I drew more than you can see here

How does memory work, what do we remember and what do we forget? How do we reconstruct familiar places, people and emotions from scraps of memory and recollection? The events of 2015 related to the arrival of refugees in Europe and the reactions of our society to this phenomenon provided the impetus for the performance. How did it happen that we forgot that we ourselves were refugees, had to flee from war or persecution? The inspiration for the work of the multi-generational group Strefa WolnoSłowa, which brought together refugees, migrants and Poles, was the book I Remember That… by Georges Perec, a fragmentary story about Paris, evoking memories, small incidents from everyday life, places and stories that cannot be found in history books, but which significantly formed the fabric of everyday life.

From the stories told by the participants of the Strefa Wolnosłowa workshops, emerges a multitude of images describing the history of the post-war years from the perspective of people of Polish origin and those who came to Poland in search of a better life, love, escape from persecution.

Small stories intertwine with events from the great history, and the viewer is invited to put this scattered puzzle together into his or her own atlas, where he or she will decide for themselves which of the events and images are most relevant in describing today’s world.

Performing: Teresa Ferraris, Viera Hres, Anton Snotau, Veranika Los, Jolanta Pacewicz, Barbara Bernard, Alejandra Castelblanco, Krystyna Gielecińska, Aliaksandra Shapialevich, Izabella Pietura, Kamilla Tantasheva, Barbara Herman, Alma Sarahi, Tashi Woetsang, Fenglan Xu , Darinka Nedeljkovic, Yona Aloewie, Diah Anggraini Martin, Małgorzata Zagajewska, Elżbieta Mazur, Justyna Laskowska-Otwinowska, Magdalena Andrzejewska, Abdellah Yamani, Yu Koyanagi, Vita Shkaraban, Olivia Klochko, Mamadou Ba, Andrzej Krzymowski, Magdalena Derrien, Reza Samadzadeh, Marta Szepietowska, Bartłomiej Smoleński, Szymon Barzyc, Thomas Hildenbrand, Magdalena Zawadzka, Karolina Soja, Iryna Kovalchuk, Maria Roguska, Monika Śliwińska, Bogdan Melniczuk, Tatiana Roslyak

Directed by: Alicja Borkowska
Artistic supervision: Paweł Łysak
Text:  Tomasz Gromadka, Katarzyna Mazur, Artur Pałyga, Przemysław Pilarski
Music: Ray Dickaty, Piotr Mełech
Choreography: Aleksandra Bożek-Muszyńska, Katarzyna Stefanowicz
Visualizations: Maria Porzyc
Production: Weronika Chinowska, Magdalena Duszyńska-Łysak

Organiser: Fundacja Strefa WolnoSłowa
Partners: Teatr Powszechny  im. Zygmunta Hübnera, Miasto Szczęśliwe, Stół Powszechny, Cantieri Meticci, CK Points, kunstZ, Instytut Badań Literackich/ Magazyn Widok, Universita di Bologna, ARCI, Muzuem Sztuki Nowoczesnej, Ludoteka Roszada
Media partners:  Dwójka Polskie Radio, TVP 3 Warszawa, Gazeta Wyborcza, Co jest grane 24, Wyborcza.pl, metrocafe.pl, Activist, Kontynent Warszawa

Premiere:
27 June 2016
Courtyard of the Zygmunt Hübner Powszechny Theatre
Strefa WolnoSłowa performance prepared as part of the ATLAS project and festival

Next shows:
25 October 2016.
Akademie der Kunste, Berlin

29, 30 October 2016.
Zygmunt Hübner Teatr Powszechny

4 March 2017.
Teatr Ósmego Dnia in Poznań

6 October 2018.
Dom Kultury Kadr in Warsaw

The project aimed at an international deepening of reflections on the memory and history of Europe from the point of view of Poles and first-, second- and third-generation migrants. It involved artistic, cultural and academic organisations dealing with history, migration, art and education. It was based on cooperation between young people and seniors of European and non-European origin. Work conducted from the perspective of intergenerational and multicultural groups – collecting individual stories that made up the overall picture of post-war history – will initiate a search for memory building in Europe today.

Workshops within the ATLAS project took place in four cities: Warsaw, Bologna, Paris and Antwerp. Simultaneously, in all the cities mentioned above, theatre workshops, meetings and debates with intergenerational and multicultural groups took place. The creative encounters resulted in performances that were presented at the Atlas Festival in Warsaw in June 2016.

ATLAS online – a unique portal with stories, tales, film and sound materials forming a kind of “alternative handbook of recent history”, told by Europeans and by newcomers to Europe. The materials forming the Atlas were collected during local workshops in the cities, as well as during several days of international workshops led by artists from various fields.

More about the project: history-atlas.com