Monika Czajkowska

I am applying because I need to find a new artistic approach. I lost my job at the university in October 2024, and I have been working as a freelancer since then. I have a steady stream of projects until mid-April, but after that, my future is uncertain (two theatres have unexpectedly withdrawn from our collaboration). While this situation is not unusual among artists, it is new to me. I had a full-time job for five years, during which time I learned to combine permanent employment with directing plays, playwriting, and other artistic activities. Currently, I am experiencing a sense of emptiness and fear for the future, while also believing deep down that change is a positive thing in life. The challenge for me is how to navigate this situation. I believe that the WOK residency, the experts and the community of participants can help me with this by shedding new light on my creative path. For now, I am pursuing a two-pronged approach. Firstly, I am intensifying my contacts with theatre directors. Unsurprisingly, however, these conversations are not leading to any concrete agreements. Secondly, I am looking for a permanent job. I have sent out around 200 applications, and surprisingly, I have not made it to the second stage of any recruitment process. This is despite applying for a wide range of positions, from managerial roles to waitressing. My body, which I have become more aware of through years of various somatic practices, is reacting quite strongly to this situation (tension, micro-paralysis, frequent infections, headaches and stomach aches). I feel that continuing to function in this way will not serve me well, and that I need time to reflect, which I am unable to create for myself. I interpret this year’s slogan, ‘resilience’, as the capacity to regenerate. In my case, this means regaining faith in my own agency. 

I want to take some time for myself to rethink what I want from my artistic and professional life. This is the first time that I have applied for a residency without expecting any specific artistic outcomes. My goal is to enjoy the process itself, during which I hope to identify my strengths and develop a new approach to my professional life. I believe that, by working in a group with others, I will also learn to be more flexible and open to uncertainty. I will also learn how to release tension in my body. I practise yoga and am familiar with BMC and many other methods, but recently they have been ineffective, so I need to explore this area again. I am also keen to build a support network, which I currently lack. I am open to collaborating with others to develop a model that empowers artists and individuals in other professions without permanent employment, providing them with a sense of certainty amidst uncertainty. In a sense, this will be an extension of my work at university, where I helped students enter the job market. Today, I myself need help in this area. From my experience ‘on the other side’, I know it’s much easier to gain a new perspective on one’s work when someone accompanies us through the process. 

During my residency, I would like to address the question of how we can live in the present moment in an uncertain artistic environment when we cannot fully immerse ourselves in creative activity because we have to keep in mind the need to secure future projects. If we could find an answer to this question during the residency, it would be like developing a ‘vaccine’ to immunise freelancers against uncertainty, which would benefit many people. 

Apart from the opportunity for reflection and development of my own practice, I also hope that the residency will give me a chance to catch my breath. 

I am a theatre and film director, playwright, screenwriter, academic lecturer and copyright specialist. I am currently pursuing a PhD in Film and Television Directing at the PWSFTiT in Łódź. I am a graduate of the Film School in Łódź, the Faculty of Artes Liberales at the University of Warsaw and the Ivan Vyrypaev Theatre School. I have received the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage scholarships ‘Culture on the Web’ and ‘Young Poland’ in the field of film. My work lies at the intersection of theatre and film, and I have recently expanded my creative activities to include video art and performance. I subject my practical activities to theoretical reflection. 

I won the Pomeranian Province Marshal’s Award for the script and direction of the play Podejdź bliżej (Come Closer), as well as the 3rd Audience Award in the MONOTEATR #wdomu competition for the monodrama film Ofelia. Działanie (nie)będzie potępione (Ophelia. The Action (Will Not) Be Condemned). I also won the 34th Theatre Art Competition for Children and Youth, organised by the Children’s Art Centre in Poznań. For this competition, I wrote the play Wychowanie fizyczne (Physical Education), which reached the semi-finals of the 17th Gdynia Drama Award.  As a director, and most often also as a screenwriter and playwright, I have collaborated with many theatres in Poland. I have also written plays and provided dramaturgy for performances by other artists. I have created many short audiovisual pieces (both original and commissioned). 

In my free time, I practise yoga and explore abandoned places.