The conference “Grotowski: Narratives” is the final instalment in a series of events celebrating the International Grotowski Year. As evidenced by other projects undertaken to mark the occasion – which have included meetings, conferences and publications – the life and work of Jerzy Grotowski constantly generate additions, comments and re-evaluations. Some newly published, recent and reissued publications will be presented, and their authors will largely set the tone for the conference. 

The body of the (seemingly) established evidence, opinions and interpretations has in recent years been expanded to include clarifications, corrections and new interpretations. New readings emerge of Grotowski’s individual works and of his entire artistic evolution; there are also interpretations of the response to his works – from academic writings to popular reception.  

Jerzy Grotowski and his work are increasingly becoming the protagonists and objects of stories. Grotowski, who is gradually taking his place in history, attains the status of a “man re-told,” becomes subject to a sort of in effigie treatment, incorporated into discourse through narrativisation. All this happens through processes which are opposite to mummification. We are witnessing the transformation of Grotowski and his work into an ever-expanding, multi-layered palimpsest, created at once in various symbolic codes of contemporary culture: using the spoken word, the written word, theatrical quotations and references, film images, performance art and visual arts techniques. 

The conference “Grotowski: Narratives” will offer an opportunity to realize the multitude of crisscrossing voices about Grotowski and their diverse mediatisations. The main goal of the organizers is to encourage self-reflection on narrative practices by the storytellers themselves: authors, editors, curators and commentators. The conference is to offer a chance to create a narrative polyphony and, at the same time, explore how the stories are told and representations made. We invite participants to reflect on both established and emerging narrative strategies and discourses. 

Due to the complexity of what Grotowski said himself – which was typically located at the intersection of the spoken and written word – and close links between him and the invited storytellers, it seemed to us that conversation would be the most suitable format for the conference. Interlocutors will include those who worked with Grotowski at various stages of his career, artists for whom he and his work remain an important reference point, editors of Grotowski’s writings and commentators who chart their own paths of associations. 

The impressive roster of guests invited to join the talks give us reason to believe that a conference full of their testimonies, stories and thoughts will become something of a storytelling laboratory, a place to observe the process of constructing discursive close-ups of Grotowski and his work, the personal and collective truths about him as a person and artist, intertwining critical readings, historiographic and myth-making practices. 

Section for Theatre and Performance