The KDMS in concert, source: Facebook/KDMS
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute has presented its programme for taking over three Korean capitals with Polish arts and culture
The idea for promoting Poland in the east was inspired by the common ground between the experience of Poles and Koreans under the threat of communism in the 20th century. The determination to maintain the cultural heritage of a nation is a strong link that emphasises both the ethic and diplomatic significance of the project, according to the Director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Paweł Potoroczyn.
The project comes on the heels of the Projekt Azja presentations in China and Japan, staging Poland's home-grown theatre productions at some of the most important arts events in Korea, including the Performing Arts Market in Seoul (PAMS) and the Seoul Perfoming Arts Festival (SPAF), along with jazz concerts at the Jarasum Jazz Festival and films at the Busan International Film Festival. PAMS is putting the focus on Central and Eastern Europe this year, with Poland's Radosław Rychcik staging In the Solitude of the Cotton Fields, with the Stefan Żeromski Theatre in Kielce (08-12.10). The piece, directed by Radosław Rychcik, is based on a play written by Bernard-Marie Koltès. Berlin audiences witnessed a brutal encounter between the characters of Client and Dealer, accompanied by live rock and roll sounds played by Natural Born Chillers. Rychcik has staged a meeting between two charismatic frontmen of an avant-garde rock band, who are clearly into something more than just singing. The director has focused Koltès' text around the figure of the duo, tangled in a dance and constantly renegotiating their position in power-play.
Krzysztof Warlikowski's (A)pollonia, performed by the Warsaw-based Nowy Teatr opens the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (05.10). Here, the director experiments with a variety of texts to create an on-stage montage. He uses characters from the tragedies of Euripides and Aeschylus, a previously unpublished play by Hanna Krall, as well as fragments of novels by Jonathan Littell and J. M. Coetzee.
Polish October in Korea 2012. Adam Mickiewicz Institute from Culture.pl on Vimeo.
Other theatrical highlights include Krzysztof Garbaczewski's Odyssey, a thoroughly contemporary existential staging performed by the Jan Kochanowki Theatre in Opole (13-15.10). Teatr Dada von Bzdülöw is to present their Nonexistent Duets piece at SIDance, alongside a performance from the Teatr Zawirowania.
Polish films grace the screen at the DMZ Korean International Documentary Film Festival between the 21st-27th of September, devoted to the theme of peace and solidarity, presenting the Polish Docs Special showcase, which features films from graduates of the Wajda School: Marcin Sauter's North of Calabria, Piotr Bernaś's Paparazzi and Łukasza Borowski's 3 Days of Freedom. A showcase of feature films is to be presented at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in October, with a retrospective of 10 great Polish cinema between 1959-2012. The showcase of Polish film in Korea coincides with the publication of the book Polish Cinema Now, prepared in cooperation with some of Poland's top filmmakers, along with workshops and discussions with prominent filmmakers like Agnieszka Holland and Dorota Kędzierzawska. The 7th of October has been marked as the "Day of Poland" at the BIFF.
Jazz takes center stage in the music programme, with the Tomasz Stańko Quartet, Maciej Obara Quartet and Nikola Kołodziejczyk's Stryjo performing at the Jarasum International Jazz Festival (12-13.10). The ragga/dancehall formation Senk Że takes the Party Stage on the evening of the 13th. Disco-pop band KDMS stops by the festival as well as part of their international tour of Korean, China and Taiwan.
For more information, see: azja.iam.pl
Editor: AL
Source: Adam Mickiewicz Institute