Tadeusz Kantor: Où sont les neiges d'antan, Museum Tinguely presents one of Poland’s most important theatre and visual artists of the 20th century

Comunicato Stampa disponibile solo in lingua originale. 

With the exhibition, «Tadeusz Kantor: Où sont les neiges d'antan», #museumtinguely presents one of Poland’s most important theatre and visual artists of the 20th century with one of his expansive works for the stage. Tadeusz Kantor’s (1915-1990) independent underground theatre, devoted to the reality of everyday life and often critically concerned with Poland's suppressed history, is still influential for a young generation of theatre artists today.

Virtual Reality-animation from 9 to 20 October 2019

At #museumtinguely, from 9 to 20 October, the exhibition is accompanied by the Virtual Reality-simulation Cricoterie (2019), by Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn. Visitors are invited to be the hands directing a virtual stage filled with a cast of uncanny characters and props, inspired by Kantor’s Theater of Death and simultaneously, the audience watches as things get out of hand.

Part of the ensemble

It is seen as a model of radical, pan-disciplinary theatre experiments, as well as the abolition of the difference between stage and auditorium. Above all, Kantor exploded the boundaries of classical theatre as he stood on stage, as director, in the midst of his actors, giving instructions, intervening, and thus becoming a foreign body in the ensemble. Part of his artistic practice was the reuse of objects. Old and damaged things are his ‹natural› medium and the motif of death is one of the most important themes in his works.

The Trumpet of the Last Judgement

The current exhibition at #museumtinguely presents objects and costumes from Où sont les neiges d'antan. They are accompanied by the screening of a rehearsal of the performance, filmed on the eve of its Polish premiere in 1984 at the Stodoła Students’ Club in Warsaw by Andrzej Sapija. Drawings and sketches by #tadeuszkantor are juxtaposed with photographic documentation and posters.

Playing a Jewish song, The Trumpet of the Last Judgement from Tadeusz Kantor’s performance, opens up a dialogue surrounding the theme of the Dance of Death with Jean Tinguely’s installation Mengele – Dance of Death (1986). The sounds of a past tragedy heard from the next room, where Tinguely’s work is displayed, seem to anticipate the activation of Kantor’s machine – a trumpet announcing the imminent end. Tinguely’s work was made chiefly out of the remains of a burned-down farm.

Tinguely and Kantor

Jean Tinguely and #tadeuszkantor met around 1960 through Theodor Ahrenberg, a Swedish collector settled in Chexbres. Both artists blended their personal history with the cultural memory in their works. Tinguely and Kantor shared the same interest in process-related art and hybrid media, attempting to break down categories and boundaries between art and real life. Nevertheless, the two artists produced works that were ideologically very remote from each other.

Cricoteka & Culturscapes

The guest-curated show from the Cricoteka in Krakow runs until 5 January 2020 at #museumtinguely and is Kantor's first solo exhibition in Switzerland in more than ten years. The project is a cooperation with CULTURESCAPES Poland. This is a Swiss cultural festival, through which the cultural landscape of another country or region is presented.

Guest Curators: Małgorzata Paluch-Cybulska, Bogdan Renczyński, Natalia Zarzecka / The Centre for the Documentation of the Art of #tadeuszkantor CRICOTEKA in Krakow

9 October 2019 – 5 January 2020

Tadeusz Kantor: Où sont les neiges d'antan

MUSEUM TINGUELY - BASEL

www.tinguely.ch