Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990) was one of the most important Polish artists, with a significant contribution to the revolutionizing of both Polish and global theater, as well as a remarkable avant-garde activity in the field of visual arts. The exhibition highlights the versatility and complexity of this artist by showcasing the main directions he pursued as director, set designer, actor in his own plays, creator of happenings, painter and theorist.
Throughout the exhibition, a rich program of related events is presented, co-organized by NMAR and the Tadeusz Kantor Art Documentation Center – Cricoteka. On 21-25 October 2024 workshops entitled “Costume in Tadeusz Kantor’s Theatrical Toolkit” were held, led by Bogdan Renczyński, an actor at Cricot 2 Theater. In March 2025 the exhibition halls will host the art installation PRIVATE SPACE – a venue for meetings and workshops conducted over several days by Justyna Droń.
In the PRIVATE SPACE, over the following days, participants will have the opportunity to engage in individual experiments with fabric and creatively interpret Tadeusz Kantor’s costume collection. In PRIVATE SPACE participants will create collages, art books, prepare stamps and print graphics on fabric.
The installation will take the form of a long, sensory table covered with fabric, resembling a tablecloth from one of Kantor’s performances. On the table, there will be short texts explaining the role Kantor assigned to costumes. The texts will be printed on fabric, accompaigned by quotes from the artist’s writings, archival newspaper clippings, photographs, fabric swatches, small clothing elements, and tactile copies—models of selected costumes or flat adaptations for people with visual impairments. Small clothing elements will be sewn into the large tablecloth: buttons, collars, fasteners, snaps, velcro, suspenders, and authentic fragments of Kantor’s costumes, allowing a close, tangible contact with the artwork. The table will be interactive and fully tactile; fabric pieces with texts can be lifted like layers, revealing translations of texts in selected languages.
The background of PRIVATE SPACE will feature photographic documentation of Kantor’s theatrical costume collection, shown as slides from a projector.
Around the table, daily creative workshops will take place for all interested parties of all ages, including those with disabilities. The workshops are open to the public, and participants will be able to join at every full hour during the day.
Workshops:
March 5, 2025, Wednesday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM: Stamps on fabric and handmade paper
During the workshop, participants will learn the oldest printing technique—relief printing. Each person will create a stamp using linocut technique and print it onto cotton fabric using their created matrices. The graphic mark, placed on a wooden block, can be taken home by the participants.
March 6, 2025, Thursday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM: Collages. Diversity of materials
The inspiration for the workshop will be Tadeusz Kantor’s paintings from the informal period and sketches in which overlapping layers of paint and lines create an image. We will use theatrical photographs, drawings, archival materials, posters and newspapers. We will create collages in the form of artistic postcards, combining diverse elements.
March 7, 2025, Friday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM: Screen printing
We will perform prints using the screen printing technique on bags, sacks and canvas. Each participant will create a print with the motif of the Eternal Wanderer—a character related to Tadeusz Kantor’s imaginative world. Participants can bring their own light-colored T-shirt or bag.
March 8, 2025, Saturday, 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM: Item Repairs. Fabric. Embroidery
Workshops inspired by Tadeusz Kantor’s costumes—multi-layered, “artistically recycled” fabrics. Participants will learn different sewing and fabric techniques, used transfered photographs on fabrics, embroider and create compositions from various materials.
March 9, 2025, Sunday, 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM: Artbooks
Books, notebooks, sketchbooks, visual notes. We will handcraft artbooks using Japanese sewing techniques. Participants will have access to high-quality cotton papers, original antique prints, photographs, and archival posters from Kantor’s performances. The handmade artbooks will serve as a place for artistic visual notes for the participants.
The workshops will be conducted in English.
More: https://mnar.ro/en/
The exhibition and the workshops are a part of the Poland-Romania Cultural Season 2024-2025, organised by the National Museum of Art of Romania (NMAR), in partnership with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute from Warsaw, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków (MOCAK), the Polish Institute in Bucharest and CRICOTEKA (Center for the Documentation of Tadeusz Kantor’s Art).
