I, CULTURE

Almost 400 events will be presented in 10 capitals in the European Union and around the world from July to December 2011. They will introduce Poland as a modern and unique country with a rich and creative contemporary culture: the creative hub of Europe.

The Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union will open with the premiere of the opera “King Roger” at the Grand Theatre – National Opera in Warsaw. Contemporary Polish composer 

Also on 1 July, “Planet Lem”, a performance directed by Paweł Szkotak, prepared by Teatr Biuro Podróży and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute specially for the Polish Presidency, will have its world premiere in the Main Square in front of the National Theatre in London. The performance will play at the Watch This Space Festival, a summer festival of the National Theatre in London, on 1 and 2 July. From July to September, the square in front of the Theatre on the South Bank becomes a space of public presentations of British and international shows. It is here that the British edition of the project I, Culture Puzzle. Contemporary Craft Workshop will take place on 2 and 3 July. It is one of the most thrilling projects of I, Culture, the International Cultural Programme of the Polish Presidency. Everyone can take part as an artist working under the direction of Monika Jakubiak and her volunteers to sew, alter or creatively modify one’s own garments and then use them to create a gigantic 3D puzzle. 
The project is supervised by Monika Jakubiak, a London-based Polish artist and fashion designer. Within six months, the inhabitants of twelve capitals (Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Kiev, London, Madrid, Minsk, Moscow, Paris, Tokyo and Warsaw) will sew an enormous, twelve-piece puzzle. Each element is a large square embroidered with a local pattern and will fit the rest of the pieces made in the same way in the other eleven capitals.

The final result will be a gigantic puzzle which, when put together, will form “I, CULTURE” – the motto of the International Cultural Programme of the Polish Presidency 2011. The sewing of the puzzle will use 4 million square centimetres of fabric, 600 square meters of textiles, 2 kilometres of thread and 500 buttons. The event in each capital and the creation of the puzzle will be transmitted in the Internet. The first square was sewn in Warsaw on 14 May, the Night of Museums, by nearly one thousand participants. Watch the on-line transmission at www.iam.pl - 2 July from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. (I, culture Puzzle) and from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. (Planet Lem). The webcast code is available free of charge to interested editors.

An open-air concert featuring Motion Trio, the String Quartet and the Zoltan Orosz Trio (Hungary) will take place at the St. Croix Square in Brussels on 1 July. This will be the first Polish concert in a series presented by Flagey. 

“The Power of Fantasy”, an exhibition prepared by Polish and British curators (Andrzej Szczerski and Zofia Machnicka; David Crowley), opened several days ago at BOZAR in Brussels. The exhibition presents almost 200 works of contemporary Polish artists inspired by fantasy, figments of imagination, and the absurd, featuring Katarzyna Kozyra, Olaf Brzeski, Robert Kuśmirowski, Wilhelm Sasnal, Jan Ziółkowski and others. The original edge of the exhibit is highlighted by historical works of Witkacy, Mehoffer and Kantor. In the words of Jackie Wullshlager of The Financial Times, it is “the best contemporary art exhibition I have encountered anywhere this year.”

It is not the only Polish exhibition opening on the occasion of the Polish Presidency: on 1 July, the King of Spain Juan Carlos and the Polish President Bronisław Komorowski opened the exhibition “Golden Age of the Polish Republic. Treasures and Art Collections” at the Royal Palace in Madrid. The exhibition presents unique artefacts from Polish noblemen collections. Both exhibitions were prepared by the National Museum in Kraków and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Polish projects prepared by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in collaboration with Polish and international partners as part of the International Cultural Programme of the Polish Presidency 2011 will be presented at leading galleries, theatres, clubs and festivals in Brussels, Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, Moscow, Kyiv, Minsk, Beijing and Tokyo at venues popular with the public, including the National Theatre and Southbank Centre in London, Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid. Projects selected in the programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage “Polish Presidency – Promise 2011” are an important part of the programme.

The core of the International Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency rests on six pillars featuring icons of contemporary Polish culture:

Karol Szymanowski, the Polish composer deemed second only to Fryderyk Chopin. His works are increasingly popular with acclaimed musicians and opera directors including Valery Gergiev, David Pountney, Mariusz Treliński. The Programme includes concert and chamber performances of Szymanowski’s music as well as his opera “King Roger”, considered one of the most important modern operas of the early 20th century.

Stanisław Lem, the visionary and commentator of contemporary civilisation, has been dubbed J.S. Bach of 20th century literature by The New York Times. The main event is the avant-garde outdoor performance “Planet Lem” by Teatr Biuro Podróży based on Lem’s fiction. Lem is the most translated Polish writer and a favourite of the best film directors including Andrei Tarkovsky, Steven Soderbergh (“Solaris”) and Ari Folman (who has started shooting “Futurological Congress”).

Czesław Miłosz, one of four Polish Nobel Prize for Literature winners. The Polish Presidency is an opportunity to publish a very special audiobook with Miłosz’s poetry interpreted in several languages by international film and theatre stars. 2011 is the Czesław Miłosz Year: the first Polish Presidency symbolically coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Czesław Miłosz.

Guidebook to the Poles: a series of documentary films presenting an engaging, tongue-in-cheek story of contemporary Polish society. It is a recent history of Poland and Poles presented through rock music, fashion, games and toys, mountaineering and sex mores. One of the documentaries will be directed by Academy Award Nominee Bartek Konopka.

Public space interactive multimedia project I, Culture. It will bring together participants in Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Kyiv, London, Madrid, Minsk, Moscow, Paris, Tokyo and Warsaw. A happening animated in each city by Polish artist Monika Jakubiak will create a gigantic piece of the puzzle made of canvas. The online audience will watch the process of creating the pieces and putting together the puzzle.

I, CULTURE Orchestra is a unique innovative project. The orchestra is comprised of young musicians from Poland and Eastern neighbours of the European Union: Ukraine, Belarus, as well as Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and others. International experience with similar ensembles, for example the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, proves that they offer a great opportunity of professional development and new contacts and carry a huge social and political potential.

For more information about the programme visit culture.pl, the official website of the Local and International Programme of the Polish Presidency 2011.

The International Cultural Programme of the Polish Presidency 2011 is co-ordinated by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in co-operation with Polish Institutes and Embassies, as well as local partners.

Programme information: Magdalena Mich
Press Spokesperson, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, mobile 00 48 602 663 570, e-mail mmich@iam.pl