The Voyage / Sawka / Skrzek / Stachura - NOSPR

World premiere!

The Voyage. Sawka. Skrzek. Stachura. A statement by three masters of the image, of music, and of poetry about history, the present and the future. It is an ANTI-WAR performance that presents a collective portrait of humanity. It is a journey through life and the human experience of birth, creation, destruction, healing, and rebirth. The Voyage consists of 1,202 paintings by the extraordinary artist Jan Sawka, combined into a video projection accompanied by live music composed by Józef Skrzek, made complete with poetry written by Edward Stachura. Skrzek's composition is a musical response to the monumental themes of the performance. The Voyage is a triptych: The first part, “BIRTH” shows the beginnings of a human life and of cultures; their achievements, aspirations, and creativity. The second part, “WAR” is about the dark and destructive side of humanity that takes control of the world. In the third part, “HEALING,” a time of mourning arrives, but also healing and rebirth after trauma. The Voyage presents the cyclical nature of human fate and the complexity and extraordinary power of human nature. 

The performance is the culmination of Jan Sawka's Magnum Opus – a project he worked on for the last 20 years of his life. His works can be found in over 60 museums around the world, from the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Special Collections of the Library of Congress (U.S.), through the national museums in Poland (Krakow, Warsaw, Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław), the Silesian Museum and finally, museums in Japan. He collaborated with poets: Barańczak, Stachura and members of the New Wave, including Moczulski, Zagajewski and Krynicki, for whom March 1968 was a seminal moment, making them the “Generation of ‘68.” After emigrating to the U.S., Sawka collaborated with the New York Times and exhibited his paintings in prestigious galleries in New York and Los Angeles. Thanks to Leonard Cohen, he was able to collaborate with the iconic band The Grateful Dead. He received numerous awards in painting, graphic design, architecture and multimedia. 

Concert duration: approximately 90 minutes

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