FORUM
Man. Boundaries

28 June 2013

Moderator: Dorota Semenowicz

10.30 am
Opening Lecture – Zygmunt Bauman

11.15 am - 1.15 pm
Meeting with Romeo Castellucci, the curator of the Idiom: oh man, oh machine / człowiek-maszyna

In the theatre of the Italian artist sculptures, machines, mechanical structures often go hand in hand with actors and animals; technology encounters biology, organic - the inorganic, meta-theatrical reflection - philosophy and science. The clash of orders is strictly connected with the fundamental question about the place of man in the world. Romeo Castellucci’s theatre is actually a consistently carried out, holistic project, not only aesthetic but also ethic. The meeting will pose an opportunity for the audience to ask the curator about the projects showed as part of the Idiom.

The discussion will be accompanied by the screening of fragments of the shows made by the director in 1990s (Hamlet, 1992; Oresteia, 1995).

3.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Discussion concerning Romeo Castellucci’s output

Participants: Joe Kelleher, Nicholas Ridout, Piersandra di Mateo

As part of FORUM FILM on 25-27 June 2013 the recordings of the director’s most important shows will be screened:
- Giulio Cesare by William Shakespeare (1997)
- Tragedia Endogonidia (2002– 2004)
- Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso (2008) – the triptych Divine Comedy based on the poem by Dante Alighieri

Zygmunt Bauman
He was born on November 19, 1925 in Poznań. He is one of the most highly regarded and well-known sociologists and philosophers in the world; emeritus professor at the University of Leeds (Great Britain) and Warsaw University, the author of more than forty books in Polish and English, translated into several languages. His name is listed amongst the most important creators of “postmodernity”. He received the European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and Social Sciences for his book Modernity and The Holocaust (1989) and in 1998 the Theodor W. Adorno Award, granted in Frankfurt am Main. In November 2010, on the day of his 85th birthday, Zygmunt Bauman was awarded the Gold Medal “Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis” by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In 2010, his book entitled Culture in a Liquid Modern World was published.

Romeo Castellucci
Director, visual artist, curator of the Idiom: oh man, oh machine. He graduated in painting and stage design from the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna. In 1981 he founded the Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio group, in which he creates to date, combining visual arts, theatre and performance. In 2005 he curated the programme of the Theatre Biennale in Venice and in 2008 he was the associate artist, i.e. the co-creator of the programme of Avignon Festival. His shows are presented in the most significant theatres and festivals in the world.

Piersandra Di Matteo.
Performing arts theorist and independent curator working with Romeo Castellucci as Dramaturg, since 2008. As a Scholar of Visual and performing Arts Media at the University of Bologna, her research interests range from contemporary theatre to experimental performative formats, from linguistics to continental contemporary philosophy with a current focus on the linguistics, ethics and politics of the voice. She has collaborated with a number of European artists as a theoretical consulant and editor on performative writing projects. Many of Piersandra Di Matteo’s works and essays have been published in international magazines, essays and multimedia projects

Joe Kelleher
Professor of Theatre and Performance and Head of Department for Drama, Theatre and Performance at Roehampton University London. He is co-author with Claudia and Romeo Castellucci, Chiara Giudi and Nicholas Ridout of The Theatre of Societas Raffaello Sanzio (2007), co-editor with Ridout of Theatres in Contemporary Europe (2006), and author of Theatre & Politics (2009). His articles have appeared in journals such as Performance Research, Maska, Frakcija, and Theatre (Yale). Of his various essays in edited collections one of the most recent is in Intimacy Across Visceral and Digital Performance (2012). He has been making performances with Eirini Kartsaki, including most recently How to Catch a Dog in a Bucket (2012).

Nicholas Ridout
Professor of Theatre and Performance at Queen Mary University of London. He is the author of Stage Fright, Animals and Other Theatrical Problems (2006), co-editor (with Joe Kelleher) of Contemporary Theatres in Europe (2006) and co-author, with Claudia Castellucci, Romeo Castellucci, Chiara Guidi and Joe Kelleher of The Theatre of Societas Raffaello Sanzio (2007). His new book, Passionate Amateurs: Theatre, Communism and Love will be published later this year.

Dorota Semenowicz
Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Polish Studies of Jagiellonian University. The author of a book To nie jest obraz [It isn’t a painting] treating of the output of Romeo Castellucci and Societas Raffaello Sanzio. She works in the literary department of the National Theatre and programming department of Malta Festival Poznań. French translator, editor of books (Corpus Jan Fabre, 2010; Christoph Schliengensief: sztuka bez granic, [Christoph Schliengensief: art without borders] 2011; Polityka wyobraźni – sztuka flamandzka [Politics of Imagination - Flemish art], 2011) and articles about theatre.

29 June 2013

Moderator: Edwin Bendyk
11.00 am -12.30 pm
The first part of the discussion will be devoted to the relationship between literature, art and science.
What influence does literature exert on scientific discoveries? How do writers’ visions determine collective imagination? To what extent do modern scientific theories inspire theatre artists and how can they be transformed and put on stage by the artists?
The subject of the discussion will be technology which allows the man to take over the next fields of experience.
Participants: Agnieszka Jelewska (theatre expert), Jacek Dukaj (writer), Stanisław Bajtlik (astrophysicist)
12.45 pm - 2.15 pm
The second part of the discussion will be devoted to human and inhuman elements in the man.
How does the potential of the human body and mind change in the world where electronic prosthesis aiming to reconstruct a mutilated body become more perfect than the original? How does technology affect re-defining of death in the reality which makes it possible to sustain human life and control human brain activity? Where are the limits of scientific and technological progress, how does the definition of the man himself change?
The subject of the discussion will be the shifting boundaries of subjectivity. We will consider whether the “man-machine” is a cyborg or the man bound to survive.
Participants: Katarzyna Bojarska (culture expert), Jarosław Sławek (neurologist), Paweł Łuków (ethicist, philisopher)
3.30 pm -5.00 pm
The third part of the discussion will be devoted to social and political ramifications of improving the man.
Is the man-machine a kind of personified utopia? Is utopia possible nowadays only from the medical standpoint? How can improving the man influence the division of power and the shape of future human community?
Medicine seems to play the role of an invisible mechanism governing our lives. The subject of the meeting will be social and political aspects of transformations resulting from technological progress in the contemporary world. We will consider whether the “man-machine” is a utopia or the end of humanity.

Participants: Jan Sowa (philosopher), Szymon Wróbel (psychologist, philosopher), Tomas Sedlacek (economist)

Jacek Dukaj
One of the most interesting Polish prose writers. Premieres of his books are always major literary events. The author of Xavras Wyżryn, Dark oceans, Extensa, The Plunderer’s daughter, Other songs, Perfect Imperfection, Ice, numerous short stories – including The Cathedral, adapted for the screen by Tomasz Bagiński – collected, among others in the volume In the Land of the Unfaithful and of the famed volume of short stories The King of Pain. The architect of the PL+50. Future histories anthology. The laureate of many Janusz A. Zajdel awards (also for Ice), nominated three times to Polityka Passport and also to Nike Literary Award, Public Media Award Cogito and to Angelus; the laureate of the Kościelscy Award and of the 2009 European Literary Award.

Stanisław Bajtlik
Astrophysicist in Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. For a few years he worked at Princeton University, University of Colorado, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati in Trieste, Institute d’Astrophysique in Paris and many other places. The author of several dozens of scientific works in the field of cosmology. For many years engaged in popularizing science, publishes in the press (including “Świat Nauki”, “Wiedza i Życie”, “Polityka”, “Gazeta Wyborcza”, “Tygodnik Powszechny”), cooperates with radio and television (he is the co-host of a popular science programme, Symulator Faktu). He is the member of Scientific Council of Warsaw Science Festival. The laureate of the Award of the Minister of Science and Education and the President of Polish Press Agency for popularising science in 2007 and of the Krzysztof Ernst Award and Medal of the Polish Physical Society for popularising physics in 2008.

Agnieszka Jelewska
Programming director of HAT Center - The Humanities/Art/Technology Research Center, which was founded in 2011 at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań on the initiative of Agnieszka Jelewska and Michał Krawczak; assistant professor in the Department of Drama, Theatre and Performance of Adam Mickiewicz University. She is predominantly interested in the interrelations of science, culture and technology. The author of books: Craig. Mit sztuki teatru [Craig.The myth of the art of theatre] (2007), Sensorium. Eseje o sztuce i technologii. [Sensorium. Essays on art and technology] (2012), Toponoia. Na styku sztuki i (post)humanistyki [Toponoia. At the intersection of art and (post)humanities] (2013). Curator of the New Situations programme at Malta Festival Poznań 2013.

Katarzyna Bojarska
Assistant Professor in the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She is interested in the relations of art, literature, history and psychoanalysis. The translator, among others, of the book by Dominick LaCapra History in Transit: Experience, Identity, Critical Theory (2009). The author of the book: Wydarzenia po Wydarzeniu: Białoszewski – Richter – Spiegelman [Event after Event: Białoszewski - Richter - Spiegelman] (2013). The holder of Fulbright Scholarship at Cornell University, Ithaca NY, the scholarship of the Polish Science Foundation, “Młoda Polska” programme and “Polityka” weekly. In the years 2012-2014 she is responsible for managing the grant from the resources of the National Programme for the Development of Humanities “World as an archive – critical models of historicity” and the grant “Events after Extermination” awarded by the National Centre for Science in the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Paweł Łuków
Philosopher, ethicist and bio-ethicist, professor in the Institute of Philosophy of Warsaw University, assistant professor at the Warsaw Medical University, editor-in-chief of the annual “Etyka”; the member of the National Transplant Council, Bioethics Committee to the Presidium of Polish Academy of Sciences, Committee of Ethics in Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences; scholarship holder of Fulbright, Rockefeller, A. W. Mellon foundations; visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame (2003); the author of articles on Kant’s ethics, philosophy of medicine and the ethics of public life and books: Wolność i autorytet rozumu. Racjonalność w filozofii moralnej Kanta [Freedom and authority of mind. Rationality in Kant’s moral philosophy] (1997), Granice zgody: autonomia zasad i dobro pacjenta [Boundaries of consent: autonomy of rules and patient’s welfare] (2005) and Moralność medycyny. O sztuce dobrego życia i o sztuce leczenia [Morality of medicine. On the art of good life and the art of treatment] (2012).

Jarosław Sławek
Head of the Unit of Neurological and Psychiatric Nursing of Gdańsk Medical University and Chief of the Neurology Ward and the Stroke Ward of St. Wojciech Specialist Hospital in Gdańsk. In the years 2007-2009 chair of the Extrapyramidal Disorders Section of the Polish Neurological Society and the member of the Main Board of the Polish Neurological Society in the years 2006-2011. The member of Polish Alzheimer’s Society and the international Movement Disorders Society. He specializes in neurodegenerative diseases, in particular in Parkinson’s disease and its movement and non-movement symptoms. He is the author of more than 100 works in Polish and international medical journals. Since 2009 he has been the Polish mentor of the European Huntington’s Network.

Jan Sowa
Ph.D. in Sociology in the Institute of Culture of Jagiellonian University. The co-creator of Korporacja Ha!art Foundation and editor of series: “Linia Radykalna” [Radical line] and “Teoria i Praktyka” [Theory and Practice] (together with Przemysław Pluciński). The co-founder of Goldex Poldex Cooperative. He worked as a journalist in the Polish Radio and as a curator in the Bunkier Sztuki gallery in Cracow. Since 2009 he has been cooperating with the Free/Slow University of Warsaw. The author and editor of a few books in field of sociology, psychology and social criticism, and many articles. He published a collection of essays Sezon w tatrze lalek [Season in puppet theatre] (2003) and monographs Ciesz się, późny wnuku! Kolonializm, globalizacja i demokracja radykalna [Enjoy, late grandson! Colonialism, globalisation and radical democracy] (2007) and Fantomowe ciało króla. Peryferyjne zmagania z nowoczesną formą [Phantom body of a king. Peripheral struggle with modern form] (2011).

Szymon Wróbel
Professor of philosophy in the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and in the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies Artes Librales of Warsaw University. His main research interests are: theory of power, theory of literature, contemporary linguistics and the application of psychoanalytic ideas in political theories. He published seven books: Ćwiczenia z przyjaźni [Exercises in friendship] (2012) Umysł, gramatyka, ewolucja. Wykłady z filozofii umysłu [Mind, grammar, evolution. Essays on theory of knowledge and cognitive sciences] (2010), Szkoła jako fikcja i inne eseje z filozofii edukacji [School as fiction and other essays in philosophy of education] (with Radosław Nawrocki) (2010), Granice polityczności [The Limits of the political] (with Paweł Dybel) (2008), Władza i rozum. Stadia rozwojowe krytycznej teorii społecznej [Power and reason. The Reflective Stages of the Critical Social Theory] (2002); Galaktyki, biblioteki, popioły [The Galaxies, libraries, ashes] (2001), Odkrycie nieświadomości, Czy destrukcja kartezjańskiego pojęcia podmiotu poznającego? [Discovery of the unconscious or destruction of the Cartesian concept of mind?] (1997, reissue: 2012). His last book is The Practices of dislocation (2013).

Edwin Bendyk
Journalist, commentator and writer, head of the Centre for Future Studies in Collegium Civitas. The member of “Polityka” weekly, specializes in the themes of civilisation and relations of science and technology with politics, economy, culture and social life. He writes a blog “Antymatrix”. His last book, entitled Bunt sieci [Rebellion of the net] (2012) is devoted to anti-ACTA protests.