Institute of Culture Studies

Elfriede Jelinek jest obecnie jednym z częściej wystawianych w Polsce niemieckojęzycznych autorów, chociaż twórcy teatralni dość długo przekonywali się do tej dramaturgii. Celem artykułu jest przyjrzenie się procesowi przyswajania twórczości Jelinek przez polski teatr, przy wykorzystaniu poręcznej w tym przypadku koncepcji transferów kultury. Omawiając krętą drogę austriackiej pisarki na krajowe sceny, wskazuję pośredników (tłumaczy, reżyserów), którzy w pewnym sensie stali się jej ambasadorami w Polsce, a także omawiam warunki sprzyjające procesom adaptacyjnym. Nie bez znaczenia są przemiany estetyczne w polskim teatrze, w ostatnim dwudziestoleciu stymulowane z Zachodu, które dały narzędzia polskim artystom do zmierzenia się z tą niełatwą, eksperymentalną i bardzo sensualną dramaturgią.  

Monika Strzepka i Pawel Demirski to obecnie jeden z najwazniejszych duetow teatralnych w Polsce. Artyści są znani z zaangazowanych wypowiedzi i spektakli krytykujących ekonomiczne i polityczne podstawy neoliberalizmu, a takze konsekwentnie dekonstruujących mity polskości. Ich tworczośc wplynela na charakter rodzimego teatru politycznego. Artykul omawia kierunki artystycznych poszukiwan, interesujące tworcow tematy i estetyke spektakli.

The Director Leaves, the Team Stays The article discusses the results of the research carried out in theatres in the Silesian Region of Poland among the technical and administrative staff. The research concerned a crisis situation of director change, often a turning point in the life of each theatre. We examined the employees’ attitudes, emotions, and opinions associated with the change. We selected teams that were lower in the theatre hierarchy than the artistic team. It turned out that, contrary to popular opinion, the change in the directorial seat has a certain impact on these employees, who are extremely aware of the processes taking place in the organization. The empowerment of theatre employees postulated in discussions about culture coincides with the results of our research. It creates an opportunity for the traditionally-managed theatres to transform themselves into so-called learning organizations.

Łacińskie słowo emancipatio, oznaczające wypuszczenie z rąk, wyzwolenie i obdarzenie kogoś pełnią praw 1 , zyskuje współcześnie coraz większą popularność również w odniesieniu do widza teatralnego. Francuski filozof Jacques Rancière w szeroko dyskutowanym eseju Widz wyemancypowany odwołuje się do dwóch modeli teatru, którejak uważa-w XX wieku wyznaczały kierunki aktywizacji widza: oferowały "zbiorowej publiczności występy mające nauczyć widzów, jak przestać być widzami i stać się aktorami kolektywnego działania" 2. Pierwszy to teatr kontynuujący linię Bertolta Brechta-zajmuje się krytyką dominującego systemu politycznego, ekonomicznego i artystycznego. "Teatralne zapośredniczenie uprzytamnia widzom społeczne warunki, w których jest zakorzenione, i motywuje ich do stosownego działania" 3. Jest to teatr, który rekonstruuje i odtwarza zjawiska, by poddać je krytycznej refleksji. Angażuje widza intelektualnie i stwarza warunki do oceny scenicznych zdarzeń. Drugi teatr swój początek bierze w koncepcji sztuki Antonina Artauda, "wyrywa" publiczność "z pozycji widzów", powoduje, że odbiorcy są "otoczeni przez występ, wessani w krąg działania zwracającego im ich własną zbiorową energię" 4. Angażując emocje i zachęcając do empatii, ten rodzaj teatru próbuje skłonić widza do zmiany istniejącego porządku społecznego,

Upper Silesia theaters — especially in recent times — are increasingly keen on using narrationsthat refer the past of a locale and the cultural identity of its residents in order to build communitynarrations, create an alternative to the dominant version of history, or revise the layersof collective and individual memory. Thus — just like their counterparts in Gdańsk, Legnica,or Wałbrzych in the past — they open up to local stories, very popular among audiences. Thearticle presents the process of Silesian stages developing towards utilizing the locality reservoiron the one hand, on the other — the strategies of the directors of local theaters, which use localityto build relations with the viewers. There are three available practices here: confrontationwith collective memory and consciousness, which means taking up controversial and usuallythus far unused subjects, as exemplified by Bielsko-Biała plays during Robert Talarczyk’s tenure(Testament Teodora Sixta, Żyd, Bitwa o Nangar Khel...

Contemporary family is situated at the intersection of public and private spheres. Described as the basic social structure in the past, today it is reviewed in categories of interpersonal and intimate relations. It does not mean that family has vanished from the public sphere; however, it is still exists within it, but mostly as an idealistic construct. In the media, images created within TV series and advertisements, as well as statistical comparisons, family appears as the highest value; marriage and parenthood are models of life, which bring the most satisfaction. The role of the Catholic Church in such an image cannot be overlooked. Sociological research proves, however, that statistical family idyll is significantly different from the actual experience. The widely created image of a family contrasts with the one created in privacy. The image proposed by art seems to be closer to reality. Theatre creators mainly relate to the model of a traditional family. They see it as a compl...

The text penetrates to the heart of artistic works by A. Grzegorzewska. A figure constantly recurring in her dramaturgy is that of a rejected woman — pushed to the margins of society into the private space of a house by the patriarchal society, where she is bracketed in several stereotypical roles, e.g. that of a mother, wife and lover, which significantly constrain the space for her fulfillment. Women tend to be ostracized by the society due to their age and appearance in the main. Femininity that reveals itself in wrinkles and the consent for the ephemeral nature of time is juxtaposed with the femininity that has been created by popular culture and dominated by sexuality. The figure created by Grzegorzewska bears imprints of a philosophy of the so called “weak thinking” put forward by G. Vattimo, which favors disability, weakness, uncertainty and loss — formulated as an alternative to a discourse based on a strong masculine domination. A woman who does not adhere to standards mark...

The playwright’s panel took place at the Faculty Council Hall of the Department of Philology of the University of Silesia in Katowice as an event accompanying the national academic conference Writing for the Stage – Narrations of Modern Theatre. Among the invited guests were Julia Holewińska, Marzena Sadocha i Artur Pałyga. The audience and the interlocutors were represented by the conference participants and the academic community. The discussion concentrated around the issues connected with contemporary writing for theatre, and it concerned, among different subjects, the role of the theatrical text in the process of creating a stage production, the ways of writing for the stage and the factors determining various authorial strategies. The playwrights attempted to reflect over their own roles as artists, to define their understanding of theatre, which influences the employed artistic strategies and the manner of working with the text. They shared their thoughts on the aesthetic cha...

Witam Państwa na panelu, który zatytułowaliśmy bardzo prosto: Panel dramatopisarzy, ponieważ chcieliśmy oddać głos tym, którzy zajmują się pisaniem dla teatru. Nasze zaproszenie zechcieli przyjąć: Julia Holewińska, Marzena Sadocha i Artur Pałyga. Tak się szczęśliwie składa, że wszyscy Państwo jesteście zarówno dramatopisarzami, jak i dramaturgami, co-jak wszyscy wiemy-we współczesnym teatrze stanowi znaczącą różnicę, ale jednocześnie łączenie tych dwóch profesji staje się coraz bardziej powszechne. Państwo łączycie twórczość dramatopisarską z pracami polegającymi na przystosowywaniu na potrzeby sceny tekstów innych autorów. Zatem witam Państwa bardzo serdecznie. Z doktor Anetą Głowacką spróbujemy zadać autorom kilka pytań, a następnie oddamy głos Państwu zgromadzonym w sali, licząc na to, że macie pytania do zaproszonych gości. A teraz może dwa słowa o gościach. Najbardziej chyba znanym dramatem Pani Julii Holewińskiej są Ciała obce, za które autorka otrzymała Gdyńską Nagrodę Dramaturgiczną w 2010 roku. Poza wieloma innymi tekstami napisała również znakomity dramat Krzywicka / krew. Oprócz tego, że tworzy autorskie teksty, jest też dramaturżką na stałe współpracującą z reżyserem Kubą Kowalskim. Artur Pałyga zaczął swoją przygodę z teatrem Testamentem Teodora Sixta, i to był dość Tekst jako obiekt

Przedmiotem artykułu jest teatr w Polsce jako krytyczna instytucja kultury, nie tylko tworząca sztukę krytyczną, lecz także, a może przede wszystkim, ujawniająca i weryfikująca mechanizmy własnego funkcjonowania. Zaangażowanie instytucji w działania krytyczne oznacza zmianę jej funkcjonowania w kierunku praktyk demokratycznych – z jednej strony chodzi o sposoby pozyskiwania przychylności odbiorców, włączania ich w życie instytucji i zawierania z nimi sojuszy w celu ochrony instytucji przed zakusami władz, z drugiej o zmiany sposobów zarządzania (emancypację pracowników teatru – ich samoorganizację, potrzebę upodmiotowienia oraz wypracowania nowych praktyk zarządzania i procesów decyzyjnych). Wszystko to ma służyć „wyrwaniu” instytucji artystycznych z powszechnych i bardzo często niewidocznych (także dla pracowników instytucji) zależności folwarcznych (A. Leder), których częstym przejawem jest autorytarny model zarządzania, obowiązujący nie tylko wewnątrz instytucji (dyrektor instytu...

Anthropology of points outlines a research perspective which makes it possible to interpret culture, but it also leads to the foundation of the pedagogy of human space. Punctum as what is minute and fragile, what injures and has a bitter taste, what can be a focal point, a sign and a stigma, what can be curious, peripheral and cardinal, what can melt away, etc., is a promising route combining scholarly insight and pedagogical strategy.

On European Epistemological and Ethical Tropes: Honor, Dignity and Shame


The present article offers an attempt at indicating transformations of the axiological dimension of European culture. The Author addresses the problem of the evolution of relations obtaining between identity mechanisms and moral stances. In order to demonstrate these relations, the Author applies the concepts of honor, shame and dignity for the purposes of respective descriptions of the modern and postmodern identity. The ultimate goal of Aleksandra Kunce’s article is to disclose the character of basic European mental tropes: elementary chains of continuity and instances of dislocation, systemic character of thinking and contingency of thought, apotheosis of the whole and of disjointed fragment, with emphasis on essence or on the surface tissue of events.

Keywords
European culture, Ethics, Epistemology, Knowledge, Identity, Modernism and Postmodernism

Aleksandra Kunce, On European Epistemological and Ethical Tropes, “The International Journal of the Humanities” 2005,  vol. 3, issue 5,  p. 233-239.

Abstract: The author focuses on a role of the humanities in the contemporary model of knowledge. She tries to analyze the postmodern ways of knowing and ask about the consequences of exhaustion of the strict boundaries of human knowledge.
The paper indicates a need for the integral humanities.

Keywords: Integral Humanities, Boundaries of Human Knowledge, Postmodernism

Aleksandra Kunce, Towards The Integral Humanities, „International Journal of the Humanities” 2006, vol. 4, issue 2, p. 9-14.

Text is available at http://ijh.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.26/prod.763

This paper concentrates on the relations between thinking and university. The author deals with the problem of a taste of 'educated thinking' She tries to describe the basic anthropological trails connected with a machinery of education system in the contemporary world. The author concentrates on sense of the following concepts: knowledge, wisdom, openness, scheme, dispersion, order, custom, coexistence, and on relations among them. The purpose is to ask about a role of contemporary university in creation of a style of thinking.

Keywords: Thinking, University, Education System, Knowledge, Dispersion

Text is available at http://ijl.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.30/prod.640

Aleksandra Kunce, Thinking and University, “The International Journal of Learning” 2006, vol. 12, issue 2, p. 131-136.

What is wonder? What is the astonishment in the anthropological way of thinking? The Author analyzes the fundamental question–What is the specific function of the relationship between anthropology and astonishment? And what exactly is astonishment itself? Anthropology is the apotheosis of the astonishment in culture. That was the first establishment and the beginning of anthropology. Lots of research from diaries, reminiscences and monographs has created incoherent textuality, which has been developed by astonishment.

Keywords: Wonder, Astonishment, Textuality, Anthropology

Aleksandra Kunce, Wonder and Anthropology,  “The International Journal of the Humanities” 2012,  vol. 9, p. 56-67.

Text is available at http://theuniversitypress.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.26/prod.2115

"The anthropology of points.  Deliberations on texts by Ryszard Kapuściński" outlines a research perspective of an anthropology of points. A point is a notion orientating in an epistemological, and not subject way. By means of this key-word, one can read cultural spaces, but also "rewrite" the motives constituting texts by Kapuściński. Cultural experience and literature stand here in a mutual link so it is a research way which follows not only the question on how experience is expressed in literature, but, basically speaking, allows for thinking about what a cultural experience demanding a literary description and reportage diagnosis is. The arrangement on how the point is filled in the space of Maths, Physics or Humanities make it possible to take out the notion contours and thought style organized in a point way. However, it is only a combination of a theoretical interpretation with a textual description by Ryszard Kapuściński that allows for an exemplification of the way man's experiences picture in the culture. A combination of thoughts with texts by Ryszard Kapuściński allows for asking the question on what point thinking is, and why it is important for man's experience.

The anthropology of point concentrates mind on the point, measures a distance from one point to another, marks special, orientating and extreme points, records density of point placement, regularity and irregularity of points, finds the points of fastening in observation and recognized figures of thoughts and man's activities. At the same time, it provokes the questions on how to conduct a point description which matches the point matter of experience.

Anthropology is an entrance into the insight of things, and, thus, it has to direct at what an already-outlined etymology of punctum indicates - something that moves one thoroughly, pierce and hurt, and has a bitter taste. The point becomes a stigma, a sign and takes on a concrete figure carved on the body. It is a bundle of relations, something that pierces one thoroughly. It is a culmination, a destination of an anthropologist journey to the ends of the world, a turn towards the other and itself, a beginning and an end, the alpha and omega. It constitutes an axis mundi, present itself in stations, borderline pole, unimportant and stable places which give support and de-orientate, is in the places of coincidence and junction of the things, is in the immobilized and dynamic.

The  research optics placed in the point opens a space around man - according to the treaty of geometry and picture which make the point a perfect potential. It is sudden. The picture, though, closes because a line is already the end, a clear outline of things, whereas it just the point that opens the world. The point is a place in which life pulses. It opens itself to other points, creates networks of references and is active. It opens the world - including the orders of nature, social life and metaphysical existence. The anthropology of points explores this dynamics and allows for an interpretation of the human space via an epistemologically derived notion of point.

The extraction of an anthropology of points takes place in several areas. The first of them covers the spaces of thinking around the point, which is well-examined both in the mathematical and natural sciences, in the functional usage of thinking about the point, and in the humanities. Outlined spaces of science and social organization allow for an indication of the affinity of thoughts organized by means of a point, but also allow for an establishment of point parameters and environment. The next space that underwent interpretation is a textual space in Kapuściński which serves the field of exemplification. The second field is the praxis sphere, which is an exploration of man's experiences in culture. Essayistic considerations make use of a point exemplum derived by Kapuściński during his journey and outlined via the world and picture. An orientation determined by an epistemologically-derived point leads to an interpretation of the following thematic motives placed in notes by Kapuściński: intimacy, submission to strangeness, distance, cultural body, silence, place, closeness to the rhythm, suspected whole, micrology charm and apocalypsis.


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Print version is available at the Publishing House of the University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland)