ZAMEK Culture Centre

Lady Picassa, Nadia “Róża” Markiewicz, Daniel „Kryzysowy Myśliciel” Kotowski and Babcia. These four extraordinary artists join forces for the first time in an act shown across the world’s leading stages! They’re coming back where they belong because, although invisible, they’ve always been here: in the basements, withering gardens, Instagram reels. Patient and beautiful.

In Freak Show, they come to cripple up what is around them, to delight—though without inspirational pornography—and to stack up pride in what has been accepted as failure. Are you ready?

Freak Show spans a variety of performative activities, from monodrama, through operatic aria, to drag show. An authorial, artistic expression of the performers, who live within the experience of physical uniqueness.

What brings the creators together is a shared notion of disability as a tool of art and the use of the “freak” figure in their own diverse practices. The artists draw on the tradition of the erstwhile freak shows and cabinets of curiosities, asserting the right to joint performances created outside the paradigms of therapeutic art or special art.

The group describes their intentions as follows: “Eliciting laughter or fear in viewers is inherent to displaying bodies such as ours to public view. We, on the other hand, want to use our experience in performance to make a historical gesture. Using this form, we will talk about the subjective position of people with disabled bodies. With pride or sadness, we will address the culture that surrounds us, highlight its shortcomings and reclaim the tropes associated with our bodies."

Besides stirring up creative debate, they aspire to reinterpret the history of art which involves persons with disabilities—but in which they participate mainly by being unmentioned and overlooked. Now it’s time to change that. The time of Freak Show!

Directed and curated by: Filip Pawlak, Łukasz Ronduda

Performed and co-created by: Nadia Markiewicz, Babcia, Agata Wąsik, Daniel Kotowski, Marcel Pieczonka, Mariana Hernandez, Filip Pawlak

Dramaturgy, final direction, staging: Szymon Adamczak

Lighting director: Sebastian Klim

VJ: Wojtek Kaniewski

Sign language interpretation: Agnieszka Bastrzyk, Alicja Famulska

Audiodescription: Marcin Głowiński

Project produced by: Inqubator Teatralny Foundation, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw

Project partners: Krytyka Polityczna, Teatr Dramatyczny in Warsaw, Komuna/Warsaw.

The event was developed during the 6th edition of the Creative Communities Strengthening Programme, run by Krytyka Polityczna as part of the public task “Jasna 10: Social Institution of Culture”, financed by the City of Warsaw.

The performance was created thanks to funding from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage as part of the National Centre for Culture’s programme: Culture – Interventions. 2024 Edition.

Premiere: October 31st,  2024, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

The performance presented at ZAMEK Culture Centre in Poznań as part of the "Polish Crip Perfo" project, co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Cultural Promotion Fund – a state-funded special-purpose fund.

ACCESSIBILITY:

- A performance combining texts, music, stage movement and video projections;

- Content translated live into Polish sign language;

- Suggested age: 12+;

- Duration: approx. 60 minutes;

- Tickets: 40 zł (n), 30 zł (r, dicabled), 31 zł (two-person ticket for a disabled person with an assistant).

A person with a disability is entitled to a reduced-price ticket.

A person with a disability requiring assistance may purchase a reduced-price ticket at a price 1 PLN higher than listed one. This ticket grants them guaranteed admission with a companion. This ticket will be verified based on a declaration of disability.

- The audience sits on chairs arranged partly around the stage and partly in the amphitheatrical auditorium (max. 200 people). Seats are not numbered. We provide front-row seats for wheelchair users;

- People with alternative motor skills and/or mobility problems will be able to enter the hall before the performance in the first place.

- Louder music appears in some scenes of the performance.

- In some scenes of the performance, the hall is dimly lit.

- Variable lighting appears in some scenes of the performance.

- How to get here? The entrance to the ZAMEK Culture Center is currently difficult due to renovation. Please pay attention to the signs indicating the direction to the main entrance and to the entrance for people using wheelchairs. We can provide assistance to visually impaired people in moving around the CK ZAMEK space and in reaching the building from the immediate vicinity. If you need support in this area, please write to Anna Pawłowska: a.pawlowska@ckzamek.pl or call: 61 64 65 254.

Entrance A

 The Museum of Poznan Uprising Entrance

Grand Hall

- For people who like to know what to expect in a new place, we recommend reading the Pre-Guide to CK ZAMEK and the list of toilets for people with physical disabilities.

- More information in the Accessibility tab on our website

SIMPLE/PLAIN LANGUAGE:

We invite you to a performance called "Freak Show." The word "freak" means a strange, unusual person.

During the performance, we will see five artists on stage. Each of them is slightly different and may seem strange. One is missing a hand, another is Deaf and speaks sign language. All are incredibly talented and know how to make the audience laugh. They will sing, tell stories, and move around the stage for us.