THE ALLURING MERMAIDS. MARTA ZIÓŁEK

The Alluring mermaids is the title of a choreographic installation in which Marta Ziółek alongside other Warsaw Mermaids (including the voguer Magda Marcinkowska / Madlen Revlon, the singer Zuzanna Wrońska Superstar and the writer Aleksandra Nowak) will invite the viewers to submerge in the trancelike space of a mermaids’ ritual.

Like the still surface of water, the mermaid reflects what we want to see: over centuries, she grew ever new meanings, like fish scales.

Slipping away from the norm, the hybrid mermaid troubles the waters of convention. Adrift somewhere between abject and desire. Bathed in fear and lubricated with fantasy. Singing her song out loud – perhaps for Ulysses and perhaps for the queen of the underworld, Persephone. Protecting the city of Warsaw yet mindful of her own boundaries. Ever more often these days will she dissolve her anthropocentric gaze, venturing out to the open seas of subversion.

To me personally, the figure of mermaid invokes urban girl thugs, suffragettes, seductresses, whose voice and corporeality penetrates the borders of the forbidden.

The event is part of the opening’s Choreographic Programme. With more than twenty shows, the audience will be offered an opportunity to witness diverse artistic strategies and a multitude of formal takes. The programme includes works in progress, dance acts and choreographic installations, with spectacular group productions sharing space with intimate solo activities.