Witajcie / Welcome

DESCRIPTION OF THE PERFORMANCE:

I am interested in a man who is safe but reluctant to accept others, those who flee from war, conflict, oppression, death, hunger. I am interested in the situation of conflict, danger and suffering. I am interested in what this saturated, satisfied Western European would feel in such a place and in such a situation. I am interested in what he would feel for people whose everyday reality is the struggle for life.

One of the elements of the performance is documentation of the performance "From the water", which took place on the beach in Sopot, in October 2015, on the Day of Solidarity with Refugees. It was my comment on immigrants dying at sea, moving distant, tragic images into our Polish, tangible reality. To arouse empathy in viewers and unresponsive observers.
(Aurora Lubos)

'So many people: babies, children, young men and women, couples, families, the elderly and the disabled, representing every stage of life and every type of man you would meet in your neighborhood.'
(Fragment of the text of a volunteer from the refugee camp, Dobova, Slovenia)

INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Aurora Lubos - independent artist and performer associated with the contemporary dance scene in Gdańsk and Britain. Author of several powerful and original solo performances, in which she speaks out against domestic violence among other topics. She is the author of several original dance shows, including solo performances Zanzibar, Unfinished, Knife, Horse and Stairs, Acts, Thou Shalt Not, installations / performancesAct No 1, Four Corners, Act for Two – Leftovers, Without Home,and animations Winter 2010 Since 2000, she has been an actress at the prestigious British Vincent Dance Theatre

Alex Catona - multidisciplinary artist with a vast international performing and teaching experience in various fields of the performing arts. Avant garde musician, dancer, writer, choreographer, visual artist, filmmaker, theatre director and dramatist. His main area of interest is avant garde experiments within the performing and visual arts and in particular the relationship between sound, body, space and context.
 

REVIEWS:

'Once associated with the Gdansk Dance Theater, and still with the British Vincent Dance Theater, Aurora Lubos is today primarily a performer. [...] She has a recognizable style and a lot of good ideas. She is the absolute lead in Polish performance. [...] Her voice on matters that hurt her speaks on behalf of those who do not take their voices, or their voice is hidden, uncomfortable, embarrassing and mostly spoiling the overall atmosphere of contentment and pleasure, her performances are combining rare, even in art, empathy and extreme forms of presentation. It is not a Buddhist meeting with Marina Abramović, but a daring statement in defense of humanity and victims of violence, system, hypocrisy or just justice, if we agree that there is one at least in literature [...]
Aurora Lubos were not satisfied with media reports about refugees and left for the Sentilij camp on the Slovenian-Austrian border. The video and sounds used in the performance were recorded there, she also met the conditions and people, but she did not base her story on a specific case. She created a portrait, or rather a collective impression, covering all: large and small, women and men. Just everyone. Her observations and reports of tragic accidents on the island of Kos were the inspiration that collided with Polish, partly Polish, but the most noticeable, unfortunately, response. [...]
The title greeting sounds ironic and sad. Performance invites us to participate in another, known already from the history of the world, local annihilation. The daily reactions of far too many countrymen are an extremely sad message. Poles, who once helped the whole world, today are insensitive to the fate of refugees. Here, on the spot, next to each other, millions of refugees of conscience live with us. [...]
The world has been in an impasse for decades, a man died in Oświęcim. The frustration stemming from malaise and the lack of influence on global processes is deepening, although it seemed that it could not be any worse. We know more and more about hypocrisy and evil, but we do less and less to counteract it.
We can try to influence individual fates, but generally the "pleasure culture" in which we are now, kills humanity. [...] It's good that there is Aurora Lubos who is our conscience.'
('Empatically and Extremely', Piotr Wyszomirski, Gazeta Świętojańska)

'When Aurora Lubos puts on the hands of a woman from the audience a rag doll that imitates a human body, I have no doubt what I am watching - it is a pietà, a wail of the Western world over those who did not survive a sea journey. [...] It was a beautiful gesture. What remains in me the most is humanism that overflows this performance - a deeply human attitude that makes us respect every life.'
("Witajcie / Żegnajcie", Izabela Szymańska)

LINKS:

• Review "No welcome. No love. No home." Magda Bałajewicz, Teatralia, 203/2017
• Reportage "Aurora wita uchodźców", Małgorzata Żerwe, Radio Gdańsk
• Fragments of performance "Z wody / Out of water", Aurora Lubos