Abstract
The article is a recapitulation of Wojtek Ziemilski’s work, from his earliest intermedial productions (Map) up to the most recent productions, staged at publicly funded theatres (Come Together, One Gesture). An association with Brecht’s Lehrstücke provides a framework for bringing these formally disparate projects together. The author analyses Ziemilski’s pedagogic strategies, noting that his productions create a situation of transfer of knowledge not just with their form (conference, seminar, translation seminar, lecture, etc.), but also with their theme, which is often teaching or learning. The author observes that what differentiates Ziemilski from Brecht, making him into an undogmatic teacher is, first, the pivotal place unanswered questions take in his productions; and, second, the fact that he carries out the role of director as a mediator between various worldviews and paradigms.
Keywords
devising theatre; participatory art; Komuna//Warszawa, Jacques Rancière; the emancipated spectator; Wojtek Ziemilski;
Zofia Smolarska
(1987) graduated from the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw, where she now works as a lecturer at the Department of Theatre Studies. Deputy chair of the Polish Association for Theatre Studies and member of the Polish Theatre Journal’s editorial team. Author of a book Rimini Protokoll. Ślepe uliczki teatru partycypacyjnego [Rimini Protokoll. Blind Alleys of Participatory Theatre]. Along with the present journal, her articles have appeared in Teatr, Didaskalia, Dialog, Performer, on dwutygodnik.com, in Svet a Divadlo, Rzut, Art & Business and in academic monographs. The participatory aspect of the creative process is among her main interests (practical as well as research). An urban performer and author of urban social projects, she has collaborated with the Rimini Protokoll collective and with Edit Kaldor on participatory theatre projects. She is working on a doctoral dissertation about the current situation of craftmenship in Polish public theatres.
