Naturgemälde
movement: Marta Wołowiec, Monika Węgrzynowicz
sound: Marcin Janus
multimedia: Grzegorz Kaliszuk
premiere: November 22, 2019
producer: Krakow Choreographic Centre – Nowa Huta Cultural Centre
duration: approx. 45 minutes
The performance was honored with a special prize in the 9th edition of the Competition for the Theater Prize. Stanisław Wyspiański.
It is a movement performance embedded in a multimedia installation, referring to the description of nature in Alexander von Humboldt’s “Naturgemälde”. The title word “Naturgemälde is an untranslatable German term which may be interpreted as “painting nature”, but also implies a sense of unity or whole. Naturgemälde was an illustration depicting Chimborazo – an extinct volcano in the Andes, which used to be considered the world’s tallest peak at the time. It is a sort of cross section of this mountain, with a list of all the names of plants and animals which can be found at the given altitude”*. The performance, in turn, presents a cross section of a bodily transformation, and through an altered perspective of reception, it enables deeper penetration into the structure of activities. “Naturgemälde” shows the transformations of forms and their inner energy which is an impetus for any activity within “species”, and in particular emphasises the strength of the representatives of the female type. The latest production of a group of creators connected with the Kraków Choreographic Centre: Marta Wołowiec, Monika Węgrzynowicz, Marcin Janus, and Grzegorz Kaliszuk, it is a journey into a space in which the peculiar arrangement allows the artists to change the perspective of reception of the performance and intensify the sensation stimuli. The whole is executed through organic combination of movement, sound, and multimedia created live.
*Excerpt from an interview with Humboldt’s biographer, Andrea Wolf, in the Wyborcza.pl portal, “Człowiek, który wynalazł naturę” (“The man who invented nature”)
