Revolution is no utopia; it must have its place. In Paris in May 1968 it took place in the Sorbonne building, in Warsaw – at Warsaw University and Powszechny Theatre, in California – on the Berkeley University campus, in Italy – at Trent University, at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, and at the National Autonomous University in Mexico …
The joint project of The Eighth Day Theatre and Arsenał Municipal Gallery conjures the spirits of revolutions past so that they may become our present. In May our institutions will become safer places for debates and meetings, where we will try out new methods of activation and resistance and practice possible utopias.
In the gallery we will create a model of an alternative universal university. Classes will be held by collectives involved in art/activism/theatre/politics/ education. Workshops will focus on both theory and practice and will teach particular skills indispensable for instigating and maintaining a revolution. The methods used will include go-ins, sit-ins and teach-ins, or the occupation of public institutions and places.
As in May 1968, today too institutions are contested as bulwarks of conservativism and patriarchate. Still, they have a potential for community-building, as without institutions revolutions would lack their situatedness. The ambivalent nature of official places of resistance is the building material for our events. We will do it to make use of institutions’ infrastructure as well as to transcend architecture, making our presence in city streets, much like in 1968.
Workshops in Revolution would not take place without the financial support of Poznań Municipality, Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, Goethe Institute, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, and the involvement of Katharina Koch from alpha nova & galerie futura from Berlin. We are most thankful to all of them.
idea and organization: Zofia nierodzińska zofia.nierodzinska@arsenal.art.pl
production: Wojciech Wawrzyniak wojciech.wawrzyniak@arsenal.art.pl
promotion: Ewelina Muraszkiewicz ewelina.muraszkiewicz@arsenal.art.pl
editorial help: Bogna Błażewicz and Jacek Zwierzyński
