Grunwald - reconstruction
theatre play direction, set design, 1,5 1,5-year long collaboration with the community, 2022
As part of a residency organized by the Contemporary Theater in Szczecin in partnership with the Munich Kammerspiele, I created, directed a theatrical performance based on extensive research.
For 1.5 years I worked on the project in collaboration with an extraordinary community that was formed in Poland - the reconstructors of Jan Matejko’s painting „The Battle of Grunwald.” This battle is the most important battle in Polish history, and the painting is very important in the collective imagination of Poles. I thought: how can I today join Matejko in creation of imagination of people.
Many people in Poland devoted many years of their lives to create an embroidered full-size (4x10m) painting, a full-size painting copy, or a bas-relief, made from 40 tons of wood.
Unfortunately, their grassroots initiatives are being taken over by politicians, who use their work to cultivate national myths that we no longer need.
The artists recreating the image of the battle have become the main characters in a theatrical play in which, from the perspective of the 1000th anniversary of the battle, after the end of the world, together with the horses that have always been included in battles, an important actor in this battle- wind. We reflect on the validity of History’s existence. Why do we still have to celebrate History?
An audiovisual installation throughout the theater, in the form of a bunker, is a place for evoking the ghosts of the past, but also a space for teleportation to the year 2410, in which the relationships of humans and non-humans look different. Artistic tutors: Agnieszka Polska, Jakub Skrzywanek. Music: Wojciech Kosma. Costumes: Michał Dobrucki.