
116 adam mickiewicz institute report 2012/2013 117 WVISUAL ARTS DDESIGN AND DESIGN
Designer Art Food is a student workshop project developed by Poznań’s School of Form and London’s Royal College of Art. It has Ceramics resulted in a limited collection of prototypes of ceramic ware – designer “food carriers”.
“This is an international project integrating many areas: the world of POZNAŃ 26.07–8.08.2013 design with the ceramic industry, education with work reality, work methods and experiencing of culture. We take school reality and put it into actual practice”, says Marek Cecuła, the project leader.
Students of the School of Form and the Royal College of Art The aim of the project, which combines craft with broad humanities during workshops at the Ćmielów knowledge based on the cultural aspects of serving food, was Design Studio to create a tableware series that would meet the expectations of demanding chefs. Under the watchful eye of anthropology specialist Ewa Klekot, PhD, and chef Wojciech Modest Amaro, the programme’s participants tested how flavour and the way dishes are cooked affects the forms of their presentation. Next, they put this theoretical knowledge to practical use during three-week workshops at the Ćmielów Design Studio. The results of their work could then be admired at an exhibition at Concordia Design in Poznań. One of the patterns designed by the students will be implemented into mass production by the Ćmielów and Chodzież porcelain factories in Poland.
118 adam mickiewicz institute DDESIGN
WONDERS OF THE WORLD
New York 1.06–31.07.2013
The Wonder Cabinets of Europe & Friends exhibition (design by Matylda Krzykowski) photo: © Jeremy Liebman
The Wonder Cabinets of Europe & Friends exhibition (design by Maria Jeglińska) photo: © Jeremy Liebman
Wonder Cabinets of Europe & Friends appeared at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York to uncover the secrets of design studio interiors.
To present the best examples of contemporary design, Maria Jeglińska and Livia Lauber (the exhibition’s curators, who are also designers) chose the Renaissance idea of theatrum mundi, creating the conceptual interpretation of a cabinet of curiosities. The studios invited to take part in the exhibition were given a cabinet and asked to fill it not only with their design but also with the context (geographical, cultural, personal) in which it had been created, the inspirations, methods of work as well as – typically for a wonder cabinet – things whose relationships aren’t always immediately obvious. With added sketches, objects, texts and materials, the cabinets become a three-dimensional library offering an insight into how a contemporary design studio operates. The artists decided for themselves what part of their world they wanted to show viewers.
To present the best examples of contemporary design, the curators created their conceptual interpretation of a cabinet of curiosities.
report 2012/2013 119 PUBLICATIONSP
PUBLICATIONSP
ENCYCLO- DRAMA LUTOSŁAWSKI PAEDIA OF IN THE USA and SALONEN DESIGN
More than two years of work by Announcing the winner, Polish and American writers and the Association of German Polish Design: Uncut is a summary dramaturges has resulted in a new Record Critics called the CD a of Polish design achievements anthology of Polish stage works seminal recording that brought from the past decade. It presents in English edited by Krystyna Lutosławski’s music – in all its more than 120 of the best Polish Duniec, Joanna Klass, and Joanna facets – to light. designs produced after 2000 Krakowska. and introduces the designers Released in Los Angeles, the CD set themselves. The project’s editors also wrote Lutosławski: The Symphonies received an extensive foreword and went to the Association of German Critics’ The authors, Czesława Frejlich and enormous editing effort in producing Award 2013 in the symphonic music Dominik Lisik, adopted a format notes and footnotes for all the category in June. The album is the effect combining the qualities of a picture plays. The process of preparing of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s many years album, a dictionary, and a problem the anthology was accompanied of collaboration with the Los Angeles analysis. The objects are grouped in by dramaturgical workshops which Philharmonic and Sony Classical. seven categories: furniture; transport introduced new methodologies of and public space; household and work on dramaturgical translations Salonen, a student and admirer of specialist appliances; lamps; glass and and actively engaged the American Lutosławski, writes about his Maestro’s ceramics; fabrics, clothing and toys; dramaturges, the texts’ authors, and works that they “possess the beauty of and experiments. All this is placed in an the translators. The work of the editors a giant organism, like a tree, or maybe a unusual convention with no catalogue- consisted in studying the results of forest. We are moved by the logic of the like embellishments, shown in original, the dramaturgical workshops and the form and the inevitability of growth”. even austere stylizations. huge number of comments, questions, doubts and original adaptations The album is a part of the Lutosławski The photos were taken by Przemek submitted by the American writers 100/100 project. The booklet includes Szuba who shows Polish design without working on each text. a commentary from Steven Stucky, a unnecessary decoration, true to the well-known researcher of Lutosławski’s “uncut” of the title. Published in English, The book is being released in the In oeuvre and winner of the Pulitzer the book includes interviews with Performance series published by Seagull Prize in composition. Sony Classical leading Polish designers. Books and distributed by Chicago International is a division of Sony Music University Press. This is the biggest Entertainment, one of the world’s ever volume of Polish plays published largest record companies. Polish Design: UNCUT Polish Design: Dominik Lisik Czesława Frejlich on the English-speaking market. This publication is a selection of the finest in Polish design since the year 2000, chosen from seven cate- gories: furniture, transportation, household and specialist appliances, lamps, glass and ceramics, fabrics and toys, and experiments. It presents over 120 products by more than 90 designers, including industrially produced objects, limited series manu- factured by the designers themselves, and a few one-of-a-kind pieces. The photographs by Przemek Szuba feature the designs in rather unconven- tional surroundings. Each product is accompa- nied by a brief description, a short biography, and UNCUT a photograph of the designer. To round it all off, we have provided interviews with twelve designers. They each demonstrate an individual approach to the profession, resulting from their age, experience, and values; the interviews also characterize a partic- ular line of business and reveal the current state of Polish design, warts and all. Though this over- view is not comprehensive, it is a kind of summary of the past decade of design, a field which is only improving in Poland from one year to the next.
Adam Mickiewicz Institute 00-560 Warsaw 25 Mokotowska Str. www.culture.pl, www.iam.pl
122 adam mickiewicz institute LUTOSŁAWSKI PENdErecki DISCOVERING and GARDNER by PENDERECKI POLAND
Richard Whitehouse described the The season’s most important Reaching the global audience CDs as something of a revelation in jubilee. with the message that Poland is a the International Record Review. leading creative region in Europe The composer, conductor and professor has never been easier. We are A series of five CDs with the music of of music, former rector of the Academy revealing our greatest assets as Witold Lutosławski has been released of Music in Cracow, was born on 23 part of the prestigious Wallpaper* as part of the Polska Music programme. November 1933 in Dębica. The release Revealed series. These are recordings by the BBC of a CD box set with recordings of all Symphony Orchestra conducted by of Krzysztof Penderecki’s symphonies Wallpaper* is one of the world’s leading Edward Gardner, who is regarded as conducted by the composer himself opinion-forming magazines from the one of the best young-generation and performed by the Sinfonia Iuventus borderland of design and lifestyle. Not interpreters of the Maestro’s Orchestra is the IAM’s contribution to only does it present all that’s going compositions. The soloists include this great international jubilee. to be interesting and worth seeing Louis Lortie (piano), Paul Watkins in the upcoming season, it creates (cello), Michael Collins (clarinet), these trends as well. It focuses on Tasmin Little (violin). contemporary design, architecture, CINEMA interiors, fashion, travel, technical The albums were published by Chandos innovations, the automotive industry. Records, a leading independent record HANDBOOK The Wallpaper* Revealed series is an company on the European market. The intriguing guide to countries and their company deals with outstanding artists cultures, showing them as sources of and is best known for its pioneering potential inspiration. programme of publishing series that Korean is the second foreign promote the work of excellent though language, after English, in which The image campaign we are less famous composers in seminal the guide to new Polish films has presenting in the magazine is a interpretations. been published. universal supplement to events that are happening as part of the project Polish Cinema Now! is a compendium of promoting Polish design. knowledge about Polish cinema after 1989. It comprises 11 essays on topics such as animation, entertainment, documentaries, and gender cinema.
The book, edited by Mateusz Werner, was produced in English by leading experts on the film industry and published in the United Kingdom in connection with Polska! Year in 2010. The Korean edition is available at bookshops across the country. Further Asian versions are planned: in Chinese and in Japanese.
report 2012/2013 123 ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
EUROPEAN UNION “Culture and Europe for Citizens – European programmes for international cooperation and social activation” was the FUNDS: OPERATING topic of an August seminar aiming to familiarize prospective applicants with the rules of applying for grants.
MANUAL Examples of completed projects were presented in discussions and workshop formats, information about and experience with obtaining EU funding was shared, and project ideas were analysed. This was one in a series of over 50 meetings, training sessions, workshops, and conferences organized each year by the Cultural Contact Point and the Europe for Citizens Contact Point concerning EU grant programmes for cultural and civic organizations and institutions.
The publication we have issued in Polish and English (Europejskie sieci współpracy kulturalnej w praktyce / European Cultural Cooperation Networks in Practice) discusses how international cultural networks are built and how they operate, contains a list of the main European networks, and analyses selected projects completed in Poland with support from the European Commission.
The Culture Programme 2007-2013 is the European Commission’s programme for the cultural sector. It fosters intercultural dialogue, artists’ mobility, and circulation of works of culture. Promoting and providing information about the programme is the duty of Cultural Contact Points operating in 37 countries. In Poland the Cultural Contact Point (CCP) operates within the structure of the IAM. As The Culture Programme 2007-2013 is the of 2006, we have also been running the Europe for Citizens Contact European Commission’s programme for Point – a programme supporting the implementation of social, the cultural sector. It fosters intercultural educational and cultural projects targeted at local government administration and the third sector. dialogue, artists’ mobility, and circulation of works of culture.
Cultural Contact Point workshops photo: IAM
126 adam mickiewicz institute BUDGET
CONTACT POINTS 1.33%
OTHER EXPENSES PROGRAMMES 25,71% 72,96%
CONTACT POINTS 1.25%
OTHER EXPENSES PROGRAMMES 25,75% 73%
report 2012/2013 127 ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
THE COUNCIL The Council of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute was appointed in Warsaw on 4 January 2013. Its members are leading representatives of Polish politics and academia.
The chairman of the Council of the IAM is Prof. Jerzy Buzek, PhD hab., who is a member of the European Parliament. The Council members are: Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, senator; Beata Stelmach, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Monika Smoleń, PhD, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage; Jerzy Koźmiński, president of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation; Prof. Edmund Wnuk-Lipiński, PhD hab., honorary president of Collegium Civitas; and Prof. Jerzy Hausner, teacher at the Cracow University of Economics and member of the Monetary Policy Council. The official appointments were presented to the Council’s chairman and members by Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski. At the first meeting the In accordance with the IAM statutes, Council approved the rules and regulations, evaluated the IAM’s Council members are appointed activity in 2008-2012, and gave their opinion on the plan of action by the minister of culture for a term for 2013-2017. of three years, upon a motion from The second meeting was held on 17 May 2013. The Council issued the Institute’s director. The Council also its recommendations on IAM financing and on the legal regulations that directly affect the quality of the Institute’s work. The Council includes representatives of the ministers also discussed the synergy of cooperation with other organizations of culture and foreign affairs. dealing with the nation brand.
The Minister of Culture and National Heritage opened the first session of the Council of the IAM
128 adam mickiewicz institute The New York Times described him as “trumpeting freedom, STAŃKO IS A BRAND in spirit, thought and jazz”. Culture.pl Superbrands rewarded him for his craft and skill, his uncompromising approach to music, and his extraordinarily appropriate choice of young musicians for consecutive line-ups.
The Culture.pl Superbrands award, which the IAM in association with Superbrands Polska grants to the internationally most successful brand in culture, was presented on 5 April 2013. The recipient was Tomasz Stańko – trumpeter, composer of jazz, theatre and film music, whose style is recognized at the world’s most prestigious concert venues.
Culture.pl Superbrands was established by the IAM and Superbrands a year ago with the aim of rewarding creators and institutions of culture who are the best at promoting and supporting Polish culture internationally. The first Culture.pl Superbrands 2012 went to Grzegorz Jarzyna and Krzysztof Warlikowski. The nominees are selected by the IAM’s experts and the directors of Polish Cultural Institutes. This year’s winner was chosen by a committee comprising Piotr Bratkowski (Newsweek), Piotr Mucharski (Tygodnik Powszechny), Zdzisław Pietrasik (Polityka), Marta Strzelecka (Wprost), Monika Brzywczy (Przekrój), IAM director Paweł Potoroczyn, and the chairman of the Superbrands Brand Council – Krzysztof Najder.
Superbrands Ltd is an international organization that promotes successful brands which have won the strongest position in their respective sectors. It operates in 85 countries. IAM Director Paweł Potoroczyn presents the Culture.pl The Honorary Superbrand 2013 title was awarded to Andrzej Wajda, Superbrands award to Tomasz Stańko for creating icons, brands to which we can all relate and thanks to which we, as Polish people, are recognizable all over the world, and for the courage to settle accounts with the myths of our national imagination.
Source of In operation for 12 years, our flagship portal culture.pl is a unique medium, not subject to commercial pressure, Knowledge publishing in Polish and English, hiring experts in all fields of culture, run by editor-in-chief Weronika Kostyrko.
The year 2012 was a year of almost 3 million visits, 4.5 million hits, almost 2 million unique users. In the first quarter of 2013 the site had more than 800,000 visits, over 1.3 million hits, almost 600,000 unique users from more than 100 countries. More than 35,000 articles, daily news The number of culture.pl fans on Facebook exceeds 30,000. We are on the international presence of Polish also present on Pinterest and Twitter. Our content is available on smartphones and tablets thanks to culture, a reliable source of information for applications for mobile devices using the iOS and Android systems. foreigners, Poles in Poland and expatriates. Over a few years the portal has become a reference source for Internet users, traditional media and institutions. This is why the IAM is gradually integrating all of its pages under the culture.pl brand. The most recent segment is kidsculture.pl, a site that uses child- friendly means such as interactive games, stories and publications to teach, develop creativity, promote the diversity and universality of Polish culture. The work of kidsculture.pl is coordinated by Katarzyna Zamoyska.
report 2012/2013 129 ABOUT council THE INSTITUTE of the adam mickiewicz institute STAFF STRUCTURE
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project polish design year
project turkey
project brasil
project culture.media
project polska music
project klopsztanga
PROJECT ASIA
project what's next
project poland-U.S. Campus arts
project statutory
report 2012/2013 131 publisher: Adam Mickiewicz Institute ul. Mokotowska 25 00-560 Warszawa www.iam.pl
texts Małgorzata Zawadka-Kowalska
Specialist consultants Ewa Bogusz-Moore, Natalia Dzieduszycka, Aleksander Gowin, Michał Hajduk, Krzysztof Halicz, Anna Hieropolitańska, Marcin Jacoby, Marta Keil, Joanna Klass, Dariusz Klechowski, Barbara Krzeska, Aleksander Laskowski, Katarzyna Mitrovic, Małgorzata Mostek, Daria Odija, Agata Opieka, Katarzyna Świętochowska, Aleksandra Wieczorek
design Mateusz Kaniewski
proofreading Monika Gołębiowska
translation Joanna Dutkiewicz
english proofreading Roger Domagalski
production Agata Wolska
ISBN 978-83-60263-88-4 © Adam Mickiewicz Institute 2013