The clinic for saving a broken heart | Victoria Myronyuk’s performance at the Collegium Anatomicum

The Broken Heart Rescue Clinic is a performance by Ukrainian artist Victoria Myronyuk that draws on medical knowledge, while inviting the audience to reflect on and practice taking care of their own mental and physical wellbeing. The performance is inspired by medical research on takotsubo syndrome (TTC, takotsubo cardiomyopathy), commonly known as ‘broken heart’. It is an acute but reversible heart disease characterised by heart attack-like symptoms and is the result of severe stress, often caused by loss – death, separation, betrayal or loss of hope. In the treatment of Takotsubo syndrome, the patient is supported by both classical medicine and emotional treatment, including psychotherapy, but also social and self-help practices such as meditation, support groups or frank conversations with loved ones.

Collegium Anatomicum

The performance will be co-created by artists and lecturers from the Medical University of Łódź. The venue for the performance will be the inaccessible building of the Collegium Anatomicum of the Medical University of Łódź. Originally, this place housed “Schronisko dla Starców i Kalek” Łódzkiego Towarzystwa Dobroczynności, providing shelter and medical care for several hundred people. This place, steeped in the history of Łódź, is not a random choice – we want to draw attention to the idea of charity, reminiscent of contemporary social activism, based on care and empathy.

Creators

• Director, dramaturgy: Victoria Myronyuk
• Texts: Victoria Myronyuk, Barbara Szymczak
• Expert-physiotherapist: Małgorzata Weremczuk
• Gestalt psychotherapy consultant: Marta Olejniczak
• scenography and costumes: Alicja Tkaczyk
• Curator: Agata Siwiak
• Coordinator and supervisor of a group of physiotherapy students at the Medical University of Łódź: Joanna Kapusta
• Producer: Marta Olejniczak
• Performers: Katarzyna Dąbkiewicz, Jakub Ganc, Ola Kozioł, Karolina Kresowska, Hanna Kubiak, Victoria Myronyuk, Martyna Przychodnia, Magdalena Sawicka, Marta Olejniczak, Martyna Wolniakowska

Bio

Victoria Myronyuk (b. 1985, Kolomyia, Ukraine) is an interdisciplinary artist, performer and theatre maker. She graduated with a master’s degree in “Cultural Theory” from the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” in Kyiv, a master’s degree in “Performing Arts and Visual Culture” in Madrid and a postgraduate degree in “Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies” in Brussels. In recent years she has explored the theme of rituals, their limits and the possibility of constructing new forms of (scenic) relationships between participants. The artist tends to reconstruct or deconstruct ritual structures, testing their possibilities to create performative practices that can build closeness, deepen trust and facilitate the sharing of experiences and stories. In Viktoria’s artistic practice, the intimacy of the performances and the asceticism of the scenography are essential features that contribute to the immersion in the experience of being with others and with oneself.

Accompanying events:

Walk along the trail of good hearts | leading: Joanna Podolska-Płocka