Workshops with Andrzej Kowalczyk
8 -14 August 2016, 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Facilitaor: Andrzej Kowalczyk
Maximum number of participants: 15
*To enrol in the workshops, buy a ticket online or at the box office no later than 4 August. By purchasing a ticket a participant agrees to the terms and conditions which require a signed consent of all workshop participants.
The workshop participation fee is 120 PLN. The fee for each additional workshop will be reduced by 50% (60 PLN). The offer is also valid for participants of last year’s edition. For those aged 65 and older the workshops are free.
Continued conversations at the search of past totalities. Lost ideas of objects of the Cricot 2 Theatre
The intentions of Andrzej Kowalczyk remain the same. The objective of this year’s workshops is to reconstruct the Cleaning Lady’s steel broom stick from the script of The Dead Class.
We will also discuss Tadeusz Kantor’s process of preparing the sculpture-mannequin of a woman which he intended to introduce in the Cage (Dainty Shapes and Hairy Apes). This stage will remain conceptual and there will be no material trace left. Today, the object does not exist.
Kantor’s text Confusing Concepts will be significant during each stage of the workshops. Concepts such as: mock-up, wreckage, the activity of imitation, copying or reconciliation with emptiness will be used by participants to initiate conversations and stage activities. A mock-up of a journey – an attempt at setting the participants in motion and letting them gather great momentum – has already been initiated and will most certainly be continued. Similarly to the December show by the creator of 52 Hz at the Centre of Contemporary Art ‘Solvay’ which was a continuation of the 2015 workshops when we returned on stage with our partners from Cricoteka. During this year’s edition of workshops we will follow the same method of work. Our Team has the right to take the initiative and marginalise the author. Let me add: to his satisfaction.
Another important problem will be the Monument of a Great Wanderer intended by Tadeusz Kantor for Hucisko. It is far from actual realisation, but was precisely designed in several sketches. The result of tackling this problem is a planned series of outdoor classes related to a long term project by Andrzej Kowalczyk A Signal Under the Mirrors of Cricoteka.
All our activities – similarly to last year’s – will end with a show presented in front of an audience. The final meeting will be a summary and presentation of what could exist in our work if we were always together. The author’s participation in activities on stage is granted (as he is unable to resist it). If possible, with the consent of the Tadeusz Kantor Foundation in Hucisko, we will visit Hucisko on the same day. Besides documentation, there will be a gallery of photographs prepared for Cricoteka by Małgorzata Palka (who participates in all drama activities by the author), and a film documentary by Tomisław Wasilewicz. Karolina Czerska will provide theoretical, musical and instrumental support.
The workshops in 2015 proved that the problems suggested inspire participants to take up autonomous initiatives. My partners decide on the stage expression they adopt. Once ideas are recorded they develop in completely unexpected directions. The fact that the workshops are located in Cricoteka allows us to research archives which are only available here. Therefore, stage activities are an opportunity to study and research the resources of the Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor.
Because of the remote date of workshops the activities will be gradually additionally described.
Spaces to be used
- Physical – under, on, behind, over, inside, outside, relocation, movement…
- Imaginary – the past, memory, the temporary present, prophecy, the future…
- Emotional – expectation, endeavour, action, repetition; action, final decision, expectation. Result: present, past, memory…
Objects reconstructed:
- Cleaning lady’s steel broom stick from the first version of The Dead Class
- Mannequin of a woman in a cage from Dainty Shapes and Hairy Apes – stage task – facts, implications, innuendos
Theoretical part: Andrzej Kowalczyk
Mannequins of children from The Dead Class. Version 1. Implications of reasons for uncovering of feet. Final version.
Spatial compositions of the stage at the Cricot 2 theatre.
Movement, relocation, distance, circulation, deformations of perspective.
ANDRZEJ KOWALCZYK
Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Krakow University of Technology in 1982. From 1984 to 1998 an employee of Cricoteka – co-author of many exhibitions in Poland and abroad, a technical manager of the Cricot 2 Theatre; an actor of the Cricot 2 Theatre from 1985 to 1992; participated in Tadeusz Kantor’s theatre performances: Let the Artists Die , Wielopole, Wielopole, I Shall Never Return, Today Is My Birthday. He took part in the happening The Anatomy Lesson by Tadeusz Kantor – a debate organized with part of the Cricot 2 Theatre group as a tribute to Tadeusz Kantor, 1991.
He frequently cooperates (set design, direction, participation in performances) with the Cricot 2 Theatre actors – Manjacy of Their Master’s voice, 1993; America or don’t look back, 1995, Gone, Passed and So Will All the Stories (Minęło, minęło i tak przeminą wszystkie historie), 2007. He participated in Andrzej Wełmiński’s projects Da liegt der Hund begraben – Germanias Halluzinationen in Theater Rampe, Stuttgart, 1997; De Dolende Ney, Amsterdam, 1999.
In 2004 he received the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture Award at Krakow University of Technology during the Tenth International Architecture Biennial in the Museum of Tadeusz Kantor competition (team: Jacek Czech, Andrzej Kowalczyk, Jakub Kowalczyk).