My Reading List

Noel Greig, Young people, New Theatre

Nicholas Gibbs, Amateur Theatre (Teach yourself)

Peter Brook, The Empty Space

Augusto Boal, Theatre of the opressed

Jerzy Grotowski, Toward a Poor Theatre

What is real art ?

Realism VS Abstract.

It looks like both have very strong warriors on their side... :)
Look at this:

http://www.nhuhuy.com/htmls/weblogs_detail_en.php?f=1&logid=168&mon=0&ye=2006

I love Russian Realism : Serov, Repiun, Levitan, and many others, and for me this was really shocking, but on the other hand, even such renowned critics are just men, and can be wrong...

In his famous essay Avant-Garde and Kitsch, Greenberg sneered at Repin's art, explaining that an "ignorant peasant" prefers Repin while "cultivated" people prefer abstract artists such as Picasso:

When an ignorant Russian peasant... stands with hypothetical freedom of choice before two paintings, one by Picasso, the other by Repin....in the first he sees, let us say, a play of lines, colors and spaces that represent a woman.... He turns next to Repin's picture and sees a battle scene.... Picasso is austere and barren in comparison. What is more, Repin heightens reality and makes it dramatic: sunset, exploding shells, running and falling men.... Repin is what the peasant wants, and nothing else but Repin. It is lucky, however, for Repin that the peasant is protected from the products of American capitalism, for he would not stand a chance next to a Saturday Evening Post cover by Norman Rockwell....
I must be a peasant, for when I saw Repin's originals in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, I found them staggeringly beautiful.


Greenberg's essay has been described as "one of the important theoretical documents of 20th century culture." Greenberg proceeded (over the bodies of excellent painters such as Repin and Rockwell) to become the primary cheerleader and intellectual architect for abstract expressionism.


Me, I like both Picasso and Repin. I even like Clement Greenberg, who was a brilliant writer and theorist. There's just one little problem with Greenberg's argument...


As Svetlana Boym of Harvard notes,
Greenberg's example of kitsch is Ilia Repin's battle scenes which, he claims, merely imitate the effect of artistic battles.... however, the fact is that Repin never painted any battle scenes. Possibly Greenberg is confusing Repin with another painter or rehearsing someone else's cliches...
This is the kind of careful analysis which led to "20th century culture." Greenberg concludes his criticism of Repin this way:

Repin predigests art for the spectator and spares him effort, provides him with a short cut to the pleasure of art that detours what is necessarily difficult in genuine art. Repin, or kitsch, is synthetic art.
Apparently, the "difficult" part of art does not include bothering to look at the pictures you criticize.


For me personally Repin always was a hero, now I learn that even heroes are people, but how high a man can fly!...

new art, real art - experimental theatre

Punchdrunk:...we have fused live performase, music and large-scale installetion art...

The audiense participates freely in what is happening with the actors.


Interactive Theatres:

Lumiere & Son, Crystal Theatre, People Show, IOU, Forkbeard Fantasy, British Events, Pip Simmons, Impact theatre, Welfare State

V obshem hochetca chtobi mi lubili drug druga, i pomnili, i lubili :)

Where Art is Going?

... besides adding interactivity to art, the computer has the capability of mixing with it what could be called a fourth dimension - time. And if the concept of letting the viewer change his or her art disturbs the artist, injecting the nearly uncontrollable element of time, frankly scares the hell out of us. The artist strives for perfection. Time desecrates perfection, warping it, wounding it, dulling it, diluting it, and maybe even destroying the whole concept of it. Thus, whatever else it may do, while easing the technical burdens, the computer vastly increases the conceptual demands placed upon the artist. But in doing so, it also offers an exit from the "same old same old" whirlpool that Postmodernism seems to be otherwise, allowing the truly exceptional artist a means of escape. So, is this where art is going? I still haven't the "foggiest." But it seems a strong possibility. http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=a&a=i&ID=212

Cultural Revolution

2Pac, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr

extrimists believer



Dreamers

Obama

NInA

The National Audiovisual Institute was established on April 1, 2009 as a consequence of the reorganization of the Polish Audiovisual Publishers, functioning since 2005. As a result, the statutory goals of this institution were considerably extended. Apart from the hitherto publishing activity, archiving of the most valuable phenomena in Polish culture, and active contribution to the cultural discourse, the mission of the National Audiovisual Institute will consist in systematic digitalization and distribution of the reconstructed and digitally recorded materials. The outcome of this activity will be published on a multimedia website, where those interested will find both archival materials which so far have not been accessible to a wider audience and new broadcasts produced in the recent years. In the long run, apart from its archiving mission conducted with the most innovative technology, the National Audiovisual Institute will commence educational and research activity. Reflections on digitalization, reconstruction, and audiovisual creativity are meant to raise the consciousness of the national heritage and to provide access to the artistically outstanding texts of the past, which can considerably enrich thinking about the contemporary world and facilitate the creation of today's national identity.
The National Audiovisual Institute is subordinate to the Minister of Culture and National Heritage

http://www.pwa.gov.pl/

Experimental Animation

In the jubilee year of Polish animation Polish Audiovisual Publishers publishes the third DVD album in its very popular series dedicated to film animation. The theme of the latest triple DVD set is Polish Experimental film animation. The films were chosen by the critic Marcin Giżycki.

"Experimental animation is a broad notion that can be applied to many genres of animated film that break with formal and narrative conventions. The present anthology is a selection of some forty productions that do not quite fit into the mainstream of film animation. On the three discs the viewer will find abstract films, films composed of photographic images subjected to manipulation, as well as animations drawn in unconventional fashion. Some of these are works by well-known artists from beyond the cinematic milieu - writer Stefan Themerson and his painter wife Franciszka, for example, the designer Andrzej Pawłowski, or the photographer Tomek Sikora. There are also works by leading Polish contemporary artists like Józef Robakowski and Jerzy Kalina. There is no lack of work by world-renowned animators like Jan Lenica, Walerian Borowczyk, Zbigniew Rybczyński or Jerzy Kucia. The choice of films included in the Anthology of Polish Experimental Animation is so varied that every viewer is sure to find something of great interest". Marcin Giżycki

The Anthology of Polish Experimental Animationtime

: 259 min., subtitles: ang.

1 DVD:- The Eye and The Ear, 1944/45, Franciszka I Stefan Themersonowie- Once Upon a Time..., 1957, Walerian Borowczyk, Jan Lenica - Cinéforms, 1957, Andrzej Pawłowski- Here and There, 1957, Andrzej Pawłowski- The Banner of Youth, 1957, Walerian Borowczyk, Jan Lenica - Somnambulists, 1958, Mieczysław Waśkowski- The Dynamic Rectangle, 1971, Józef Robakowski- Test I, 1971, Józef Robakowski- Demons, 1980, Kazimierz Urbański- Stomp, 1984, Maciej Ćwiek- Muka, 2003, Natalia Wilkoszewska- III, 2003 reż. Jakub Lech- 1-39-C, 2004 reż. Olga Wroniewicz

2 DVD:- Sweet Rhythms, 1965, Kazimierz Urbański- Oneself at the Helm, 1971, Katarzyna Latałło- Replica, 1975, Kazimierz Bendkowski- New Book, 1975, Zbigniew Rybczyński- Oh, I Can't Stop!, 1975, Zbigniew Rybczyński- Portrait, 1977, Stanisław Lenartowicz- Dead Shadow, 1980, Andrzej Klimowski- Line, 1981, Grzegorz Rogala- The First Film, 1981, Józef Piwkowski- Block, 1982, Hieronim Neumann- Splinters, 1984, Jerzy Kucia- Video-Disc, 1986, Maciej Ćwiek- Zoopraxiscope, 2005, Hieronim Neumann

3 DVD:- Beach, 1964, Edward Sturlis- COPYRIGHT BY FILM POLSKI MCWLXXVI, 1976, Piotr Szulkin- Sun: A Non-Camera Film, 1977, Julian Antonisz- What Do We See After Closing Our Eyes and Stopping Our Ears?, 1978, Julian Antonisz- Bermuda Wheel, 1979, Jerzy Kalina- Cinéma Vérité, 1979, Andrzej Warchał- An Unforgettable Night, 1996, Janek Koza- Family Business, 1996, Janek Koza- Death to Five, 2002, Mariusz Wilczyński- Unfortunately, 2004, Mariusz Wilczyński- Bark, You Mongrel, Raise Hell, My Pearl, 2006, Wojciech Bąkowski- Spoken Movie 1, 2007, Wojciech Bąkowski- Cap, 2007, Tomek Sikora- Cakes, 2007, Tomek Sikora