Starting with a clean slate

Piotr Morawski, who moderated the discussion, set the scene by pointing out the need to ‘reinvent’ the model of how the performing arts and contemporary dance scene operates in Poland. The need to start with a clean slate and carry out a comprehensive analysis of needs, to come up with the most appropriate solutions, and, finally,to adapt them to local conditions and the legal and organisational environment. Katarzyna Renes also advocated not thinking in terms of existing solutions. Nevertheless, the institutional model of the repertory theatre (its infrastructure, organisation, financing and distribution of fixed costs) was repeatedly mentioned as a point of reference. 

Morawski also suggested mapping positive foreign models, participants cited the examples of the Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) in London, the Sophiensæle and the Berlin performing arts scene, and the Centro de Producción de Danza Contemporánea (Ceprodac) in Mexico City. Joanna Szymajda pointed out the cultural specificities and conditions under which such systemic solutions were developed in other countries; these factors should be taken into account when drawing inspiration from foreign models, many of which were developed in the 1980s and 1990s. They need to be adapted to today’s social and artistic reality.

Polish drama theatres are creating new programme paths and opening their doors to dance projects and performing arts, but they are more of a sub-stream for them, with budgets several times smaller than those of repertory productions. These are ‘garage shows’, as Anna Karasińska described the status of her performances, or externally financed productions that are not supported by the institution in terms of technology and production, added Katarzyna Renes.

An additional problem also lies in the fact that performative projects produced in theatres have a short lifespan. Because of their form, their duration or the place where they are performed, which is often not the actual stage, they do not make it into the permanent programme of the season. According to Wojtek Ziemilski, the creation of a network of performing arts institutions and the guarantee of permanent funding would ensure that such projects could live longer. The network could showcase projects co-produced by member organisations, or projects whose copyrights have been transferred to the creative contributors at the end of the intended presentation period at the original venue where the production premiered. Networking with foreign organisations, many of which are actively seeking partners in Poland, could also become an essential part of the system. However, cooperation is not possible if potential partners have incompatible ways of working. As an example, Ziemilski cited the heavy burden of handling the administrative and technical aspects of a performance in a drama theatre; an organisation that lends its space for guest performances often cannot handle it. 

In addition, the director’s obligations to the permanent company of actors shape the structural framework of the working model of an institutional theatre. Consequently, the casting of company members in a performing arts project is usually a condition for its realisation. Meanwhile, a change in thinking about representation is clearly visible in the contemporary language of the performing arts. On one hand, there is a move towards self-representation, while on the other, a transition towards generating experiential reality rather than representing observable reality. As Ziemilski has argued, contemporary audiences seek this kind of experience across various art forms, including theatre.

“In performing arts projects, dramatic actors and actresses have to work in a way for which they are neither trained nor predestined”, explained Anna Karasińska. She described her experience of working on dramatic stages as a compromise that was very costly not only for herself, but also for all those involved in the creative process. “This discussion should begin by pointing out that there is such a discipline as the performing arts, and that it uses completely different tools. I do not need the tools of dramatic theatre, which consists of actors playing predetermined roles. I do not need a script, a dramatic text, or a critic to critique it later in the language of On the Niemen novel. My needs are completely different, I create a different social situation and different meanings. I do not create ready-made meanings on stage. I enter the production machine of the theatre and, of course, it grinds me down. Other people often experience this too, because they want to help me, but we cannot come to an agreement”, Karasińska added.

Wojtek Ziemilski, Anna Karasińska and Katarzyna Renes stressed that performing arts, considered as a separate field, require the creation of an adequate system that would enable both the production and the presentation of projects. A system that would not structurally force artists to compromise, or accept intermediate and hybrid solutions.

The discussion also echoed the demand that in the new institutional model, fixed costs should not be a significant part of the budget. Ziemilski noted that in repertory theatres, the salary costs of full-time staff are disproportionately high compared to the production budgets of performances, and he claimed that actors’ salaries are the main burden on a theatre’s budget.

Urszula Kropiwiec disagreed. “If the institution of our dreams that we are talking about is to be a public institution, i.e. publicly funded, then it must have a structure. If we remove from that structure a company of employed actors, which is the hallmark of repertory theatres, we will not be able to make any further cuts to the structure. It will not dramatically change the financial situation of the institution”, she added. She cited the need for production work and technical support for performances, as well as the many formal and legal obligations of an institution, including public procurement procedures. Both Ziemilski and Kropiwiec agreed that the absence of a company of actors would radically change the dynamics of an institution.

Joanna Szymajda, for her part, highlighted the advantages of an institutional ‘hybrid model’ in the field of contemporary dance. She referred to the solution proposed in a collaborative project outlining the fundamental assumptions of a choreographic centre in Warsaw (see Dialog, no. 5/2023 [vol. 798]), i.e., residencies lasting between one and three years that allow dance artists to work as a team on a long-term basis. According to Szymajda, this would enable both the development of dance and choreographic skills and the development of an artistic and aesthetic vision. The rotating nature of the residencies would ensure that the envisioned institution could meet the considerable needs of the community and the public, as opposed to institutions that pursue the artistic vision of a single author.

Grzegorz Laszuk argued for the concept of a production house that would produce several dozen premieres a year and act as a ‘safety valve’ to give graduates of art courses a head start in the profession, citing examples from Berlin. According to Laszuk, this would mean taking responsibility for people who in most cases have no chance of making their stage debut, or producing experimental work that does not fit into the expectations of a repertory system. But there is also the risk of failure inherent in this model, and the assumption that many of the premieres would not remain on stage for a long time. Laszuk identified a permanent production team, good employment conditions and social rights for those working and collaborating, and diverse audience-building activities tailored to the institution’s different programming paths as key prerequisites for the effective functioning of an institution designed in this way.

Several panellists considered such a vision of the production house to be anachronistic. For Wojtek Ziemilski, a coherent programming strategy and dramaturgy of events is fundamental to the identity of an institution and its reception by audiences. He cited the example of BAC, which is known for its performance and dance presentations and residency programme. Some of the following speakers referred to the call for the proposed working model to include a residency programme, where not every process has to end in a product. Joanna Szymajda spoke of the need to create working conditions for artists where they are not expected to produce spectacular ideas and effects every now and then, but where they have enough time and space for reflection and where failure is treated as an inherent part of laboratory work.

When asked about the relationship between a stage for dance and a production house, Szymajda replied that a stage should produce dance projects, but a production house does not necessarily have to serve as a stage for a dance project. As an example, she cited the operating system of the Ceprodac, a production house that constantly works with several stages, including one of the largest in Mexico. As a result, it has guaranteed stage availability on certain days of the month. Ceprodac also has its own studios, which gives it a degree of independence in the production process. With such a working system, many dance companies use the same stages all the time. Following this line of thought, Piotr Morawski postulated the creation of an alternative circulation of resources, within which such solutions would also be possible in Poland.

Finally, Grzegorz Laszuk asked Artur Jóźwik, the Director of the city’s Culture Office, about the future of the pavilion on the banks of the Vistula, which is currently the temporary home for the Museum of Modern Art. The question of whether the building could become an infrastructural base for the creation of the only performing arts or contemporary dance institution in Warsaw, and a place for the production and presentation of works that would enable the realisation of a long-term audience-building strategy, remained unanswered.