Description
Asylum Warsaw is a multi-month creative workshop cycle organized by Strefa WolnoSłową regularly since 2012. It is led by a team of artists and art practitioners who draw from various artistic fields and have rich experience working with multicultural and intergenerational groups. Each cycle concludes with a performative event in an urban space or a performance on stage.
Our workshop methods are participatory and democratic. Workshop leaders share their knowledge and propose improvisations, games, and creative tasks (movement, theatrical, visual, musical, or writing). The workshops are conducted in an atmosphere of mutual learning and exchange. In the program, we work with talents, ideas, and inspirations that arise from the groups themselves. We aim to strengthen the ability to learn from one another and to recognize and develop talents and interests. We focus on building intergenerational groups where young adults can work alongside seniors, as well as multicultural groups where different languages, perspectives on the world, and themes come together.
We focus on building intergenerational groups where young adults can work alongside seniors, as well as multicultural groups where different languages, perspectives on the world, and themes come together.
The workshops draw from various artistic working methods that promote social engagement, a sense of responsibility for the world we live in, and for other people. In the workshops, participants learn the basics of being consciously present on stage, working with space, creating theatrical sketches, and writing monologues and dialogues. Participants become more aware of their bodies, their physical abilities, and ways of expressing themselves. They learn how to work with movement in a responsible and creative way. They open up to improvisation – both in movement, music, and theatre – work with text, try out stage actions with other participants and the entire group. Participants have the opportunity to share their stories and experiences, which become the foundation for building the dramaturgy of the performative events.
The program, by opening multiple multi-month intergenerational and multicultural workshop groups and inviting participants into long-term participatory performative actions, becomes a space for building community, new relationships, and breaking down loneliness. We place great importance on harmonious collaboration and good relationships within the group. The program is based on tools and methods that foster experience exchange, improvisation, imagination, collaboration, and mindfulness, involving people from different backgrounds, ages, and languages. The program addresses the need for active participation in the community, for feeling needed and supporting others. It is also an opportunity to develop talents and skills, to discover previously unknown forms of self-expression and personal perspectives on the world.