March 13
18:00-21:00 Live stream presentation
On March 19-20, Romeo Castelluci and his Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio brings the first tome of his Divine Comedy to Warsaw with a film screening of the esteemed production that won Castelluci praise all over Europe. Endowed with a very characteristic style of performance, which joins together all types of expression - from traditional theatre to mechanics and projection - the show creates an organic energy that flows through the bodies of the performers - highlighted through music and technology. Inferno deals with the pain of penance. Exploring the source of sin as the artist wanders through chaos. The violence of imagery and movement are intensified to a point in which the protagonist is rendered powerless. It is at this moment that he discovers a secret space and a drive to fight for life that comes from an inexplicable, deep-seated, sentiment for one's own existence. Le Monde deemed the performance one of the ten most important cultural events in the first decade of the 21st Century. Screenings begin at 16:00 on March 19 and 20.
On March 19 Romania's Vava Ştefănescu and Colectiv A present After All, an exploration of corporality, in which tenderness and careful consideration and key to handling the body. The dance is based on adopting the body of another and filling that body up with dreams that have been stored away - ultimately building a new identity from various parts. And when it is finally perfect, set it carefully aside and turn on the television. Performance begins at 19:30.
On a lighter note, March 20 Maryna Tomaszewska presents a Ionesco-esque approach to language, based on traditional language-learning materials. Illustrated scenes provide the visual backdrop to a very handy manual for foreigners desiring the get a grasp of the Polish language. The book launch party takes place between 18:00-21:00 on March 20.
On April 11, Galeria Raster and Sophie Jocz present a screening of Project Renovation - In the Name of Good, which trails the process of providing artist Oskar Dawicki with studio by renovating a space for his use. The film explores relationships within the art world, along with a consideration of aesthetic and technical issues related to architecture and functionality. Most of all it questions the needs of an artist and the limits of freedom.
April 13 is devoted to youngsters, featuring an event commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the legendary poet Czesław Janczarski, creator of Miś Uszatek - an animated bear that graced the pages of beloved books and Polish television screen for decades. Organised by Agnieszka Parzuchowska-Janczarska and Joanna Pęzińska, the programme is packed with attractions, including a live theatrical performance for children, a concert by the jazz trio led by Janczarski's own grandson, Borys Janczarski, along with screenings of rare films, readings and an exhibition of illustrations by Zbigniew Rychlicki and Józef Wilkonia. Children also have a chance to explore their own creativity with the Make Your Own Book workshop.
The main partner project of the festival takes place on April 14, in cooperation with the Teatr Nowy in Warsaw. The Sexual Life of Savages is a theatrical project prepared by Nowy Theatre and realised by Krzysztof Garbaczewski and Marcin Cecko based on legendary anthropological texts by Bronisław Malinowski. The pioneering anthropological work has never been explored by using artistic approach. The goal is not to stage his writings but rather confronting his observations and relating them to our sensitivity, the present taboos and erotic boundaries.
Anthropology, a relatively young science, builds its status quo on the Other, the Alien, or as anthropology precursors called it, on the Wild, which became fascination and negative reflection of the developing mass and computer culture in XX century. However as it is shown in life, writings and analysis of the Wild, it comes at a high price – the primitive tribes go down with many illnesses and die out after the first contact. In Baudrillard's words: "the paradox of anthropology is that it kills object of the research". At the beginning of XX century Europe needed the Wild figure to maintain its identity and reassure itself that it had chosen the right trend in civilization development. Can we confirm today it was indeed right choice? And where shall we place the "savage"?
Krzysztof Garbaczewski is one of the most talented representatives of the youngest generation of directors schooled by Krystian Lupa. His productions always create a different variety of encounter and exploration of the theatre substance through improvisations with text and experience of corporeality and physical presence of the actor. They are rebel, cyberpunk, full of disagreement with conformism of the present world and propriety.
Garbaczewski describes his latest project, The Sexual Life of Savages, as "a contact improvisation with text". It is a fantasy about the wild children of the future for whom the natural environment is silicon, carbon nano-pipes and wind rustling in databases rather than in trees. This project - it's not quite within the traditional limits of a "play" - is based mainly on film projections. Hiding of the actors behind the camera is supposed to help this brave confrontation with Malinowski's proposal. The screen is a central spot for action, the space for social criticism and a place of worship for the Wild who hunt hidden there meaning. For more, see: The Sexual Life of Savages - Then and Now
The Temps d'Images Festival also coincides with the ongoing exhibition of video works by Mirosław Bałka, which runs through April 3, 2011.
Rundown of Main Programme Dates: