Sentio Symposium: Novalis

Eye

The first edition of the Sentio symposium,

dedicated to the thought and work of Novalis

on 19 – 20 September 2015

in Gardzienice.

As part of the event, there will be a conference with the participation of the most outstanding Polish literary scholars and philosophers dealing with the legacy of the author of The Students of Sais and the premiere of Hymns to the Night, dir. Maciej Gorczyński. The event is organized by EOPT “Gardzienice” under the direction of Włodzimierz Staniewski and the Ecology Studio of the Artes Liberales Theater at the University of Warsaw. The curators of the symposium are prof. dr hab. Włodzimierz Szturc and Radosław Stępień. According to the creative project, which is the activity in the field of mantics, or sentiment, Novalis as a poet, geologist, philosopher-prophet and patron of ecological movements (including the ecology of theater), constitutes a bridge between the old and the new area of ​​EOPT Gardzienice’s activity.

The conference devoted to the thoughts and works of F. von Hardenberg necessarily becomes an exceptional event, as he remains a little-known author not only in Poland but also in the world. One of the few translators of his work into Polish, Jerzy Prokopiuk, called Novalis “the grain of the future”. Novalis himself in Flower Dust intended to give the world a work whose sentences would become “literary seeds” from which future thought and literature would be born. In fact, the brilliant poet of the late eighteenth century was a precursor and one of the main authors of early Romanticism. Maintaining relationships with outstanding figures of his time, incl. Schiller, Schlegel, Jean Paul, Schelling and Goethe became an indispensable part of this web of interdependence that spawned a new era in literature, music and art. Thus, the direct and indirect range of its impact on European culture is enormous. However, Novalis is not only poetry and literature, but also – and perhaps most of all – thought and idea. Among his times, he was distinguished by a special sensitivity to spiritual matters, a mysticism in which he saw the poet as a priest and the artist as a practical philosopher capable of shaping reality. Perhaps this aspect of his work will turn out to be the most important for us today – the way in which the category of sentio, i.e. I feel, feel, becomes an incentive for the artist to be creative

We ask how the feeling, perception of reality, is transformed in artistic work into the very emergence of the world, into the creation of a true future face of culture. And this question opens a series of meetings around artists for whom the sentio category was an important element of their creative activity. We are the first to discuss the subject of Novalis’ thoughts and works – this is how we sow “literary seeds” in the Gardzienice region, inviting to reflection and discussion.

Where there is a real willingness to reflect, and not only

to think of one thought or another, there is progress also.

Novalis: Flower Dust (translated by Jerzy Prokopiuk)

Goals of the project:

Popularization of the thoughts and works of F. von Hardenberg in Polish creative and academic circles

Stimulating a creative exchange of ideas between Polish and German culture

Exchange of experiences in the study of Novalis’ works between representatives of various environments and professions

Project financing sources:

Entirely from EOPT “Gardzienice” own funds

SYMPOSION PROGRAM “SENTIO: NOVALIS”

Day one – September 19, 2015

16:00 – Welcome at the walls of EOPT Gardzienice and opening of the Sentio: Novalis symposium. – Włodzimierz Staniewski

16:30 – Sentio I:

            Speech by prof. dr. hab. Wojciech Kunicki

            A speech by Dr. Ewa Szymani

Speech by Dr. Bogna Paprocka-Podlasiak

Speech by dr hab. Magdalena Siwiec

Discussion

19:00 – Cosmos Gardzienice (PYTHI ORATORY, dir. Włodzimierz Staniewski)

around 21:00 – general open rehearsal of Hymny do Nocy dir. Maciej Gorczyński

Second day – 20/09/2015

11:00 – Sentio II:

            Jerzy Prokopiuk’s speech

            Speech by dr hab. Honorata Jakuszko

            Speech by dr. hab. Krzysztof Bielawski

            Discussion

15:00 – Sentio III:

            Speech by prof. dr. hab. Krzysztof Rutkowski

            Speech by Gudrun Schroeder

            Andrzej Serafin’s speech

            Discussion

17:30 – Closing of the Sentio symposium: Novalis – prof. dr hab. Włodzimierz Szturc

19:00 – Hymny do Nocy premiere, dir. Maciej Gorczyński

SPEAKERS

Jerzy Prokopiuk

A religious scholar, philosopher, psychologist, gnostic, anthroposophist – he is primarily known as a translator and promoter of humanistic literature (mainly esoteric, religious, philosophical and psychological) from the German, English and French language area; is the founder and editor-in-chief of Gnosis magazine.

Prof. dr hab. Wojciech Kunicki

Professor of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Wrocław, head of the Department of the History of German Literature until 1848, translator (including “Henryk von Ofterdingen”).

Prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Rutkowski

Professor at the University of Warsaw, Vice-Dean for Research at the Artes Liberales Faculty, long-time collaborator of Parisian universities, outstanding researcher of Mickiewicz’s works, prose writer, playwright.

Dr hab. Honorata Jakuszko

Associate professor at UMCS, head of the Department of the History of Modern Philosophy. She obtained a doctorate in humanities on the basis of a dissertation on Novalis.

Dr hab. Magdalena Siwiec

Research worker at the Jagiellonian University comparative studies, specialist in dreamlike romanticism, author of works on the works of Nerval, Novalis, Słowacki and other artists of the Romantic era.

Dr hab. Krzysztof Bielawski

Professor at the Jagiellonian University and PWST in Krakow, classical philologist cooperating with the University of Oxford, translator and popularizer of texts, among others Thomas Merton, founder of the Homini Publishing House.

Prof. dr hab. Włodzimierz Szturc

Research worker at the Jagiellonian University and PWST in Krakow. Historian of theater and drama, expert in 19th century literature, researcher of ancient cultures and tribal rituals. He deals with issues of cultural anthropology and the world of creative imagination. A selection of his plays titled “Trauma” is in preparation.

Dr. Ewa Szymani

Germanist from the University of Wrocław, translator of, among others Novalis (“Henryk von Ofterdingen” with Prof. W. Kunicki.

Dr Bogna Paprocka-Podlasiak

Assistant professor at the Department of Literature of Romanticism and Positivism at the Institute of Polish Literature of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, associated with the Laboratory of Comparative Literature and Culture.

Gudrun Schröder

An artist dealing with the issues of rhythm, language and movement in the performing arts, as well as the thoughts and works of Heidegger, Hölderlin and Novalis.

Andrzej Serafin

Philosopher and philologist, translator, editor of the quarterly “Kronos”.


INFORMATION ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE OF “HYMNY TO NIGHT”

The symposium will be crowned by the premiere of Hymny do Nocy based on the works of Novalis and directed by Maciej Gorczyński, created in the walls of the Palace in Gardzienice.

 Hymns to the Night Directed by: Maciej Gorczyński

Dramaturgy: Radosław Stępień Scenography: Iwona Bandzarewicz Poster: Iwona Bandzarewicz

Cast: Kamila Banasiak Anna Bochnak Magdalena Pamuła Bartosz Bielenia Kamil Mróz Maciej Sajur

Premiere: 20/09/2015 at the EOPT Palace in Gardzienice

Production: EOPT “Gardzienice” What must happen to change a person so much that he takes a new name? How can we talk about a vision that even the one who has had it cannot describe?

Hymns to the Night is an attempt to answer the question: what happened “on the barren hill”, where more than 200 years ago Novalis – the youngest of the founding fathers of Romanticism – had his most important inner experience.

The performance begins with the version of the event presented to us by the poet, confronting it with the views of the creators, opening up new contexts. Each of the four chambers of the Gardzienice Palace where the performance takes place is an attempt to illuminate the episode in a different way, which changed the life of Novalis and opened a new stage in the history of European culture.

The performance produced by the European Center for Theater Practices “Gardzienice” is attended by students and graduates of PWST im. L. Solski in Krakow and the Academy of Theater Practices in Gardzienice.