1973, photo by Pierre Nydegger
How does the modern trickster operate: is he the artist-provocateur, the artist-political activist, a virus attacking the cultural and social order of Europe? Trickster 2011 the performance program which is to accompany the European Culture Congress.
The trickster archetype is characterised by action outside of the established norms, refusal to conform to neither authorities nor societal order. His sense of humor is boundless, subversive and intelligent, he plays with reality, deftly crossing the border between fiction and truth, between desire and taboo. He’s like a virus – unpredictable and mischievous, but always allowing us to fight that which crawls beneath our skin, weak and unnamed. (Agata Siwiak, the curator)
Events:
1973, Massimo Furlan
2011-09-10, 16.00 and 20.00, Feature Films Studio
„I remember this evening in April. It was in 1973. As always, my sister and I had been waiting for his moment for weeks. Finally it was starting and we could dream. Like us, millions of television viewers had their eyes riveted to the television screen. It was the most important evening of the Year. It was the Eurovision Singing Contest.” Similarly to his previous projects, Massimo Furlan re-enacts specific cultural behavior, rituals, and celebrations – in this case a television show – the 1973 Eurovision Singing Contest. His goal is to replay an archive, to once again perform a historic event, to try to re-enact, as faithfully as possible, a television show.
EU Green Card Lottery, Société Faliste
2011-09-08 - 2011-09-11, 10.00 - 22.00, Four Domes Pavilion
This project consists in creating a website, a promotional campaign and an EU Green Card Lottery office that attests immigrants to the permanent resident status – all fictitious. Artists of the Société Réaliste refer to the US Green Card Lottery and parasite websites whose owners illegally charge potential immigrants a fee for lottery registration that in fact is for free. By their action, artists want to raise awareness of the problem of global migration, and to analyse the real – distilled from political correctness and demagogy – migration policies of the European Union.
WAITING ROOM. 0, Krystian Lupa & Dorota Masłowska
2011-09-08 - 2011-09-10, 20:00, Polski Theatre in Wrocław
Three premiere presentations of the newest Krystian Lupa' production "Waiting Room. 0" will take place during the Congress. A performance is created in a laboratory work process. It is experimental, although not because of the method (as the last performances by Lupa are the point of reference), but due to the confrontation of two extremely strong personalities that differ from each other in terms of generations and aesthetics.
Rainbow Stand, Monika Strzępka, Paweł Demirski
2011-09-09 - 2011-09-10, 16:00, Polski Theatre in Wrocław
A socio-theatrical project prepared by Monika Strzępka and Paweł Demirski - a duo well known for their acute and accurate diagnoses of social neuroses - addresses the democratization of public life in Poland. The point of departure for the authors were: the national excitement and momentum around the preparations for the European Football Championships held in Poland in 2012 and the activity of the first gay fan club of the Polish National Football Team. Using these stories Strzępka and Demirski have opened a discussion on the problems of the commercialization of public space and the social exclusion based on sexual or economic reasons.
Wege zur Behandlung von Schmerzen, Mirosław Bałka
2011-09-08 - 2011-09-11, 20:00, Four Domes Pavilion
Mirosław Bałka, one of Poland's foremost contemporary sculptors and visual artists, is currently working on a piece "Wege zur Behandlung von Schmerzen" that will open the Trickster 2011 project. The artist has chosen the west wing of the Four Dome Pavilion for its location. With its rich history and complex, multicultural identity, Wrocław (and its Centennial Hall) seem to perfectly match the work of Bałka, whose art addresses the themes of memory, passing, loss, and redemption, in the personal and individual levels as well in the collective and cultural.
A Treatise on the Anatomy of Bad Taste, Oskar Dawicki
2011-09-08, 21:00, Feature Films Studio
Oskar Dawicki, one of Poland’s most interesting performers, is preparing a multi-sensory project for the European Culture Congress, one that constitutes a reflection on contemporary aesthetic strategies. The main character of the performance will be Bad Taste, rather than the artists themselves (Dawicki along with Roland Zugzwang, one of the boldest interpreters of Chopin’s music, and Ryan Bromley).
Follow the European Culture Congress debates online at culturecongress.eu, nina.gov.pl, uwaganakulture.pl and dwutygodnik.com.