Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:38 Page 1
F A C U LT Y O F A R T S A N D S O C I A L S C I E N C E S
POLISH SEASON A season of celebrating Literature, Art, Music and Film inspired by Poland OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 2012
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:38 Page 2
Welcome to our Polish season! The University of Hull has collaborated with Polish artists, inspiring academics and the local community to bring you an insight, taste and understanding of the Polish heritage, culture and people. The season explores issues of migration, identity, heritage, community, morality, beauty, taste and much more. Come along and explore one, many or all of our activities inspired by Poland. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has a long history of presenting great music concerts, foreign language films, talks with renowned authors and offering an inspiring range of educational public lectures.
Serdecznie zapraszamy na Polski Sezon! Uniwersytet w Hull podjął współpracę z wieloma polskimi artystami oraz naukowcami, którzy swoimi działaniami inspirują lokalną społeczność. Ma to na celu głębsze zrozumienie polskiego dziedzictwa kulturowego, tradycji oraz społeczeństwa. Zadaniem sezonu jest równie& zgłębianie kwestie emigracji, moralności oraz to&samości społeczności polskiej. Przyjdz i weź udział w jednym lub wielu wydarzeniach kulturalno-artystycznych inspirowanych Polską. Wydział Sztuk i Nauk Społecznych posiada długą historię w prezentowaniu wspaniałych koncertów, filmów obcojęzycznych; słynie z rozmów z wybitnymi autorami oraz z wykładów edukacyjnych. Mamy nadzieję, &e nasz program, z całym wachlarzem zawartych w nim imprez, dostarczy Państwu niezapomnianych wra&eń estetycznych.
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:38 Page 3
FILM The history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as the history of cinematography, and the works of directors such as Roman Polanski and Krysztof Kieslowski are worldrenowned. In our film season we not only bring you a great selection of films by Polish directors but also talks by a variety of speakers highlighting and illuminating aspects of the films.
MUSIC Poland’s dance culture and its political conflicts have contributed to a rich musical history that has touched all corners of the globe. At the University we have selected a range of programmes that both reflect this rich history and are sure to delight audiences, young and old. Come along and enjoy – through the music of Chopin, Stokowski, Szpilman, Rozycki and Wagner – our fascinating musical exploration of ‘Polishness’ and its cultural impact at home and abroad.
LITERATURE & TALK/SEMINAR Find out about Polish personalities in talks about Chopin, Mickiewicz, Szymanowski and the intriguing realities of migration in an evening with Ruth Padel. A seminar by Aleksandra Jasinska-Kania, Professor of Sociology at the University of Warsaw and one of the leading participants in the World Values Survey, author of a number of books and expert on how Polish values have been transformed by the increasing centrality of Poland in European institutions and cultural life and Zygmunt Bauman, one of the most important sociologists currently working, anywhere in the world will form a highlight of this season in December.
Zygmunt Bauman is the author of a number of ground-breaking books and the recipient of the European Amalfi Prize for Social Science (1992), the Adorno Prize (1998) and, with Alain Touraine, the Principe de Asturias Prize for Communication and the Humanities in 2010.
EXHIBITION THE ODYSSEY project has been inspired by Robert Koenig’s visits to his mother’s home village in Poland. The figures are made out of lime trees, which grew in and around this area and initially represented his ancestors and the history of the region. This is more than just an exhibition of woodcarvings, it is a traveling installation, a performance and a project, which is continuously developing and responding to each viewer differently, each time reflecting the person’s own journey and experiences. Come along and be inspired by the stories they carry with them and discover the migrant in yourself.
COMMUNITY The local Polish community has been very helpful and closely involved in putting this season together and we will host a special St Nicholas celebration on 5 December. Come along to find out where Father Christmas is really from.
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:39 Page 4
AT A GL A N CE DATE
TIME
EVENT
CONTACT
LOCATION
11 Oct
17.30 - 18.30
Launch of Polish Season and opening of a retrospective by Robert Koenig followed by Ruth Padel on Migration
01482 462045
The Art Gallery and artcafé
11 Oct
18.30 - 20.00 Ruth Padel on Migration
01482 462045
The Art Gallery
15 Oct
18.30 - 21.00 A Short Film About Killing (Kieslowski, 1988) / talk by Dr Steve Burwood & Dr James Zborowski
01482 462045
Wilberforce LT 15
01482 462045
Wilberforce LT 15
28 Oct 18.30 - 21.00 Polish Animation / talk by Dr Amy Davis 01482 462045
Wilberforce LT 15
2 Nov
10.00 - 17.00
Piano and Vocal Day (Chopin Study Day) 01482 462045
Middleton Hall
6 Nov
18.00
Chopin with Adam Zamoyski
01482 462045
Middleton Hall
7 Nov
18.30 - 21.00 Labyrinth: The Testimony of Marian Kolodziej / talk by Professor Martin Goodman
01482 462045
Wilberforce LT 15
9 Nov
16.00
Poles Apart: Chopin Transformed
01482 462045
Middleton Hall
The protein tangles that killed Chopin
01482 462045
Middleton Hall
12 Nov 18.30 - 21.00 Zemsta (Wajda, 2002) / talk by Alina Gorywoda
01482 462045
Wilberforce LT 15
19 Nov 20.00 - 22.00 ETO presents Viktor Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis Recital
01482 462045
Middleton Hall
20 Nov 18.30 - 21.00 303 Squadron / reading by Ray French
01482 462045
Wilberforce LT 15
26 Nov 18.30 - 21.00 Three Colours Trilogy/ talk by Victoria Pastor-Gonzalez
01482 462045
Wilberforce LT 15
3 Dec
18.30 - 21.00 Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War (Hood, 2011) / with a talk by the Director Will Hood
01482 462045
Wilberforce LT 15
5 Dec
14.15 - 17.00
Zygmunt Bauman Seminar
01482 462045
Tranby Suite, Staff House
5 Dec
17.30
St Nicholas - Polish Community event
01482 462045
artcafé, Middleton Hall
6 Dec
18.00
Facing the Future, Facing the Past, Identity and Self-Identity in Early Twentieth-Century Polish Art
01482 462045
Wilberforce LT28
10 Dec 18.30 - 21.00 The Pianist (Polanski, 2002) / talk by Dr James Aston
01482 462045
Wilberforce LT 15
14 Dec 13.15
01482 462045
Middleton Hall
22 Oct 18.30 - 21.00 Wojna Polsko-Ruska / Snow White and the Russian Red (Zulawski, 2009) / talk by Magdalena Litwin
12 Nov 18.00
University Orchestra – Polish Perspective
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:39 Page 5
KEY Music Talk/Seminar Film Literature Exhibition Public Lecture/Community
EV E N TS Launch of Polish Season and opening of a retrospective by Robert Koenig followed by Ruth Padel on Migration (see next entry) Thursday 11 October 2012 The Art Gallery, artcafé, 17.30 - 18.30 Robert Koenig will talk about the story behind the making of ODYSSEY and the incredible journey the figures have had. How the figures are representative of the many different types of journeys or odysseys we take through life. The retrospective exhibition in the artcafe highlights his own journey as an artist and his chosen medium wood. "I found my own way, decided what my personal concerns were and developed an inherited facility with working wood to make my statements. I have carved, assembled, constructed, painted and used tree trunks, planks and sawdust to tell my stories.” (Robert Koenig)
Ruth Padel on Migration Thursday 11 October 2012 The Art Gallery, artcafé, 18.30 - 20.00 (What forces of nature, instinct and survival drive species to migrate? Why do people leave family and friends for foreign lands? In her new collection The Mara Crossing, Ruth Padel tackles the issue of migration with a ‘thoughtful and often really quite magical mix of prose and poetry’. ‘There are wonders of nature in this collection, which will give pause to sensitive readers.’ – The Economist Join this leading poet and nature writer for a reading and discussion).
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:39 Page 6
A Short Film About Killing (Kieslowski, 1988)/ talk by Dr Steve Burwood & Dr James Zborowski Monday 15 October 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 18.30 - 21.00 A Short Film About Killing, Krzysztof Kieslowski's powerful examination of the nature of murder and a savage indictment of capital punishment. The film was an outstanding success at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, taking home the Jury prize. Originally a part of Kieslowski's ten-part television drama about applying the Ten Commandments to modern-day life, A Short Film About Killing along with A Short Film About Love was released cinematically in an extended form. Steve Burwood will be addressing the ethical and moral aspects on the film while James Zborowski will be analysing A Short Film About Killin’s aesthetic form. Followed by Q&A.
Wojna Polsko-Ruska / Snow White and the Russian Red (Zulawski, 2009)/ talk by Magdalena Litwin Monday 22 October 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 18.30 - 21.00 Snow White and the Russian Red was adapted from Dorota Maslowska's audacious debut novel which caused a sensation in Poland and heralded Maslowska as a new young literary voice of contemporary Polish society. The film highlights the troubled, drug-addled and marginalized post-Communist Polish youths and represents an incisive commentary about the state of modern Poland. Magdalena Litwin will be addressing the importance of both the book and film in representing modern Poland and how it was received by a Polish audience that was polarised by the controversial material contained in the film.
Polish Animation / talk by Dr Amy Davis Monday 29 October 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 18.30 - 21.00 Amy Davis will be looking a Polish animation from the late 1950s to the present day and will be covering animators such as Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk. The focus will be on form, style and themes and will present an introduction to a rich, imaginative and often brilliant output of animated films that has tended to be overlooked in discussions of animation.
Piano and Vocal Day (Chopin Study Day) Friday 2 November 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 10.00 - 17.00 Students receive professional training in sessions led by Josephine Peach (piano) and Margaret McDonald (voice). The Pianists will be presenting the work of Chopin and other Polish composers. Josephine Peach is currently the pianist in The Fairfax Ensemble. In association with ABCD she has worked with Andrew Carter, John Rutter and Bob Chilcot. Margaret McDonald is a renowned international singer and voice coach. As a voice coach she has worked with the Hallé Choir, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and Huddersfield Choral Society as well as on various
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:39 Page 7
musicals for the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, Palace Theatre, Manchester and the Opera House, Manchester.
Chopin with Adam Zamoyski Tuesday 6 November 2012 Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, 18.00 We are delighted to welcome the acclaimed author Adam Zamoyski, who speaks about his recent book Chopin Prince of the Romantics (Harper Press, 2011). Drawn to Poland by his powerful family lineage and a fascination with its history, Adam Zamoyski’s insights on Chopin take us into the heart of Polish culture. In conversation with Dr Alexander Binns and you, the audience, interspersed with live musical performances of Chopin by music students at the University of Hull.
Labyrinth: The Testimony of Marian Kolodziej / talk by Professor Martin Goodman Wednesday 7 November 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 18.30 A Polish Catholic, Marian Kolodziej was prisoner number 432 in Auschwitz. 50 years later he captured his experiences of those death camp years in an astounding series of drawings that now fill the cellars of a nearby monastery. This award-winning film takes the viewers on a tour of The Labyrinth with the artist’s testimony as a guide. Introduced by Martin Goodman, who experienced the exhibition as part of a week-long retreat in the concentration camp.
Poles Apart: Chopin Transformed Friday 9 November 2012 Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, 16.00 Epic, idiosyncratically sentimental and powerful transformations of Chopin’s music by Leopold Stokowski, the pioneering master orchestrator of the famous Philadelphia Orchestra. This performance, introduced by Dr Lee Tsang and led by members of Hull Sinfonietta, will feature school pupils, members of the University Orchestra, teachers and local amateurs. External players who are interested in participating on the day (9.45am-5.00pm) should contact Dr Tsang as soon as possible on 01482 465019, l.tsang@hull.ac.uk
The protein tangles that killed Chopin Monday 12 November 2012 Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, 18.00 Frederick Chopin was born in 1810 and had a distinguished career as a composer, pianist and sometimes crayon caricaturist. He was however a sickly man with recurrent episodes of breathlessness and coughing up blood. He spent time in the South of France and then in Majorca to help with this recovery but ultimately died at the young age of 39. It is long believed that he suffered with consumption (tuberculosis) however his postmortem carried out by an
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:39 Page 8
expert in tuberculosis showed that he had a disease that had not previously been encountered. This talk will focus on a disease called antitrypsin deficiency which may have accounted for the death of Chopin. It will describe our investigative studies into the cause of the disease and will demonstrate how understanding antitrypsin deficiency provides insights into a whole range of other diseases as diverse as blood clots (thrombosis) and dementia. Our understanding of the complexity of protein tangles allows the development of small molecules as potential therapies for this condition. One day we hope to be able to cure the disease that may have killed Frederick Chopin.
Zemsta (Wajda, 2002) / talk by Alina Gorywoda Monday 12 November 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 18.30 - 21.00 Zemsta is directed by perhaps the most internationally renowned and critically accomplished Polish filmmakers, Andrzej Wajda, who casts Poland’s most (in)famous filmmaking expatriate, Roman Polanski, in a light comedy based on a perennially popular stage revenge farce by Aleksandr Fredo. Alina Gorywada will be looking at the reasons why the film was so popular in Poland with domestic audiences while also looking at certain themes and visual styles of Wajda, both within Zemstra and other films such as Man of Marble (1977) and Katyn (2007).
ETO presents Viktor Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis Recital Monday 19 November 2012 Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, 20.00 - 22.00 Paula Sides (soprano) & Jonathan Gale (piano). This season English Touring Opera's national tour presents an exciting new production of Viktor Ullmann's brilliant work, The Emperor of Atlantis, which was composed and rehearsed at Terezín concentration camp in 1944 before the composer was sent to his death at Auschwitz. As part of a wider exploration of music from this time, Paula Sides (soprano) and Jonathan Gale (piano) celebrate the life and lesser-known works of this extraordinary composer. This recital is a study of Ullmann's life and
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:39 Page 9
work, as reflected in a selection of the many songs he wrote throughout his tragically short career. The performance will be followed by a panel discussion about Ullmann, the historical context of his works, and the art of Terezín.
303 Squadron (A Ch4 documentary on the Polish pilots who fought alongside the British in the Battle of Britain) / reading by Ray French Tuesday 20 November 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 18.30 - 21.00 This dramatised documentary recounts how, during the most decisive phase of the Battle of the Britain, a single squadron of 34 Polish fighter pilots wreaked havoc on the Luftwaffe, in the process helping to change the course of history and overturning RAF prejudices. Ray French has written a highly engaging and vivid debut novel, which perfectly captures the wild emotions of boyhood… it is a richly satisfying piece of storytelling’ – Daily Telegraph. ‘One of the very few writers who can remember precisely what childhood was really like, how crazy and intense it really was. Utterly unpretentious, totally engaging and very funny' – Mark Haddon.
Three Colours Trilogy (looking at Kieslowski's use of Humour) / talk by Victoria Pastor-Gonzalez Monday 26 November 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 18.30 - 21.00 Krzysztof Kieslowski's multi award winning trilogy is a landmark of world cinema. Three Colours Blue, White and Red have been acclaimed as masterpieces by critics and audiences the world over. The films explore the French Revolutionary ideals of freedom, equality and brotherhood, and their relevance to the contemporary world. Featuring outstanding music scores by Zbigniew Preisner and immaculate performances from Juliette Binoche, Irène Jacob and Jean-Louis Trintingnant among others, the trilogy is arguably the foremost achievement by one of the world’s greatest directors. Victoria Pastor–Gonzalez will be looking at Kieslowski’s use of humour in the trilogy thus providing an original and illuminating way to approach Kieslowski’s films and especially the trilogy.
Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War (Hood, 2011) / with a talk by the Director Will Hood Monday 3 December 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 18.30 - 21.00 Originally adopted as a mascot by the Polish Army in Iran during WWII, Wojtek soon took on a more practical role, carrying heavy mortar rounds for the troops and going on to play his part as a fully enlisted soldier with his own rank and number during the Italian campaign. After the war, Wojtek, along with some of his Polish compatriots, came to Berwickshire, where he became a significant member of the local community before subsequently moving to Edinburgh Zoo.
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:39 Page 10
Wojtek presents a unique and potent symbol of freedom and solidarity for Poles around the world and has attracted a huge amount of media interest that shows no sign of abating more than 45 years after his death. The Director, Will Hood, will be talking primarily about his experiences of making the documentary.
Zygmunt Bauman Seminar Wednesday 5 December 2012 Tranby Suite, Staff House, 14.15 - 17.00 Zygmunt Bauman is one of the most significant global social thinkers of our age. His work, spanning nearly five decades, steadfastly refuses to be constrained by arbitrary disciplinary boundaries within the arts, humanities and social sciences. An extraordinarily productive scholar, his writings continue to be relevant to his host subject of sociology, but also to social and political theory, philosophy, ethics, art theory, media/communications studies, cultural studies, and theology. His unique contribution of the conceptual framework 'liquid modernity' has influenced international research within all of these disciplines. Prof. Aleksandra JasińskaKania works on sociological theory and studies national stereotypes, prejudices, and social values; she collaborates with the Sociology Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
St Nicholas - Polish Community event. A celebration and exploration of the story behind the orignal Father Christmas from a Polish perspective Wednesday 5 December artcafé, Middleton Hall, 17.30 An evening celebrating St Nicholas. In collaboration with the Polish school at St. Mary's School. Usually on St Nichola's day shoes or stockings are left for St. Nicholas to fill during the night. Children will find treats of small gifts, fruit or nuts, and special Nicholas candies and cookies. St. Nicholas gifts are meant to be shared, not hoarded for oneself. So come along and join us in this festive celebration.
Facing the Future, Facing the Past, Identity and Self-Identity in Early TwentiethCentury Polish Art Thursday 6 December 2012 Wilberforce LT 28, 18.00 This lecture will examine different ways in which national and personal identity was represented in Polish painting and sculpture in the early 20th century. During a period marked by struggles for Poland’s independence, and by the changes of modernity across Europe, works of art variously looked to subjects and styles drawn both from the past, from artistic tradition or from the pantheons of national heroes, such as Adam Mickiewicz and Fryderyk Chopin, and looked to the future by creating new artistic idioms and drawing upon their modern surroundings. This lecture will consider sculpted portraits and public monuments by Xawery Dunikowski and Wacław Szymanowski, reinventions of folk art by Zofia Stryjeńska, and expressions of national identity in the paintings of Jacek Malczewski, as well as considering the brooding and more introspective self-portraits of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz and Bruno Schulz.
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:39 Page 11
The Pianist (Polanski, 2002) / Talk by Dr James Aston Monday 10 December 2012 Wilberforce LT 15, 18.30 - 21.00 The Pianist is a 2002 WWII film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of Death of a City, a World War II memoir by the Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman. The Pianist met with significant critical praise and received multiple awards and nominations ranging from Oscars for Best Director (Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood) and Best Actor (Brody) to being awarded the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. James Aston will briefly address the resurgence of WWII films in the late 1990s and early 2000s and how The Pianist’s fits in to this increase in cinematic representations of the war.
University Orchestra – Polish Perspective Friday 14 December 2012 Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, 13.15 This very special Polish-themed concert features the music of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the pianistcomposer whose memoires of Nazi-occupied Warsaw were fashioned by Roman Polanski into the multi-award-winning film The Pianist. Szpilman’s style encompasses both the ‘popular’ and the ‘serious’. His indisputably varied, exuberant and sumptuous music has such an appeal that he has sometimes been described as a ‘Polish Gershwin’. In this programme, his music is performed alongside an early Wagner work written to commemorate the19th-century Polish uprising against the Russians, as well as a forgotten opera fragment about Napoleon’s mistress.
With special thanks to
St Maryʼs College
Polish Saturday School The Storey Centre, St Maryʼs College, Cranbrook Avenue, Hull HU6 7TN Director: Magdelena Laskowska Deputy: Magdelena Litwin Email: mlaskowska@staff.st-marys.hull.sch.uk mlitwin@staff.st-marys.hull.sch.uk www.polskasobotniaszkolahull.co.uk Tel: 01482 803514 Mob: 07950 246864
Polish_Leaflet_A5_2725_Layout 1 20/09/2012 09:40 Page 12
Enquiries:
Events OďŹƒce Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Larkin Building Hull HU6 7RX T 01482 462045 E fass-events@hull.ac.uk
2725 - SH Sept 2012
For further information on any of our events, visit our website www.culturenet.co.uk or contact us here: