Castle of Imagination

[pieter]

The International Performance Art Festival

The International Performance Art Festival "Castle of Imagination" is organized by: Society of the Friends of Contemporary Art in Slupsk & Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Slupsk / Poland since 1993. The festival curates Wladyslaw Kazmierczak.

"Castle of Imagination" is the only, cyclical, international festival of performance art in Pomerania and in Poland. It is one of a few festivals of art in Europe and in the world. During 13 years, in the Festival there participated 352 artists from 33 countries: Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Japan, Holland, Slovakia, Estonia, Poland, France, Ukraine, South Korea, Lithuania, Portugal, Hungary, Honk Kong, Finland, Spain, Singapore, Czech Republic, Belgium, Northern Ireland, Byelorussia, Mexico, Israel, Yugoslavia, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Egypt and USA.
This year 2004 we would like to extend our festival to the Krakow and Bielsko Biala, after Ustka and Slupsk.

A short description of the idea and history of the festival:

"The Castle of Imagination" in its first edition (1993) aimed at presentation of various links between traditional forms of artistic expression, such as: painting, drawing, photography and the means of expression the genesis of which can be traced back to traditional forms which take into consideration such formal aspects as: time (performance), impermanence (installations), space of place, sound and text. In 1994 the art of performance was a dominant by the many kind of forms of artistic expression. However, there were also interesting spatial installations. As in years 1993-1994 the curators of the International Meeting of Artists "Castle of Imagination" - Mr Grzegorz Borkowski and Mr Wladyslaw Kazmierczak shaping the substance of the idea of the festival in 1995 strongly emphasised its impartiality without imposing of any conditions which could be an obstacle for unconstrained projection of individual presentations. Since 1996 curator Wladyslaw Kazmierczak changed the festival into performance activity only.

The ideological background of "The Castle of Imagination" enables realization of a very important artistic mission i. e. construction of a network of connections covering all categories of art, the mission which results from the aspiration to have a global view of the human condition as a whole, the view of social, political and ecological issues.
The biggest attraction for the artists invited to "The Castle of Imagination" in 1993 -1999 was the ability of artistic appearance in the space of the historical castle, the space differentiated, which perfectly accentuated individual character of each artistic realization. Quite important was also multitude of contexts of historical references, which constituted specific discriminate of the festival. Thus, to "The Castle of Imagination" there have been and there will be invited the artists who by representing contemporary substance of art are searching for a way to be useful in the society, are involved in search of the contact which is close, real, true-not occasional.

The first International Artists Meeting the "Castle of Imagination" (1993) had been invited 32 participants from: Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Japan, Holland, Slovakia, Estonia and Poland.

In 1994 the festival hosted 33 artists from the following countries: France, Ukraine, Japan, South Korea, Lithuania, Germany, Great Britain, Portugal, Holland, the United States and Poland.

The presentations in 1995 were made by 21 artists from: Great Britain, Hungary, Hong Kong, Finland, South Korea, Singapore and Poland.

In the 4th IAM "Castle of Imagination" (1996) took part 30 artists from: Poland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Czech Republic, Great Britain.

In 1997 the festival presented 23 artists from the following countries: Poland, Germany, N. Ireland / UK, Great Britain, Korea, Slovakia, Hungary, Finland, Ireland, Holland, USA / Belgium, Japan.

In 1998 the festival presented 32 artists from the following countries: Korea / Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Czech Rep., Mexico, Japan, Northern Ireland, Holland, Belarus, USA, Austria.

In 1999, last time in the castle in Bytow the 7th festival present 18 artists from the following countries: France, Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, Poland, Ireland, Denmark, USA / Singapore, Hungary, Canada, Korea.

In 2000 at the 8th festival we presented 24 artists in five cities: Ustka, Slupsk, Sopot, Gdansk and Bielsko Biala. In that year we also quit the original venue e.i. castle in Bytow. We performed in the new venues: in cinema and the galleries. Performers came from: Poland, Israel, Japan, Holland, Canada, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, USA, Slovakia, Finland, and Singapore.

In 2001 the 9th International Performance Art Festival "Castle of Imagination"

hosted performers in two cities: Ustka and Zielona Gora. The artists came from Poland, France, Holland, Canada, Japan, Czech Republic and Germany.

In 2002 the festival was located in two cities in Ustka and Slupsk. It was really intensive and controversial event of live art. Festival were in the following venues: Baltic Art Gallery in Ustka, Cinema "Delfin" in Ustka, Pub "Underground 2" in Slupsk.

The artists were from: Poland, USA, Spain, Great Britain / Northern Ireland.

In 2003 "Castle of Imagination" moved from Ustka to Gdansk and then the Polish and Americans performers went to Providence, Boston and New York City to perform at the special project "Juliett 484". The venues were exiting a lot, like an old cinema in Ustka, gallery, postindustrial space in Gdansk Shipyard, Russian submarine in Collier Point Park Providence, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Anderson Auditorium, New York Brooklyn, BPM Performance Space and New York City, Chashama 125 West 42nd Street just one hundred meters from the Time Square.

In whole project were involved the artists from: Poland, USA, Italy, Germany and Spain.

[pieter]

Wladyslaw Kazmierczak

(b. Psary Great Poland, June 27th 1951). Polish performance artist and curator of the International Performance Art Festival “Castle of Imagination”. He studied at the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow (1971–76), atelier of prof. Jonasz Stern. Kazmierczak is considered one of Europe's foremost performance artists. He has worked as a live artist since 1974 creating hundreds of unique performances at major galleries, museums, festivals, alternative venues and sites specific throughout the world in 26 countries.
1991 – 2006 director of the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Slupsk / Poland. Member of IKT the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art (Paris). Since 1993 curator and organiser of the International Performance Art Festival „Castle of Imagination” in Poland, USA, Germany and UK.
Author of essays on contemporary art published in: NEW ART IN POLAND “EXIT”, Art Newsletter, Art Magazine On Line “Raster”, Art Magazine On Line „Hysterics“, Art Magazine „ESSE“ / Canada, Art Magazine “ARTeon” / Poland, Art Magazine “Inter Le Lieu” / Quebec, Regional Kashubian Magazine „POMERANIA“, Art Magazine „Umelec“, Prague, Czech Rep., Art Magazine „Respect“, Prague, Czech Rep, Art & Poetry Magazine “Dwukropek”, Poland
Lectures on performance art: University of Huddersfield, University of Ulster in Belfast, Great Britain, Art College – Limerick, Ireland, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA, The Art College, Toronto, Canada, Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland, Theatre Centre “Rondo”, Slupsk, Poland, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Slupsk, Poland, University of Haifa, Israel, The Tullie House Gallery, Carlisle, England, Performance Art Platform, Tel Aviv, Israel, The Empire Gallery, London, UK.
Kazmierczak is identified with a strain of performance relating more to visual art and action. He is using often many gadgets and things from the pop culture, changing theirs function and meanings. The idea of performance is always a main construction of each performance. The statement of the artist says: To be a performer is an attitude towards the world and oneself, not towards art. And next: Performance's struggle is a silent, heroic fight for the freedom of expressing momentous and significant ideas. His work focuses on difficult and traumatic themes; issues of oppression, freedom, coercion, subversion, experiences of alienation, appropriation of cultures, globalization, and social conflicts. His work physically and emotionally embodies the divisive forces of a new capitalism and materialist addiction; processes of building and disintegration and the resulting journey toward redemption.
He began creating performance art actions in 1974 performance "I love DADA...Help! Flight Out of Time: Stone 1" at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. After 1976 he produced site specific performances like "If I think about Marcel Duchamp and performance I love DADA...Help!". At that time he also performed on the streets and public spaces. He did the first performance (named performance) in the gallery space "In the run" at the “Pryzmat” Gallery in Krakow in 1979.
In the early 80s Kazmierczak produced a number of political performances based on freedom aspects in Poland (“Repressive Tolerance”). The short period of a very intensive performance activity especially in non – official galleries were closed by Martial law in Poland on December 13, 1981. The last performance of Kazmierczak before the Martial law in Poland had a title: "If I think about totalitarianism, If I think about Marcel Duchamp." He used a very ironic and nihilistic attitude to the formalized Polish vanguard and the reality of the life in communist country. He also gave an ironic title to the next performance piece "Avangarde – en – Avant" at the Krzysztofory Gallery, the main venue of Krakow’s Group, which pretended to take a leading, vanguard position in the Polish art scene.
After 1981 he performed from time to time (individually or with KONGER group), but boycotted state galleries. Some performances like A shiver he did in Darmstadt (Germany) or A – B in Paris. He performed in student’s galleries and some other unimportant venues.
In 1991 he relocated from Krakow to Northern Poland to Slupsk to work as curator and director of the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art. Soon, after two years, he resumed his activity as a performance artist.
Since 1993 he has also been a curator of the oldest performance art event in Poland the International Performance Art Festival “Castle of Imagination”[1] taking place annually in various locations in Poland since 1993. Kazmierczak has invited the international artists from all over the world to the festival. By his curatorial activity he developed the performance art movement in Poland and in other countries (e.g. Belarus). Castle of Imagination is a place where the new artists from European, Asian, American, African and Middle East countries meet each other usually for the first time.
Kazmierczak soon became a very well known performance artist in Europe and Asia. In 1995 he performed in Tokyo, Nagano, Quebec, Paris and Pusan (Korea). At that time he became as a key artist of performance art in Poland and significant performer in Europe. The next performances he did at the important performance art festivals in Rome, Glasgow, Belfast, Paris, Dublin, Seoul, Budapest, Berlin, Mexico City, Vilnius, New York City, Tokyo, Pusan, Munchen, Krakow, Limerick and in many other places. The main ideas presented by Kazmierczak are concentrated on ecology, consumerism, racism, the aggression of white man, identity of multicultural societies, nationalism, peace and freedom. Titles: "Greenpeace", "Multiple Self Portrait in the Mirrors", "The End", "DADA…da, da, da", "All Poles are one big family", "To the Better Future", "24 h". Some of these performances were repeated in different versions.
In 1997 he began performing with Ewa Rybska. His recent performance pieces include: "Pulp Fiction" based on Tarantino’s film, "Ecstasy" which was related to techno culture, "Modern Talking" a piece that analyzed the relation between modernism and postmodernism, "Body & East" that considered the new situation of the body after the fall of communist ideology.
Ewa Rybska & Wladyslaw Kazmierczak have produced a number of political performances focusing on many problematic aspects of the politics in democratic countries, often dealing with difficult and traumatic themes; the hypocrisy in politics, oppression, freedom and elimination of the cultures of one's origin by the process of globalization. In their performances they often use their ironic and nihilistic attitude especially against the empty, fashionable values and artificial icons in the art and culture. (“NYC: I Like America and America Likes Me”, „Make noise not War”, „Body & Sin”, „Paranoia is un-American”, „Sonne Statt Reagan”. „Piss on PiS" (PiS = "Law and Justice" is an ultraconservative party in Poland).
The duo Rybska & Kazmierczak did over 120 performances in 20 countries: Slovakia, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Belarus, Ireland, Slovenia, Mexico, Indonesia, Canada, Korea, France, USA, Israel, Finland, Estonia, Spain, Sweden, Great Britain and Poland. After the political attacks from the local ultraconservative MP (close friend of the Prime Minister and the President of Poland) in 2006 Wladyslaw Kazmierczak stepped down from his function of a director of the Baltic Contemporary Art Gallery in Slupsk. With Ewa Rybska he relocated from Poland to the UK.

Links:
www.kazmierczak.artist.pl/
www.performance.art.pl/