About the project

Purpose and its expected results / partnership in the project

The project is a continuation and deepening of cooperation between two theater groups: the Center for Theater Practices “Gardzienice” and the Norwegian group Stella Polaris.

Both groups are programmatically close. They are linked by the search for inspiration in archaic and traditional cultures and an attempt to leave theater beyond its rigid institutional and genre framework. The performances of both groups combine theater with music, dance, elements of the art of the “new circus”. They are often played outside of the traditional “boxy” scenes.

Under the current project, in order to increase the potential, the partnership is extended to the Center for the Meeting of Cultures in Lublin, a new cultural institution with great potential, especially in the organizational and technical sphere, with the largest theater stage in Lublin.

The aim of the project is to build a lasting international partnership and a cooperation network of artists and cultural institutions, whose axis will be partner organizations.

The project involves a number of activities. They will focus on the joint work of artists from Poland and Norway on a new performance, the idea of ​​which refers to the history of the origins of both countries and the myths underlying their cultures and “common places” in the culture of both countries. Its directors will be Włodzimierz Staniewski and Per Spildra Borg.

Work on the performance will be an opportunity for meetings and artistic exchange. The artists will not only focus on working on the new show, but will also put on their own performances for the local audience (Poles for Norwegian, Norwegians for Polish), and conduct workshops. Their subject matter will be related to the theater with which all partners are associated.

However, they will be twofold: on the one hand, they will concern the professionalization of culture staff – through mutual teaching of new methods. On the other hand, they will be integrative – they will connect the theater community, but also the inhabitants, as well as the local and immigrant communities.

The scope of the project is complemented by exhibitions – which will be a form of promotion of the visual artists’ milieu associated with both centers (Gardzienice – Lublin and Sandefjord-Oslo) and a way of establishing contacts by this group of artists.

The ma project is multidisciplinary – it combines theater with music and visual arts, accompanied by scientific reflection (2 conferences devoted to history and myth in theater and culture are planned). As a result of the project, a Polish-Norwegian network of artists and creators will be created, focused around the project partners and continuing cooperation in subsequent artistic projects.

The project includes:

19 performance presentations, 5 workshop sessions, 2 conferences and 3 exhibitions.