PERFORMA 13 The Polish Pavilion Without Walls and Akademia Ruchu in NYC

The Performa Biennial is the world\'s leading multidisciplinary biennial attracting artists and audiences with experimental and collaborative projects by commissioning, presenting and exploring original visual and performance art. From November 1-24, 2013 Performa and a consortium of innovative organizations will transform New York City into an international platform for celebrating live art. The central focus of Performa 13 is "citizenship," a vital topic with a deep history for many contemporary Polish artists. Performa events will take place at over 60 venues across the city.

The Performa 13 biennial will debut Pavilions Without Walls, including a Polish Pavilion featuring multiple collaborative projects between Performa, Polish artists, and cultural institutions from Poland. Pavilions Without Walls will present works that underline the major role artists play in stimulating social change and championing social justice.

Akademia Ruchu at Performa 13

The Polish Pavilion Without Walls will feature Akademia Ruchu (The Academy of Movement), an art collective established in 1973 and operating at the intersection of theater, performance, film, and fine art. For almost forty years Akademia Ruchu has engaged in insightful reflection on Communist and post-Communist Poland. Known as the "theater of behavior," the collective has presented hundreds of happenings, anonymous interventions in the public realm, theater performances, and political actions, all of which included spectators as part of the work. Founded and directed by Wojciech Krukowski, the group consists of artist members Janusz Baldyga, Jolanta Krukowska, Cezary Marczak, Jan Pieniazek, Zbigniew Olkiewicz, Jaroslaw Zwirblis, and Krzysztof Zwirblis.

On November 6 at the Martin E. Segal Theatre at the CUNY Graduate Center, Akademia Ruchu will present Chinese Lesson, a work composed of a sequence of short, physically intensive, minimalistic performances involving five members of the group. The pieces are tied together by the unique visual theater language that the collective has built over the past forty years.

For Times Square, Akademia Ruchu has created a series of four distinctive minimalistic single-element actions entitled The Market of Toys, reflecting on the ensemble\'s history. These austere interventions, carried out over the course of two days, on November 7 and 8, will contrast with the vibrant character of the space and its dense multitude of visitors. The performances will be complemented by a newspaper-as-exhibition publication, documenting deep Academia Ruchu\'s history of public performances beginning in the 70s. The paper will be distributed in all Performa locations.

Among other projects within the Polish Pavilion Without Walls, Pawel Althamer will stage culinary and art events at a BiBA, a Brooklyn bar and restaurant on the East River overlooking Manhattan. Agnieszka Kurant will unveil new projects as part of her SculptureCenter solo exhibition. Katarzyna Krakowiak will perform an architectural intervention on a landmark building in Manhattan with the Storefront for Art and Architecture, and Radek Szlaga and Konrad Smolenski will present a collaborative project with Dean Spunt, an LA-based noise musician of the band No Age at the Fridman Gallery in SoHo.
www.polishculture-nyc.org