Institutions

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Raster Gallery, Warsaw
The Raster Gallery is a private cultural institution that promotes young contemporary art and regularly works with a certain group of artists. Among them are: Grupa Azorro, Agata Bogacka, Michał Budny, Rafał Bujnowski, Zbigniew Libera, Zbigniew Rogalski, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Jan Smaga, and Wilhelm Sasnal. The gallery was founded in 2001 by the art critics Łukasz Gorczyca and Michał Kaczyński as a continuation of their joint projects – the art magazine “Raster” and the garage gallery “Naświetlarnia” (Darkroom). In 2003, Raster moved into a large apartment of a 19th century residential building in central Warsaw. In addition to exhibitions, the gallery also organises concerts, literature events, performances, and talks, and it issues its own publications. Raster has become a driving force in the artistic life of the Polish capital and cooperates with numerous institutions, such as the cinema Luna, the theatre TR Warszawa, and international cultural institutes. At regular intervals Raster develops and presents exhibitions and art projects in other Polish cities and abroad. The gallery participates in international art fairs, e.g., LISTE in Basel and NADA in Miami.
project › Invitation
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schauspielfrankfurt, Frankfurt on the Main
Sensual, playful, and analytic—such are the facets of the programme at schauspielfrankfurt. Every season the programme is placed under a particular theme. Plays from antiquity to the present are being performed on the large stage of schauspielfrankfurt and the small stage of schmidtstrasse12, a factory hall in the Gallus quarter. The audience has the choice: Euripides or Sartre, Goethe or Jelinek, Shakespeare or Houellebeq. Thus a bridge is built between the traditional repertoire of a city theatre and the possibilities of new theatre forms. Alongside the classics, works by young and contemporary authors are being put on stage—which is also a way of approaching and winning new audiences. With a blend of original productions, coproductions, and performances by outside ensembles, and also with its own international guest performances, schauspielfrankfurt indicates exciting directions in the theatre scene.
project › baz@rt / Europe Learning - Frankfurt meets Krakow
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Stary Teatr, Kraków
The Stary Teatr (Old Theatre) was founded in 1781 and is one of Poland’s oldest and most renowned stages. Since 1799 it has been located at the junction of Jagiellońska Street and Szczepański Square in Kraków. It was mainly Polish classics and German dramas that were performed here before the Second World War, but after 1945 a contemporary repertoire was imposed on the theatre from above, a repertoire to be staged in accordance with the artistic means of Socialist Realism that the government had declared binding.
From the middle of the 1950s the Stary Teatr was independent again. Associated with it were, among others, Konrad Swinarski, Jerzy Jarocki, Józej Szajna, Bogdan Hussakowski, Andrzej Wajda, and Tadeusz Kantor. In the 1970s the Stary Teatr gained international acclaim: it was invited three times to the festival “World Trade Season” in London and gave guest performances in Zurich und Berlin. New stage directors emerged, among them Maciej Prus, Jerzy Grzegorzewski, Krystian Lupa, and Kazimierz Kutz. The distinctive feature of the Stary Teatr was not only the integrated, harmonious ensemble, but also the circle of stage designers and musicians involved in the performances. In 1985 the Stary Teatr’s museum opened: it documents the history of its operation. In 1991 the theatre was awarded the status of a national theatre. Since 1992, in its “Goście Starego Teatru” (Guests of the Old Theatre) series, it has hosted encounters with world-renowned artists, among them Peter Brook, Roberto Ciulli, Czesław Miłosz, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Robert Wilson, Georges Lavaudant, and Luk Parceval. In 1994 the Stary Teatr was accepted into the prestigious Union of European Theatres. Since the 1990s stage directors at the Stary Teatr have included Grzegorz Jarzyna, Krzysztof Warlikowski, and Paweł Miśkiewicz. Until 1996 the theatre instituted four additional venues for contemporary productions.
Since 2002 Mikołaj Grabowski has been artistic director of the Stary Teatr. In 2004 the festival “baz@rt”, initiated by the Stary Teatr, took place for the first time and was devoted to French-language theatre. In its second season, in 2005, the festival focussed on German-language theatre.
project › baz@rt / Europe Learning - Frankfurt meets Krakow
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TANZ Bremen
TANZ Bremen is one of the leading German festivals for contemporary dance. With its distinguished programme of international guest performances it is not only a forum for established choreographers, but at the same time a stage for young talents, for experiments and new beginnings (e.g., Marie Chouinard, Les Ballets C. de la B., Josef Nadj, Catherine Diverres, Urs Dietrich, Cie Fatoumi-Lamoureux, Het Hans Hof, Andreya Ouamba, Jérôme Bel).
The festival programme is accompanied by a comprehensive supporting programme of events, such as workshops, audience talks, and seminars.
project › Jagniątków. Move the Mount
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TR WARSZAWA (Teatr Rozmaitości, Warsaw)
TR WARSZAWA (Teatr Rozmaitości, Warsaw), located at 8 Marszałkowska Street, has for decades been one of Poland’s best-known stages. It has secured a reputation as a contemporary theatre that is open to new ideas while preserving theatrical traditions. TR has made its mark in Europe and won numerous awards at national and international theatre festivals. Poland’s most popular stage directors – Grzegorz Jarzyna (artistic director since 1998, since 2006 also general director), Krzysztof Warlikowski, and Krystian Lupa – and most famous actors work at TR. The theatre constantly looks for new forms of theatrical expression, not only in contemporary drama, but also in reinterpretations of classic plays. Well-known new stagings of classics include the controversially received production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” under the direction of Krzysztof Warlikowski (1999), “Magnetyzm serca” (Magnetism of the Heart) after Aleksandr Fredro’s “Śluby Panieńskie” (Maidens’ Vows) directed by Sylwia Torsh (a pseudonym of Grzegorz Jarzyna) (1999), “Książę Myszkin” (Prince Myshkin) after Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot”, adapted and staged by Mikołaj Warianow (another pseudonym of Grzegorz Jarzyna) (2000), as well as Warlikowski’s productions of “Bachantki” (The Bacchae) by Euripides (2001) and “Burza” (The Tempest) by Shakespeare (2003). In 2007 Jarzyna will stage Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”.
Other plays reflect recent social changes with their attendant problems: “Uroczystość” (Celebration) by Mogens Rukov and Thomas Vinterberg, direction: H7 (yet another pseudonym of Grzegorz Jarzyna), “Obróbka” (The Treatment) by Martin Crimp, direction: Artur Urbański (both 2002), “Stosunki Klary” (Clara’s Relations) by Dea Loher, direction: Krystian Lupa, and “Dybuk” after Szymon Anski and Hanna Krall, direction: Krzysztof Warlikowski (both 2003); in addition, productions of Sarah Kane’s plays: “Oczyszczeni” (Cleansed) (2001) and “4.48 Psychosis” (2002).
The 2003/04 season at TR was themed TEREN WARSZAWA (Terrain Warsaw) and sought to promote the potential and creativity of the city, of its places and people, and to involve young, talented persons from outside the theatre scene into the programme. In January 2000, monthly encounters between visual art and contemporary dramatic art were introduced at TR, which quickly developed into the Monday series “Exhibitions at TR”, “Film at TR”, “New Dramatic Art at TR”, and “Concert at TR”. The events present works of the best known, most controversial, and most interesting artists, and of young playwrights from Poland and abroad.
In the 2005/06 season, the theatre invites its audience to participate in a new project: TR/PL, which looks for a dramatic form that corresponds to present-day Poland.
project › Mobile Academy in Warsaw: “Ghosts, Spectres, Phantoms, and the Places Where They Live”
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