Still Standing

“I am standing in the place of death.
I am standing in a place of death that is also full of life.
I am standing on the premises of the former KL Plaszow camp.
Today it is an open space in the heart of a densely developing Krakow.
I am surrounded by a green landscape.
KL Plaszow was established in the area of two Jewish cemeteries. Approximately 40,000 prisoners passed through the camp. The place I am looking at hides the remains and ashes of its victims. The remains of the camp. In a place full of nature.
I treat nature as a material witness.
How can I create space for memory in such a place? Living memory?
Could the movement be a monument?
A living sculpture created in relation to the place?”

Using movement, choreography, and storytelling “Still Standing” poses the question of caring as a possible attitude to what’s left of history – a concern that directs us not only to the past, but also to the present and the future. Physical action through the performers’ bodies in motion also provokes questions about how such ephemeral forms can be used as strategies of remembrance, especially in places associated with difficult memory? What can movement extract from a given space and its history?

On October 15th and 16th starting at 16.00 we invite you to the on site open air event “Still Standing” performed by Monika Szpunar and Weronika Pelczyńska. Concept by Aleksandra Janus and Weronika Pelczyńska.

The event is part of Green Commemorations. Action Through Art event organized as part of the NeDiPa: Negotiating Difficult Pasts Project.