Szapocznikow. No Gravity

  • Szapocznikow. No Gravity

    Photo by Krzysztof Bieliński

The play offers an emotional commentary on the life and the creation of Alina Szapocznikow, the most important Polish sculptor of the 20th century.

In the artist’s biography there are, on the one hand, the ghetto experience, the concentration camps and the cancer disease. On the other hand, it involves an international career between two different political systems, as well as the acquaintance with the most prominent culture representatives of her time. Her life seems to be an eternal struggle with destiny, an unceasing attempt of breaking through the limits, a never-ending quest for the new areas of experience in life as well as in art.

Wysocka collects the characteristic motives in the art of Szapocznikow and processes them using the dramatic techniques. The play is more than just a theatrical documentary – it refers to one of the most outstanding biographies of our culture, offering an observation on how the art relates to life. It also analyzes the interpretations, which Alina Szapocznikow and her work have been subject to for years as well as reflects on the way Szapocznikow was perceived by a world in which the art used to be seen mostly from the masculine point of view.

The play thus becomes a reflection on the contemporary reality. It strives to determine the possibilities of a woman in today’s artistic world, a woman who does not want to be defined by her looks and her gender, however, she is conscious of the fact that her body marks the starting point of each and every one of her works.