Alina Szapocznikow | performative reading

What?

We know Alina Szapocznikow primarily as a sculptor who made the human body one of the most important materials of her art. But the artist was equally adept at using words. Her letters to Ryszard Stanisławski, her artistic manifestos, and her interviews reveal a distinct dimension of her work—one that is intimate, direct, and full of emotion, yet at the same time remarkably self-aware in its use of language.

It was from these texts that Emilia Dryja created a performative portrait of Szapocznikow. However, the excerpts selected and arranged by the actress will not be treated as material for a traditional reading. Their physicality and plasticity will find their counterpart in the performer’s movement, gesture, and physical presence. The structure of Szapocznikow’s language will be translated into action, allowing the word and the body—two elements so essential to understanding her work—to come together.

The performance will take place alongside an outdoor exhibition dedicated to Alina Szapocznikow, creating a kind of dialogue with it. The exhibition introduces the artist through her works, their materials, and their forms, while the reading will allow the audience to hear her own voice—and to view her well-known body of work through the lens of the words she left behind.

Who?

Emilia Dryja – actress, graduate of the Puppetry Department at the State Higher School of Theater in Kraków, Wrocław branch. Since 2010, she has been associated with the Arlekin Puppet Theater in Łódź. She is a co-founder of the performance group “Po Omacku” and also collaborates with the Piccolo Theater in Łódź. For this event, she selected and adapted texts by Alina Szapocznikow, using them to create an intimate, multidimensional portrait of the artist.

For Whom?

The event is open to everyone; we especially recommend it to young people aged 13 and older and adults interested in art, theater, and performance art, as well as to those who would like to get to know Alina Szapocznikow not only through her sculptures and biography, but also through the words she left behind. You don’t need to be familiar with her work beforehand—the performance can serve as your first encounter with the artist and, at the same time, an invitation to visit the accompanying outdoor exhibition.

Why is it worth it?

The Łódź Multicultural Festival explores history through specific biographies, voices, and experiences—especially those that defy simple categorizations and unambiguous identities. A performative reading allows us to encounter Alina Szapocznikow in precisely this way—not as an iconic figure in art history, but as a living, speaking individual.

Her personal history remains inextricably linked to the experience of 20th-century Europe—the Holocaust, migration, illness, and life spent moving between different places and cultures. Here, however, this story resurfaces through the artist’s own language. Combined with the performer’s body and movement, the word takes on a tangible quality, reminding us of one of the most significant tensions present in Szapocznikow’s art—between the fragility of the body and the intensity of life. The event thus offers an opportunity to explore her work from a less obvious, personal perspective, while simultaneously demonstrating how a voice from the past can be reactivated in a contemporary space.

The partner for this event is Muzeum Tradycji Niepodległościowych w Łodzi.

Availability

The performance will take place outdoors in Survivors’ Park, in front of the building The Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Lodz, near exhibition dedicated to Alina Szapocznikow.