PROGRAMME
MONDAY, June 5, 2017:Monday, June 5, 4-5pm: Meet the Author
Women and Love in Communist Poland and Beyond. Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg in discussion with Urszula Chowaniec. Ursula Phillips, scholar and translator will also join the discussion on the tradition of women's writing and first lesbian writers in Poland. Published to critical acclaim in early 2017 and longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, Wioletta Greg’s Swallowing Mercury is an extraordinary coming-of-age novel which reveals the secrets and superstitions of a quiet village in communist Poland. Hear the author read excerpts from her book, and join a discussion of its themes, including women, love and writing about sex in Polish contemporary literature. Was the communist Poland just a grey space with a limited freedom and a shortage of toilet paper? Or is it time to reconsider and re-narrate these stereotypes? How has the new democracy changed men’s and women’s experience of living in Poland? Have the country’s new freedoms also liberated the ways in which gender, love and the body are described? This is a rare and timely opportunity to (re)discover contemporary Polish literature. This event is chaired by Dr Urszula Chowaniec, Senior Teaching Fellow in Polish Language at UCL’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies. It is one of a series of seminars relating to Gender/Queer and Art/Lit/Film in the Other Europe, a research project based at UCL’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/ Visitors are encouraged to register at the Festival hub, which is located at the Gower Street entrance to the Wilkins Building main quad. We will be escorting attendees to event locations approximately fifteen minutes before each session begins. WHERE: Waterstones Bookshop: 82 Gower St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6EQ, UK Eventbrite (registration): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-and-love-under-communism-swallowing-mercury-tickets-33706157023
Monday, June 5, 6.00-8.00pm: Debate
The End of Gender? Politics of Debates on Gender (Poland versus Western Europe). Discussion seminar. Introduction to War on Gender in Poland by Maciej Duda, author of monograph on Polish War Against Gender (2016). In discussion there will be short presentation of a gender project Illustrating Gender (2017) by Gerard Coll i Planas. Chairing: Richard Mole and Urszula Chowaniec . & Polish Queer Literature. Anthology. Presentation of the project by Błażej Warkocki Gender, feminism and LGBT movements became established concepts in Poland following the fall of Communism, and the country’s integration into western Europe. But in summer 2013, a Polish church official declared that “the ideology of gender presents a threat worse than Nazism and Communism combined.” This statement and subsequent controversy were sparked by the introduction of ‘gender workshops’ in pro-equality nurseries and schools. A letter which stated that the concept of gender was “deeply destructive” to “the person, inter-human relations and all social life,” was issued by Polish bishops in December 2013. This panel event considers the concept of gender, its identification with LGBTQ and queer studies, and contemporary homophobia. Speakers include Maciej Duda, author of Polish War Against Gender (2016), and Błażej Warkocki, one of Poland’s most influential queer theorists, will present the first attempts to create an anthology of contemporary queer literature. WHERE: UCL Roberts Building 110 Eventbrite (registration): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-end-of-gender-tickets-33705457932
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from: Katarzyna Perlak's "Niolam ja se Kochancke"
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Monday, June 5, 8.00-9.00pm: Meet the Artist
Art and Vulnerability. Brexit, Migration and Queer Diasporas Presentation of works and projects by Katarzyna Perlak. Is Brexit going to change the artistic Eastern-European landscapes in UK. Discussion: UCL European Institute with Richard Mole, Małgorzata Radkiewicz and Urszula Chowaniec Katarzyna Perlak is a London-based Polish mixed media artist whose work incorporates photography, video, text and spatial practice. Her work considers how historical moments are archived, particularly in relation to women, migrants and queer histories. Her 2017 artwork, ‘Vulnarable’, is a recording of recorded 30 second exchanges between the artist and participants, who advise her how to pronounce the word “vulnerable” properly. As the artist explains: “The work reflects upon the relationship between language, power structures, social mobility and vulnerability.” This event follows 'The End of Gender' (18:00-20:00), and will involve a short screening of the artist's work, followed by a talk and discussion about the project, reflecting on the artistic representation of contemporary politics relating to Brexit, migration and queer identities. Katarzyna Perlak is a mixed media artist, working with video, performance, sound, and sculptural forms. Her background is in Philosophy, which she studied in Poland, and Fine Art Media that she has studied in UK. She is currently completing an MA in Fine Art Media at the Slade School of Fine Arts. Katarzyna’s practice is socially focused. In particular she engages with intersectional narratives concerning women, migrant and queer histories. Currently she explores the potentiality of affect as a tool for registering and archiving current and past historical moments. katarzynaperlak.com inst: kat_perlak This event is chaired by Dr Urszula Chowaniec, Senior Teaching Fellow in Polish Language and Dr Richard Mole, Senior Lecturer in Political Sociology. It is one of a series of seminars relating to Gender/Queer and Art/Lit/Film in the Other Europe, a research project based at UCL’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies. WHERE: UCL Roberts Building 110 |
Tuesday, June 6, 4-5pm: Meet the Author
Women and the Debts: Precarious Lives and Glorious Outlaws: . Meting with Izabela Morska. Discussion led by Anna Błasiak and Urszula Chowaniec Polish writer and academic Izabela Morska’s recently published book Glorious Outlaws considers a range of financial, social, historical and cultural contexts to address the theme of debt in postcolonial fiction. Morska examines how literary characters, including servants, fallen women, and cultural outsiders pay - or refuse to pay - the debts imposed upon them. Join this event to discuss how the book’s depiction of debt in fiction relates to current considerations of debt in the world economy. In the second part of the session, Morska will share her poetry and its reception. Is there a lesbian poetry in Poland? What was her experience of publishing her collection of poetry at the end of 1990s? WHERE: Waterstones Bookshop: 82 Gower St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6EQ, UKwith an exhibition of Izabela’s books |
Tuesday, June 6, 7-8pm: Debate
Queer Cinema and Poland?. Talks with film presentation. Anna Taszycka is presenting a Queer festival in Poland and film: “The Lure” – game with cinematic genres. Agnieszka Smoczyńska and the Polish women's cinema Disussion: Queer/Film/ Eastern Europe: A Talk and Introduction by Małgorzata Radkiewicz about LGBTQ in Polish cinema. Is there a queer cinema in Poland or Eastern Europe? This event’s discussions between two cinema specialists will try to solve the puzzle. Małgorzata Radkiewicz will give an historical account of queer in Polish cinema, while Anna Taszycka will tell us about some specific films like The Lure, a 2015 horror musical set in Poland in the 1980s. The Lure tells the story of two mermaids, Golden and Silver. The mermaids meet some rock musicians on a beach, and follow them to a nightclub where they start working as strippers, captivating the audience. Director Agnieszka Smoczyńska likened the mermaids to immigrants, abused by the locals (used in the sex industry) on their way to their real goal: the west. WHERE: UCL Roberts Building 110 |
Tuesday, June 6, 9pm: Film and Debate
Film presentation: I, Olga Hepnarová, dir. by Tomáš Weinreb Petr Kazda (2016) The screening and commenting of the controversial film I, Olga Hepnarova offers also a footnote to our contemporaneity. Where are the limits of humanity and understanding? From review by Wendy Ide: “this real-life Czech drama is brutally austere. A portrait of a deeply troubled young woman, Olga Hepnarová (Michalina Olszanska), the film is jarringly episodic. Often little more than a series of seemingly unrelated scenes, it’s an alienating viewing experience, and that, perhaps, is the point. Olga is an abrasive character. Audience empathy is likely to be in short supply” (from The Guardian) Commentary by Anna Taszycka from AFM Kraków University. WHERE: UCL Wilkins Building Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre |
Lesbians and Much More by Hanna Jarząbek (2009)
Bodygraphy by Małgorzata Dawidek
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Wednesday, June 7, 6-8pm: Meet the Artists
Lesbian and Much More and the Bodygraphy. Artistic Dialogue 6-7pm: the presentation of her work and discussion on her project "Lesbian and Much More" by Hanna Jarząbek 7-8pm: the presentation of her work "Bodygraphy" and other works by Małgorzata Dawidek “Lesbians and Much More” was a 2010 project led by artist Hanna Jarząbek, which followed 12 lesbian couples in four different cities. At that time, sexual minorities had no rights, and homosexuality was often compared publicly with paedophilia or zoophilia. Whilst lesbians’ presence in public space has since become more open and common, legally their situation has not changed. Since the extreme right won total power in Poland (2015), lesbians and other minority groups are increasingly under threat. The second part of this event considers London-based Małgorzata Dawidek, whose project ‘Bodygraphy’ considers the notion of vulnerability, such as the susceptible ill body or a position of women and their ability to express their desires. Dawidek’s work exposes the limits of linguistic efforts to assert our identity and emphasizes the ethnic, gender, or national language platitudes we use and replicate in expressing who we are. WHERE: UCL Roberts Building 110 |