Workcenter Encounters as Entry-Points

Y.E.S.! Young and Emerging Scholars on the Workcenter
Sponsored by the Lab on Polish Culture Abroad
Institute of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University, Kraków

The Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards continues to generate new, dynamic work across three distinct teams: the Open Program under the direction of Mario Biagini (est. 2007), and two teams led by Thomas Richards: the Focused Research Team in Art as Vehicle (est. 2008) and the more recently established Workcenter Studio (est. 2018). From “the outside” it seems like people working at the Workcenter are mostly not writing about their work. And a very select few people are publishing about this work–even fewer of whom are people we might classify as young or emerging scholars.

In Opole, Grotowski and his 13 Rows often published written material (especially by Ludwik Flaszen), as well as artistic sketches and renderings that detailed their performances in advance of each premiere. This material (published under the title Materiały i dyskusje) contextualized their performances for critics, audiences, and posterity. Some thirty years later when the Workcenter presented Actions they prepared and distributed a single sheet of paper–perhaps double-sided–to the few invited witnesses, and collected them after each performance. Biagini and Richards seem to have followed suit, and entry-points to the Workcenter’s current work is very limited in the literature. Who will report on their work if not us? The question is not who among ‘us’ young or emerging scholars could (or should) try to ‘assess’ ongoing Workcenter practices. Y.E.S.! does not propose to assemble young scholars to characterize the Workcenter in a positivist or reductive manner.

We will begin by speaking about our experiences, and pursue clarity and precision. We welcome participants to continue processing their own Workcenter encounters with colleagues trying to do the same. This Cohort idea is inspired by Kris Salata’s Unwritten Grotowski, which serves as an exemplary auto-ethnographic, experiential, poetic and theory-based approach to Workcenter encounters. This approach is perhaps so powerful because it is unconventional; not ‘proper’ analysis; not ‘formal’; and not subject to disciplinary ‘formalities’ or departmental ‘approval’.

We ask participants: when and how have you encountered the Workcenter? Where did, and where does your Workcenter take you, take your work, take your life?

We wish to meet, and to support young and emerging scholars’ search for our own voices by encouraging our own articulation of what the Workcenter means to us, without Gatekeepers and outside institutional boundaries.

Apply by August 15 // 1st Virtual Meeting Mid-September

Apply Here: https://bit.ly/3cxYFww

For more Information, Contact: YES2Cohorts@gmail.com or @YES2Cohorts on Facebook and Instagram