ZAMEK Culture Centre

"PokaZ" performance is a meeting with people who, for various reasons, attract intense stares and do not comply with contemporary bodily and social norms. Seven artists in the area of theatre, dance and performance will invite the audience to create a unique performative situation. Tensions will be determined by relations based on looking, on different ways of interactions and behavioural strategies related to how we see ourselves and others. Referring to the works of art that thematise the gaze and to the scientific, medical and consumer approaches, the artists will ask the question of what defines the limits of human diversity. What kind of images do we expect the representatives of certain social groups to create? What views do we consider unacceptable, and what views are merely unusual? How are visual expectations reflected in the language we use to communicate with one another?

The performance will be accompanied by dance workshops that are planned for 8 March 2022.  The workshops will be conducted by one of the actresses, Diana Bastos Niepce - a Portuguese dancer and performer in a wheelchair.

It is dedicated to spectators aged 16 and over. It is presented in Polish and English and interpreted into Polish Sign Language.

In Teatr 21, the actors are mainly people with Down syndrome and autism. During 15 years of its operations, it created over a dozen performances, which were watched in Poland and abroad. The group has performed at festivals in Poland (incl. Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Kraków) and abroad (Prague, Berlin, Helsinki, Freiburg). In 2019, the play "Revolution that never existed" was awarded at the BOSKA KOMEDIA festival in Krakow, and in 2020 the group was awarded the POLITYKA Passport. In addition to artistic activity, creating performances for children, adolescents and adults, Teatr 21 also deals with education, theater pedagogy, publishing activities, organizes conferences and lectures, and works in international networks. At the moment, Teatr 21 is working on the project of Centrum Sztuki Włączającej - the Center for Inclusive Art (financed by the Capital City of Warsaw) which is the first social cultural institution in Warsaw dedicated entirely to the work of artists with disabilities. Its main task iss to involve various social groups in the fields of art, culture and science. Its activities will include meetings with artists, workshops for families and the elderly, lectures in the field of studies on disability and art of people with disabilities, exhibitions of visual artists and many others.