ABOUT CULTURE - 09.2009

A festival of the body and mind
From the 22nd of September to the 3rd of October, the 8th Body and Mind Contemporary Dance Festival (Festival Tańca Współczesnego Ciało/Umysł) will take place in Warsaw. On this occasion, ballet groups from Great Britain, Switzerland, and even India, among other places, are coming to Poland. Festival performances will take place at the Grand Theater (Teatr Wielki), Teatr Studio, and at Centralny Basen Artystyczny at 6 Konopnicka Street. More information about this interesting event and a detailed program of the festival can be found at www.cialoumysl.pl. There is an English language version available.

Warsaw Autumn
This year’s 52nd annual International Contemporary Music Festival „Warszawska Jesień” (Warsaw Autumn), which will take place from the 18th to the 26th of September, will be dedicated for the most part to electro-acoustic music. The program includes, among other things:
– Studios and electronic music centers
– Operas full of electronics, and works functioning at the edge of opera
– Numerous electronic events at the Expo XXI Hall (marathon)
A spatial projection of sound by the studio DXARTS from the University of Washington in Seattle, using the 20 second echo of Hala Najwyższych Napięć.
– Call for Sounds
A concert of works chosen from the competition for electronic composition.
– Films
– World premiere performances
Special event: the Warsaw presentation of the Passion (Pasja) according to St. Mark by Paweł Mykietyn.

Stasys in Japan
The fourth edition of the Echigo-Tsumari Triennial has begun in Japan, which is the largest outdoor artistic event in the world. This year, out of more than 600 entries to a contest from around the world, the jury selected, among others, the design by the Polish-Lithuanian artist Stasys Ridrygievicius and the young Polish architects Krzysztof Kołodziejski and Marek Witaszewski from the A+D studio, entitled The Visitors. The installation has the form of masts from a sailboat, which stand in a landscape of rice fields so typical for Japan. Each sail is a reproduction of a painting by Stasys, portraying a face. Because of the unusual scale and form of the installation, the work was finished late, but has been on display since the 8th of August in Japan.

The palm belongs to the people
In the very heart of Warsaw, in the roundabout at the intersection of Jerozolimskie Avenue and Nowy Świat Street, a fake palm tree made of plastic was erected in December of 2002. The one behind the idea was artist Joanna Reykowska, and the palm was an exhibit of the Center for Contemporary Arts, entitled „Pozdrowienia z Alej Jerozolimskich” (Greetings from Jerozolimskie Avenue). The artist declared that the inspiration for the palm had been a visit to Jerusalem. She wanted to emphasize the name of the Avenue in Warsaw, and recall the history of Jews associated with Warsaw. Presently, the palm has almost become a symbol of Warsaw. It is a happy and funny symbol of the sense of humor of the residents of our city. While not everyone was thrilled by it in the beginning, when it was threatened with removal, Varsovians came to its defense. Today, Warsaw authorities have proposed buying the palm from the artist and taking it into their care. The palm will thereby become public property.

A festival of Jewish Culture
For the sixth time, from the 29th of August to the 6th of September, the „Warszawa Singera” (Singer’s Warsaw) Festival of Jewish Culture will take place in Warsaw. There will be many attractions, because Warsaw abounds in Jewish tradition. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Warsaw was the largest Jewish city in Europe, and the second largest, after New York, in the world. Jewish culture has left its mark on Polish and Warsaw culture. The Festival, whose patron is I. B. Singer, the Literary Nobel Prize laureate who was associated with Warsaw, presents Polish-Jewish connections. The creator of the festival is an outstanding actress from the Warsaw Jewish Theater, Gołda Tencer. More information about the festival program is at www.festiwalsingera.pl

The second Orange Warsaw Festival
This year’s Orange Warsaw Festival (on the 4th and 5th of September) is one of the most important cultural initiatives in Poland, and it is also among the leading projects to promote Warsaw, which is running for the title of European Cultural Capital 2016. It is an open (ticketless) and contemporary artistic undertaking – a festival of city sound and street art. This year’s edition has been enriched significantly – there are concerts, exhibits, and outdoor performances „Noc Kina” (Cinema Night), and an architectural competition. Nearly all of the elements of the program will take place in generally accessible public space. The festival was already very successful at the start, both in terms of its program and the number of people who attended. In 2008, 20 famous performers played on two stages, and at Plac Defilad there was a crowd of more than 35,000 people.
This festival offers an unrepeatable musical celebration with performances by stars from around the world and from Poland. All of the concerts will be live, just like at the best world festivals. However, it is not only concerts, but also special music projects which cannot be seen in any other place. The festival wants to draw attention to the attractiveness of the city itself by using it as much as possible. The program was thought out in such a way that it uses the cool, accessible, even amazing scenery of the city as often as possible. In addition, each festival will leave a permanent memento – this is what the „Competition for the utilization of public space in Warsaw” is for.
The artistic communities of Warsaw and Poland as a whole are also involved in the unconventional activities for the festival, like theater performances or the architectural competition.