Demolishing Partition Walls: ‘Auto-theatre’ at the 2016 Theatre Confrontations Festival in Lublin
Abstract
Two pieces by Michael Asher constitute the framework for this article on the use of institutional critique in theatre. This critical trend was born in the field of visual arts and has been adapted in recent years to broader reflection on the functioning of art institutions in general. That is why Asher’s project, consisting of his intervention in an art gallery where he demolished a partition wall between the exhibition hall and the office space, combining in this way two hitherto separated spaces, can serve as a handy metaphor for the analysis of divisions (their revealing and attempts at eliminating them) in theatre institutions.
The article describes several recent Polish theatre productions characteristic of ‘self-theatre’ or ‘post-theatre’ (Kantor Downtown; projects realized within the Mikro Theatre cycle; Drugi spektakl [The Other Show]; Aktorzy żydowscy [Jewish Actors]; Kwestia techniki [A Technical Question]), a trend attempting to redefine the conditions of its own operation created and adopted by the institution, or at least to pose questions about them (including the audience in this endeavour). The majority of the analyzed productions were presented at the Konfrontacje Festival in Lublin (October 2016), the main theme of which was ‘Autonomy / Institution / Democracy’. The programme curators also subjected the festival formula proposed by them to self-reflection, thus examining in practice the ideas of institutional critique, and so, just like Asher, performing an ‘intervention’ on the formula of a theatre festival. This revealed, both through the organization of the festival as well as the choice of invited productions, the fields of tension and influence arising within (and through) the institution of theatre.