Polish Features at Culture Night 2016

Concerts, performances, workshops, exhibitions, attractions for children – on 17th June the 10th edition of the Culture Night begins, during which a lot of distinct Polish features will be present.

Polish Institute in Vilnius

“This year’s edition of the Culture Night promises to be very interesting. The Polish Institute in Vilnius along with our partners from Poland has prepared a very interesting and diverse offer for all ‘night owls’,” Director of the Polish Institute Marcin Łapczyński told zw.lt.

“We’re going to present three big projects. Art of the Polish Roma will be displayed in the UNESCO gallery. Along Aleja Giedymina, however, actors of the famous Theatre KTO from Cracow will march with a story of the contemporary world in a hurry and terrifying yet grotesque life of a man imprisoned at the corporation. Film-fans are invited to the courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Dukes, where we’ll screen the best short films from the Short Waves Festival in Poznań,” encourages Łapczyński.

Programme:

7.00 p.m.  Gallery of the Commission for UNESCO (ul. šv. Jono 11)
RomaniArt – art of the Polish Roma. Dialogues of cultures

The project’s pivot is an exhibition of paintings by three Polish Romani people – Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Bogumiła Delimata, and Krzysztof Gil, who comprise the artistic group “RomaniArt”. The exhibition will be accompanied by an exposition prepared in cooperation with the Regional Museum in Tarnów, which tells a story of the Polish Roma, their tradition and everyday life. Moreover, at the inauguration of the exhibition within the Culture Night, the film “Papusza” directed by J. Kos-Krauze and K. Krauze will be shown. It depicts the tragic lot of Romani poet Bronisława Wajs-Papusza, and has been called “a visual masterpiece” by critics. The poet’s works will be read afterwards and there will be an opportunity to meet the artists and Adam Bartosz – the most famous Romani culture researcher. The exhibition comprises more than 30 contemporary artistic works by Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Bogumiła Delimata, and Krzysztof Gil of the settled Romani group called the Carpathian or Bergitka Roma (Highland Romani). Among the four groups living in Poland, it is the Bergitka Roma tribe that comprises the biggest number of educated people. The Roma origin has often constituted a burden, injustice of fate, for their parents. They, however, have made it a source of inspiration, a stream of creative power. The exhibition will be presented by Adam Bartosz, a remarkable ethnographer and gypsiologist, whose interest in Romani history and culture resulted in creation of an original Romani collection in the Regional Museum in Tarnów, which was used to install the first permanent exposition “The History and Culture of Gypsies/Roma” in 1990, currently considered a permanent “Romani museum”. The exposition of the Romani artists’ works will be accompanied by the exhibition depicting the history of the Polish Roma, their contemporary life, beliefs, and tradition. Within the exhibition the children’s amazing book “Mietek na wojnie” will be also presented. It was written by Natalia Gancarz and illustrated by Diana Karpowicz, and portrays the life of a Gypsy boy kept in the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. The exhibition’s ceremonial opening is due to take place during the Culture Night. The evening programme includes: a meeting with the artists, Adam Bartosz’s short story of the Polish Roma, multi-lingual reading of Bronisława Wajs –Papusza’s poetry, and projection of the film “Papusza” directed by J. Kos-Krauze and K. Krauze. The admission is free. The film will be screened in Polish with Lithuanian subtitles.

8.00-9.00 p.m.  Shopping centre GO9 (al. Giedymina 9)
“Peregrinus” performed by the Street Theatre KTO from Cracow

The Theatre KTO was founded in 1977, and in 2005 it was given the Theatre of Cracow status. It is famous for its performances in the open. The theatre has performed already in more than 40 countries for over two million people. The wandering street performance “Peregrinus” depicts one day from a 21st-century man’s life. The peregrination aimed at searching for meaning appears to be hardship of everyday life which is devoid of spirituality, love, and beauty. Peregrinus’s world is a “digital” civilisation – a sad, terrifying, and grotesque consumption with a dominant religion. The mobile character of the performance depicts the protagonist’s adventures in various contexts of the urban space. It is a mute story illustrated by music, showed on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the partnership between Vilnius and Cracow.

The show will begin at the shopping centre GO9 (al. Gedimino 9, Vilnius), will be continued at Plac Kudirki, from which it will go along Aleja Giedymina towards Plac Katedralny.

11.30 p.m. Courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Dukes (pl. Katedralny 4)
Best Polish short films screened at the Culture Night

During this year’s Culture Night, Polish short films will be presented on a huge screen installed at the Palace of the Grand Dukes courtyard. The Polish Institute in Vilnius along with the Pasaka Cinema Theatre will show a 90-minute programme comprised of the most interesting Polish films of the past few years. The programme, prepared specially for the Vilnian audience, was prepared by the Short Waves Festival, the biggest event of its kind in Poland, which screens short films and has been held in Poznań for eight years already. The films will be projected in their original language version with English subtitles.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/183380448729803/

House of Polish Culture in Vilnius

Traditionally, the Culture night will be joined by the House of Polish Culture in Vilnius (DKP). “This year, on the stage in front of the DKP, actors of the Polish Theatre Studio will perform ‘Próba kabaretu. Raz jeszcze Osiecka’, to which we would like to invite everybody,” the culture project manager Bożena Mieżonis tells zw.lt.

The performance will take place on the stage by the central entrance of the DKP (ul. Naugarduko 76) at 8.00 p.m. The admission is free.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/274500306214589/

Antarctika

The artistic space Antarctika invites, in turn, to the event entitled “Poezja z balkonu”. “We’ll be reading poetry in several languages – in Lithuanian, Russian, Polish, and Belarussian,” encourages Vilnian sculptor Rafał Piesliak, who will attend the spectacle along with his friends-actors of the Polish Theatre in Vilnius, Bożena Sosnowska and Weronika Matuiza.

Antarctika, ul. Basanavičiaus 2-11. 9.00 p.m. Entry free.

More information:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1707254146179389/