Arkadiusz Gruszczyński (ed.), Alina Gałązka, Grzegorz Laszuk, Tomasz Plata
How Komuna Otwock became Komuna// Warszawa: A Conversation with Alina Gałązka, Grzegorz Laszuk and Tomasz Plata
Abstract
A conversation between Alina Gałązka, Grzegorz Laszuk and Tomasza Plata, members of Komuna// Warszawa, one of the most interesting independent theatre companies in Poland, and creators of the most important interdisciplinary centre of performing arts, gathering young artists of the so-called post-theatre. The conversation focuses on their political attitude illustrated by the evolution of this group from an anarchist commune, operating in a small town in the field of political art, to a big-city alternative arts centre. The artists discuss the most significant curating projects which have enabled Komuna to enter the theatre mainstream and mark their place as an alternative production house functioning at the junction of theatre and performing arts. They also indicate difficulties related to the limitations of the theatre-funding system in Poland, which does not include such independent entities operating professionally, but without becoming a public-culture institution.
Keywords
alternative arts centre; independent theatre; Komuna// Warszawa; Komuna Otwock; performing art; political theatre
Arkadiusz Gruszczyński (ed.)
(1990), journalist, author of interviews. Has published in Gazeta Wyborcza, Tygodnik Powszechny, Przekrój and Dwutygodnik. Author of a guide to Warsaw alternative-theatre companies published by the Theatre Institute in Warsaw. Works in the Bemowskie Centrum Kultury in Warsaw. Scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (2014).
Alina Gałązka
social activist, member of the theatre ensemble Komuna// Warszawa. Member of the executive board of the association Klon/Jawor, co-creator and editor-in-chief of a website for non-government organizations www.ngo.pl. From 2008 to 2009, a president of the Social Dialogue Forum and since 2004 an activist for the Social Dialogue Committee collaborating with the Warsaw city council (Department of Culture) – currently a member of the presidium of this commitee. Co-author of the document ‘Miasto kultury i obywateli. Program rozwoju kultury w Warszawie do roku 2020’.
Grzegorz Laszuk
(1967), director, designer, activist. One of the founders of the theatre company Komuna// Warszawa. He has directed productions including Myśli nowoczesnego Polaka. Roman Dmowski (nieautoryzowana biografia) [Thoughts of a Modern Pole: Roman Dmowski (the Unauthorized Biography)] (2016), Tocqueville. Życie codzienne po Wielkiej Rewolucji [Tocqueville: Daily Life after a Great Revolution] (2014), Rzeczy pierwsze - rzeczy ostatnie [First Things – Last Things] (2014). Member of the Association of Applied Graphic Designers and owner of the graphic studio Książki+Strony. He collaborates with the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, TR Warszawa, Gutek Film, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the National Museum in Warsaw, the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, and the Bęc Zmiana Foundation.
Tomasz Plata
editor, theatrologist, author of books, curator. Since 1999 lecturer at the Academy of Theater in Warsaw, received his PhD in 2012. In the years 2000-2004 the editor-in-chief of the magazine City Magazine, head of the culture department of the weekly Newsweek, creator and head of Magazyn Dziennik, publisher of the weekly Wprost, editor of "Newsweek". Curator of theatrical-performative activities Perform, Re // mix, We, townspeople. Author of the book: We, townspeople (2015), Re // mix (together with Dorota Sajewska, 2014) To be and not to be. The presence of the theater and the performance of the last fifty years (2009), Komuna Otwock. Przewodnik Krytyki Politycznej (together with Agnieszka Berlińska, 2009), Strategie publiczne, strategie prywatne. Teatr polski 1990-2005 (2005) (german edition: Offentliche Strategien, Private Strategien. Das polnische Theater 1990-2005, 2005), Akademia Ruchu (2003), Andy Warhol w drodze do teatru (2001).
