Tadeusz Kantor Today ─ Metamorphoses of Death, Memory and Presence

Based on presentations at a symposium held in December 2010 at the Krzysztofory Gallery in Poland, the 32 essays in this volume examine the art of Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990), particularly his Theatre of Death. They discuss his legacy, participating in his work, the Cricot 2 company, the role of drawing in his art, his use of mannequins, his direction of Eugene Ionesco's play Rhinoceros and Don Quixote, his reinterpretation of Velazquez's Las Meninas in The Infantas, the Spanish reception of his work, the function of the door and picture frame in his works, history and memory in his theatrical productions, his interest in dreams, Tadeusz Slobodzianek's Our Class and Kantor's The Dead Class, his late style, the plots of his theatre productions, his writings, his participation in I Shall Never Return, and works like La Machine de l'amour et de la mort and Wielopole (essays in French). They also address the relationship between Kantor and Stanislaw Wyspianski, Jacek Malczewski, and Bruno Schulz; the role of after-images in his art; parallels to the work of Beuys; heritage and identity in his work; and comparisons to Jerzy Grotowski, Joseph Chaikin, Jerzy Grzegorzewski, Christoph Schlingensief, and others. Contributors are theatre, art history, and other scholars from Europe and the US. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Katarzyna Fazan is Assistant Professor at the Jagiellonian University and the L. Solski State Drama School in Krakow.
Anna R. Burzynska, PhD, is a lecturer in Theatre Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
Marta Brys is a postgraduate in Theatre Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.