Series:Kultura, Sztuka, Muzyka

Artystyczne światy Anny Szpakowskiej-Kujawskiej. Zbliżenia

Author(s): Karolina Tomczak / Language(s): Polish

The book Artistic universes of Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska. Close up focuses on lessknown fields of diverse artistic activity of this prominent artist living in Wrocław, such as her participation in Symposium Wrocław’70, ceramic sculptures, Nigerian period (exotic “Calabashes”) and artforms made in Lasowka (painted collages and 3-dimensional Skrzydlaki – “Winged Ones”). The study in six chapters presents characteristic ranges of artistic work of this artist. It allows to set apart the particular specificity of this multimedial art. She holds it in the present discourse clarifying her, still not enough described formal-thematic values as well as a membership of the paradigm of contemporary work.

Ciało – muzyka – performans

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

In humanitites, the issues connected with playing, and therefore performing music have always been an integral part of theoretical reflections and they have always occupied a place in the classification of academic fields, however the aim of the present publication is the conceptualization of the situation of the performer, in which case the conventions of reception and genre classification neutralize the reflection upon the bodily dimension of performance. For this reason, it seems vital to indicate, reveal, and name these theoretical barriers, and look at performance from the perspective of the musicalness of the body and the bodiliness of music. Music can be treated as an abstract entity, as was argued in the past by Boethius and Leibniz, and presently by cognitivists, however when it is being performed, the music gains materiality, while the audial nature of an individual realization of an abstract piece of music constitutes a significant component of the musical work as such. The performance entails the presence of the performer’s body, which becomes the element of the whole aesthetic experience. The axis of reflections contained in the articles gathered in the present volume, quite arbitrarily grouped into two mirrored parts, evolves therefore around the issues of, on the one hand, the musicalness of the performer’s body, and on the other, the bodiliness of performance. Looking at performance from the perspective of music and the body allows to revive our attitude towards the existing and historically described viewpoints on the performer’s body and provide a new insight into this issue. Such a formulation of the problem gives rise to a multitude of methodological outlooks, which in turn demonstrate a dichotomy of research tracks. Some of them will still treat the body as an instrument, others, by contrast, will pay attention to the symbiosis of consciousness and bodiliness; some will emphasize the audiality, others will stress the fusion of the audial and the visual. It is symptomatic that in each case the art of performing, as well as the works themselves, initiates similarly inspiring academic discussions.

Cyberkultura. Syntopia sztuki, nauki i technologii. Wyd. 2 popr.

Author(s): Piotr Zawojski / Language(s): Polish

Cyberculture and critical studies on its history and its becoming a new cultural paradigm constitute one of the most important phenomena of technosociety, whose functioning is determined by new digital media and the internet. A fundamental thesis, specifying the direction of theoretical and interpretative efforts undertaken in the present work, is the conviction that cyberculture is based on the syntopia of art, science, and technology. However, before the definition of cyberculture is formulated, historical contexts of this phenomenon are outlined. The ideas of third culture and New Renaissance, put forward by John Brockman, are treated here as a theoretical basis for the forming of network society. Cyberculture should be considered as the conclusion of the processes initiated by countercultural performances in 1960s. Chapter Two broadly develops the concept of the syntopia of art, science, and technology. The art of technology and technologies of art refer to scientific background, as this phenomenon has its roots in the first manifestations of computer art in 1960s. After cyberculture has been defined in Chapter Three, the place of art in cyberspace and cyberculture is investigated in the following chapter. Chapter Five discusses the key forms of participation for cyber-art, i.e. the problems of interactivity (and interpassivity), immersion, and interface. Chapter Six is devoted to the theory and practice of documenting and presenting the art of digital media in the era of telematic and IT revolution. The key concepts that render the changing conditions of culture that used to be oriented towards data storage, and nowadays towards data transmission, are immateriality, metamediality, and networking. Archives with no physical location, web platforms taking over the function of art galleries, museums, libraries, and repositories set completely new standards of thinking about art in public circulation. The final chapter deals with the issue of virtual museums as a new territory of art, both the one that uses traditional media, as well as cyber-art. In the concluding part of the book, cyberculture is treated as a kind of revitalization of economy and the gift culture proclaiming a new revolution of everyday life in digital reality.

Dizajn w kontekście estetyki. Jego początki, przeobrażenia i konotacje

Author(s): Alicja Głutkowska-Polniak / Language(s): Polish

The term “design”, commonly used today, however ambiguous and multidimensional, cannot be denied cognitive usefulness. Generally understood, design refersto contemporaneity, revealing the dependencies between production, consumption and culture. As a distinguished type of activities and practices, realizing the values of social aesthetic awareness, it is vibrant in today’s world.This book aims at showing the category of design in a broad cultural context, with a focus on the evolution of this notion in the 20th century. An analysis of this phenomenon, rich in multifarious connotations, begins in Europe at the approach of the 20th century, when this discipline, in a way, emerged from the sphere of artistic activity (Bauhaus, De Stijl), and ends in contemporary times. The road leads through issues strictly connected with the development of technology and aesthetics, but exclusively within the aspect of human life and functioning. In fact, design has always been connected with man as a subject (author and recipient) and anobject that the latter has in use. As such, it carries in itself a great wealth of diverse ideologies and socio-cultural values, which it reflects in connection with human life. In this sense, design is also a reflection of a way of this life, particularly in the times of aesthetization of reality.Design, as a close connection between art, technology and life eludes all definitions; it cannot be be unambiguously boiled down to any specific esthetic theories either. Referring to Peter Bürger, it can be assumed that design is art which became so immersed in life practice, that, having lost distance to the latter, it ceased to function stricte as art and became a new area of quest and experiments. Therefore, aesthetics implicite, as seen by Władysław Tatarkiewicz, tranferred into the sphere of design: drawing from the designers’ practices, contained in items/objects/utilitarian products, in critical thought and tastes and fads of a given period, seems to be the most optimal form of an aesthetic analysis of this phenomenon. Such an analysis is a priority of this work, whereas the chronological aspect helps connect design to the (aesthetic) functioning of man starting from from modernist beginnings of the 20th century throughout postwar changes and postmodernist aesthetic relaxing.

Dokument i kreacja artystyczna jako dopełniające się formy obrazowania rzeczywistości

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

The book entitled A document and artistic creation as mutually complementary forms of depicting reality is a collection of authorial texts which in a different and multifaceted way deal with the universal and still troubling relation between a document and creation, signalling at the same time various understandings of these notions. It presents to readers, especially to those interested in contemporary art, up-to-date theoretical considerations and unique effects of artistic activities, both particularly focused on the analysis of documentary and creative specificity of photography but also on other artistic disciplines, including the current heterogeneous post-media art.

Edukacja, kultura, sztuka – spoistość a integracja

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Education, culture and art are subject to transformations, therefore they require reinterpretation being orientated not so much on their development but rather on social utility, readiness to manifest in other areas of human activity. They form a transparent network of relationships correlations that exemplifies the principle of reciprocity, an extremely important principle in education, which is embodied in the sphere of mutual exchange of services. Education, culture and art have always been mutually supportive, and determined each other’s development. All of these three areas accompany man throughout his life, however education, owing to the aspect of its institutionalisation and obligation, has become part and parcel of everyday life not only during childhood and adolescence, since the need for self development and education is permanent. Art and culture, even though they are constantly present in the social space, too often they remain outside the sphere of the awareness of a human, who does not notice them, underestimates them or even marginalises. This attitude is a result of lack or insufficiency of proper education. The observed absence or insufficiency of education in the field of culture and art poses a threat to the quality of life – on the one hand, whereas on the other hand it is a field that constitutes a space open for development, for focusing the attention of educational and social environments of parents, teachers, caregivers, local authorities and politicians on the essence of a systematic, deliberate inclusion of culture and art into modern education and the need for it. What the authors of the articles point out in this volume is that modern times bring about many dangers, traumatic experiences, irregularities that create barriers to a satisfying, full development.Let us, therefore, avail ourselves of the cultural heritage, of various fields of art, whichfor centuries have been waiting in readiness for social action. This need was postulated by Plato, Aristotle, Molière, Shakespeare, Durkheim, Comte, Znaniecki, Bernstein, Parsons, Radlińska, Beuys or Hanuszkiewicz. Maybe our contemporary activity in this field will make widespread what has been realised only to a limited extent. May these precious ingredients, i.e. culture and art, enrich education.Modern times, marked by, among others, cultural diversity, aging, social maladjustment, lackof social dialogue, the dominance of consumption oriented culture, lack of interest in culturalheritage and various fields of art, or inability to enjoy them, should be subjected to urgent educational activities carried out by both school and other educational environments, being aware of the role of education, culture and art in everyday life. In this context, art cannot be perceived merely as an artistic experience or feeling, nowadays – more than ever – it should become social practice, therefore it is analysed more and more frequently in sociological convention, and seen as one of the elements of the social system. History confirms the cohesiveness and integration of education, culture and art.The authors of the texts comprised in this volume express the need for demonstrating notso much an individual space of education, culture and art, but, above all, a common space ofthese activities, their reciprocity in the perspective of socio-cultural and civilisation transformations. The presented here considerations expose some chosen aspects of social life in these areas, showing the need for their mutual permeation, support and complementation, and the feasibility of that. The reader will not always find, in the presented texts, in-depth analyses within the particular thematic areas, since the intention of the authors was, in fact, to draw attention to certain contexts, sections of social reality that should benefit from the integration of education, culture and art.The paper consists of two parts, each of which presents specific thematic issues. The first partof the study, entitled: Deliberations on the experience of the present and the need for transformationsin the educational system in view of the requirements imposed by modern times, containsseven texts focused on the issues of education and the institution of school that is aware of thenecessity to meet the requirements of the present. The second part of the volume – under thetitle: Art and culture as a means of enhancing educational processes in the individual and social space, also comprises seven articles, which, this time, emphasise the contribution of culture / art understood not only as a specific work, but also as a certain attitude / readiness / willingness to act in the process of daily activities. The presented texts, being the result of research activities, theoretical analyses and scientific interests of individual authors, are characterized by significant diversity.

Embracing Folk Material and Finding the New Objectivity: Karol Szymanowski's Twenty Mazurkas op. 50 and Two Mazurkas op. 62

Author(s): Anna Kijanowska / Language(s): English

This book examines the presence of folk material in and the influence of the New Objectivity on the „Mazurkas” op. 50 and op. 62 by Karol Szymanowski through various elements: rhythmic patterns, form, proportions, phrase structure, texture, accompaniment patterns, and articulation. Special emphasis is placed on the influence of the folk music practiced in the Highland region of the Tatra Mountains and its unquestionable presence in the „Mazurkas”. This dissertation dispenses with an analysis of the tonal system in the „Mazurkas”, a topic extensively covered in a thesis by Ann Kossakowski (Yale University, 1980). Chapter 1 discusses stylistic differences in Szymanowski’s works prior to the 1920s and beyond, as well as general trends in European music of that period. Chapter 2 focuses on the New Objectivity movement which is exemplified by the return to traditional forms and textures. Found in the works of Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Hindemith, this new trend represents the search for a new direction reflective of Baroque and Classical models. The subsequent chapter is devoted exclusively to Polish folk music with distinctions drawn between Lowland and Highland folk styles and draws upon various examples of folk dances and songs. The main body of the book begins in Chapter 4, which is devoted to the analysis of the „Mazurkas”. A close look at the individual elements of the compositions highlights the remarkable way in which Szymanowski’s music manifests the New Objectivity in its texture, clear phrase structure, symmetrical proportions, and the rhythmic unity achieved through irregular accents typical of folk music. Chapter 5 explores the interpretive challenges a performer faces in the „Mazurkas” and examines each composition individually, analyzing the character and function of key elements: rhythmic patterns, articulation, and especially rubato. Szymanowski’s influence on modern Polish music and his contribution to later generations cannot be overstated and is the subject matter of the last chapter, followed by a summation in the conclusion.

Hałda. O śląskiej wyobraźni symbolicznej

Author(s): Katarzyna Niesporek / Language(s): Polish

Instead of being an all-encompassing monograph, this book consists of essays and articles engaging a number of authors. It predominantly focuses on the poems which treat the image of a spoil heap, the most iconic representation of the black Silesia, as a literary symbol. The spoil heap turns out to be not only an irremovable element of the landscape, but also a trope raising both existential and ethical issues.The spoil heap, understood as the symbol of landscape, is a recurrent motif in the literary works of Silesian poets. This book focuses on the most representative poets, if not the most important ones for the Upper Silesian literature; however, it is not the intention of this book to engage in literary and historical debates that establish such a hierarchy among authors, but rather to elaborate on the topic which has been so far unnoticed in literary studies. In other words, this work aims to look at Silesia and its inhabitants locked in the industrial landscape by means of the spoil heap – its most iconic symbol – and to pose significant questions concerning existence and its value.The spoil heap is referred to by both eminent and less well known poets (and even amateurs). It is beyond the scope of this book to list all of them. Hence, the analysis focuses entirely on the first and second generations of Silesian poets: Emil Zegadłowicz (born 1888), Włodzimierz Żelechowski (born 1893), Wilhelm Szewczyk (born 1913), Bolesław Lubosz (born 1928), Tadeusz Kijonka (born 1936), and Stanisław Krawczyk (born 1938).Even though the poems stem from different historical and social contexts, the works discussed in this book are united by the similar images of the spoil heap (the only exception being the ones by Emil Zegadłowicz, who does not mention the spoil heap at all). The authors depict the spoil heaps as, among others, the “mountains of life” surprisingly blooming with nature, the places serving as shelters, bunkers, and even arsenals during wars and the Silesian Uprisings, the spaces of secret and intimate meetings; they are also the places of poverty, the reality of everyday toil and one’s salvation. Finally, the spoil heaps have been shown as wastelands, dumps of rubbish, piles of mine residue, or as hills polluting and intoxicating the surrounding areas.The chapters on the Silesian poets this book consists of are the critical readings of the eponymous image; still, each approach to this image construes its own distinctive perspective: “it reveals the visible, yet in a different – and previously unknown – way.” In these investigations, interpretation – as a method – is the key to unlock the poetic imagination, whereas literary and historical contexts pop out – one might say – by a mere chance, which, nevertheless, insightfully supports the practices of reading.

Imagologia – pamięć zbiorowa – umysł i kultura

Author(s): Aleksandra Niewiara / Language(s): Polish

The book touches on themes from the area which has been termed as ethnolinguistic imagology. It undertakes a discussion over the nature of collective conceptions of nations (a term coined by a Polish forerunner of imagological research, J.S Bystroń) as cultural conceptualizations, located in individual minds, where – accordingly to the connectionist model – they are simultaneously processed within a connected network of concepts as data collected within, while the problem of their verbal and visual nature is one of the most important subjects of the discussion. The book also considers the issues of evolution, inheritance in culture and attempts to address the workings of the collective memory, including collective remembering and forgetting (thus entering the area of humanist memorology). The dependence of collective conceptions of nations on the environment is demonstrated, and in particular, on political, economic and social experience of community, which leads towards a discussion on the subject of collective identity. The theoretical conclusions are derived from an analysis of the data collected as a result of over 20 year research conducted in the following stages: 1990, 1994, 2012 (fundamental research), 2016, 2017 (supplementary research) in form of associative tests set up to acquire verbal data (on the subject of six nationalities: English, Czech, French, German, Polish, Russian) and visual data (on the subject of sixteen nationalities: American, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Polish, Russian, Scottish, Swedish, Tatar, Turkish, Ukrainian, Cosssack, Italian, Jewish).In the first chapter, entitled Conceptions of nations in the light of cognitive studies on culture, theoretical grounds for the methodology presented in the work are set. The history of European studies on imagology is presented, with a particular attention being paid to the research concerning Slavic cultures. Characterized are the main themes of the ten year discussion over culture as a cognitive phenomenon and theoretical foundations are laid out for own conception, where the imagological perspective attempts to demonstrate the dynamics of the process of conceptualizing other nations, with the presupposition that a given culture’s knowledge is not fixed but undergoes modifications within the frames of the evolution of the entire culture. Relating to appropriate conceptions of the mind, i.e. the connectionist model and the vision of the embodied mind, and also own research concerning the evolution of Polish conceptions of nations over several hundred years, the structure of the cognitive network of conceptions of nation is demonstrated, which originates from grouping ideas into clusters, which are connected with closer and more remote relations and are at the same time some part of a conceptual network of a given culture.In the second chapter, entitled Research and conclusions, basic information about the researched population, the conditions and circumstances of the research and the research methodology is given. The chapter indicates a possibility of evaluation of changes or continuity of cultural conceptions which occur in minds of two successive biological generations at moments important for the community: during the first stage of the Polish system transformation and the so-called breakthrough of 1989/1990 and the second stage during the Euro 1012 soccer championships held in Poland. The specificity of research and the results of association tests, including a test of own design where the task consisted of drawing a person of a given nationality in response to a stimulus were characterized. The principles of correlating the results of verbal and pictorial questionnaires were discussed and presented in form of tables, where the ordering of data reflects the grouping of concepts from the appropriate cognitive domains into clusters of the conceptual network in the human mind (1. Initial taxonomy, 2. Place. Territory, 3. Language. Speech, 4.a. Appearance. Physical qualities, 4b. Appearance. Clothing and armament, 5. Emotions, 6.a. Behaviour in a group. Manners, 6.b. Character and personality, 6.c. Temperament, 6.d. Intellect, 6.e. Ethics, 4.c. Money. Wealth, 8.a. Food, drink, stimulants, 8.b. Artifacts. Technology, 8.c. Culture, 8.d. Sports, 9. Current politics and historical events). The purpose of this part is a presentation of the thematic content of particularconceptions of nations and an indication of some of the trends in their evolution.In chapter three, entitled Discussion, observations which stem from the comparative analysis of results were presented. The part Cognitive domains in construing conceptualizations of nations discusses the processing of data concerning the nations within individual clusters that group concepts from appropriate domains. This allowed for noticing related transformations within the whole network of cultural conceptualizations particular to a researched group, for instance an improvement in conceptualizing a German being parallel with a simultaneous deterioration in conceptualizing Russians or Americans. The symptoms are apparent in the change of clarity of concepts group in individual clusters and which can easily be diagnosed based on the number of associations and reactions to a stimulus. In the part A picture or a word? Conceptions of nations as cognitive representations, the comparison of data from the verbal and pictorial questionnaires demonstrated certain differences in the intensity and quality of processing information (linear or parallel) on the subject of appearance, psyche and emotions, social attitudes; it revealed the fact that pictorial data more quickly register the changes in consciousness of a given group (e.g. concerning the sense of identity and self-stereotype, or the recordings of the most current information in the supplementary research from 2016 and 2017), while verbal ones are more traditional and slower in reflecting the changes. The mutual influence of both codes was also noticed, when a word inspires the design of the picture, e.g. through a suggested association with a strongly rooted phraseology. In parts entitled Memory and identity. Continuity and change – inheritance, the results were compared from the perspective of changes concerning collective memory and reflections were presented over cultural inheritance in cross-generation transmission in a given group, including a broader perspective of Polish culture in its historical development and wide territorial reach. The conclusions concern a gradual decrease in the number of historical associations in successive stages of research, the reduction of elements of cultural and communicative memory, which indicates, among others, a certain cultural evolution which occurred in the studied period and which consists of both the transmission of selected unchanged cultural conceptualizations, and modifications, or even mutations of others (in the process of cultural inheritance). Due to the dependence of these changes on political and economic transformations, both in the local and global environment, we can speak of capturing a certain stage in the evolution of Polish culture in its researched fragment.

Jeszcze o artyście (i sztuce): w literaturze, kulturze i nieopodal

Author(s): Nina Nowara-Matusik / Language(s): Polish,German

Ludowa kultura muzyczna Śląska Cieszyńskiego ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem Beskidu Śląskiego. Folklor pieśniowy Istebnej, Koniakowa i Jaworzynki – źródła repertuarowe a ich transformacje

Author(s): Magdalena Szyndler / Language(s): Polish

The present monograph is a reflection of the author’s interests which were pursued for many years, which eventually resulted in the research in the musical folklore of Śląsk Cieszyński (especially in places located in its southern part i.e. Beskid Śląski – Istebna, Jaworzynka, Koniaków). It constitutes a natural continuation of previous explorations devoted to the vocal folklore of the Polish minority in Zaolzie (the part of Śląsk Cieszyński which today is a part of the Czech Republic). The purpose of the dissertation was to separate the present phase of the evolution of folk musical repertoire of the aforementioned area in the folklore – folklorism – folk perspective. Therefore the author’s idea had to do with a monographical treatment of the song repertoire in the genre-related and horizontal perspective (a musicological perspective and also an analysis according to the function and the content) and the establishment of its peculiar properties by conducting a comparative analysis of the early material (songbooks which were published since the end of the 19th century), the Zaolzie material and the material that was collected during the field research conducted in the years 2011–2015 in the Trójwsie area (Istebna, Jaworzynka, Koniaków – individual and group interviews). Moreover, the publication features descriptions of the transformations of source folklore – the folk and hybrid material. The author could not disregard the historical and political perspective (hence a chapter devoted to history), which exerted a decisiveinfluence upon the development of the changes and transformations of folk culture (and ofother types of culture as well). The last chapter contains the results of research in the familiarity of the children and young people from the schools of Śląsk Cieszyński (sixth-grade elementary school pupils and third-grade gimnazjum pupils) with the folk repertoire, which complement the present state and the functioning of musical folklore in the area that was discussed. A further merit of the work consists in the fact that until now no monograph devoted to a similar theme was published.

Msza Es-dur na sopran solo, chór mieszany i orkiestrę dętą

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Mass in E-flat major for soprano solo, mixed choir and wind orchestra is a novelty in Polish wind orchestra repertoire. It’s also the first time the composer has employed this form. Our country’s repertoire for wind orchestras has widened its scope, which is a positive aspect of the cultural activity of such bands, and the composition in question might contribute to this phenomenon. The work comprises of sections corresponding to the Catholic liturgy: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and each of them contains classical Latin texts. The work embraces the whole gamut of sounds – both orchestral and choral – and exposes the vocals of the soloist.

Muzyka na Śląsku Cieszyńskim

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

The land of Cieszyn Silesia has been inspiring artists, composers, and other creators of culture for years. In particular, the musical folk culture has been a stimilus for activity in the field of collating, analysing, and researching folklore material (songs, intrumental melodies), but also for creating based on the said folk music of new pieces, both following “classical” esthetics (stylizations) and “transformed” esthetic (among others, contemporary folk music along with its derivatives). Cieszyn Silesia is a place of scholarly research most of all due to its rich historical and cultural past, to which the text composing this publication testify. (A fragment from the Introduction)

Od mobilnosti do interakcije. Dramsko pismo i kazalište u Bosni i Hercegovini, Crnoj Gori, Hrvatskoj, na Kosovu, u Makedoniji, Sloveniji i Srbiji

Author(s): / Language(s): Croatian

Pamięć czasu — malarstwo w czasach bankructwa duchowego

Author(s): Lech Kołodziejczyk / Language(s): Polish

The publication entitled The Memory of Time – Painting in the Time of Spiritual Bankruptcy includes over 50 essays pondering various issues of contemporary art in the context of my own experience as a painter, in addition to comments and reflections pertaining to variegated creation-related notions revealed in the course of creative processes during my artistic activity. The analysis of the so-called creative programme of particular painting series: Fantomanie, Kosmogonie, Księga Słońca, Głowy, Rytmy Pamięci, Ogrody Ciemności, Baśniowe Fantazje, Wirtualne Ikony is an attempt to present and describe ideas- and themes-related assumptions of individual artistic productions, as well as to specify the character of their painting language that would correspond to the content and idea expressed by them. Another part of the publication consists of illustrative material – photographs documenting particular works of painting created throughout the 40-year period of my artistic activity. The texts and paintings documentation compose a consistent whole, while the truth and authenticity of individual authorial experience of painting add credibility and substance to the content of the essays. What is pivotal idea here and what constitutes the kernel of both theoretical part (essays, comments) and illustrative material is an attempt at presenting the dramatic withdrawal, atrophy, one may even say bankruptcy of experiencing spiritual space, which is palpable in productions of socalled contemporary art. Philosophical considerations, reflections of such authors as Plato, Saint Augustin, Pseudo-Dionysius, Robert Grosseteste, Saint Bonaventura, or Meister Eckhart referring to the activity in the realm of art, seem today so distant and so unfitting the contemporary mental space, that the awareness of cultural crisis, of disappearing elementary reference points become a dramatic sign of the nowadays cultural disintegration. Within this shattered, fragmented space my painting activity externalizes the voice of a human individual searching for those ignored, unwanted, omitted spiritual spaces, the traces of understanding with great artistic tradition, with efforts of many old masters who wrote, but also materialized through art their great intentions, ideas, creative plans.

Pisanie dla sceny – narracje współczesnego teatru

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

In contemporary research on theatre there is a palpable and established conviction about the dynamic, tense-filled relationship between text and the stage, which virtually needs no extensive scholarly justification. However, the multifarious character of actions undertaken in the theatrical realm, especially including the trasformations of how the (spoken) word is used in plays, encourage us to once more ask questions regarding the manner in which various materials are correlated in the performing arts of recent, but also regarding theatre as communication medium which is determined by both event-based and heterogeneous character. [A fragment from the Introduction]

Polska piosenka pop jako tekst w tekście kultury. Na przykładach z pierwszej dekady XXI wieku

Author(s): Piotr Pierzchała / Language(s): Polish

The thesis is an attempt at establishing characteristics of pop song as a genre. The pop song is easy to indicate intuitively by almost every participant of culture, yet its encyclopaedic definitions are nothing more than general. The analyses are based on the textological concept of reality in which the text examined – pop song – is a multicode message. The main aspects in question are lyrics, the CD covers and booklets, video clips, concerts as well as the image of the artist itself. The distinctive features of the genre are defined on the basis of the mutual interference of particular pop subtexts and the general concept of cultural text. The research material for the thesis are the works of the band Ich Troje and Dorota Rabczewska aka Doda. As the thesis tries to capture the socially functional type of message, high‑order text appearing in particular productions, the compositions selected for the analysis are model representations of the phenomenon.

Powojenna twórczość pomnikowa Xawerego Dunikowskiego 1945–1964

Author(s): Karolina Tomczak / Language(s): Polish

The study of „Post–war monumental work of Xawery Dunikowski 1945-1964’’ analyses complex issues of late monumental art of this doyen of native sculpture, the process of its formation in reality of a Polish communist state, as well as formal and thematic quality. The monographic presentation of three main works: Monument to the Uprising on St. Anna’s Mountain (1946-1955), Monument to the Liberation of the Warmia and Mazury Region in Olsztyn (1949-1954) and designs for the Monument to the Heroes of Warsaw (1956-1958), it completes a panoramic overview of his other monuments from that time. A multi-aspect look at Dunikowski’s final monumental creation does not offer unequivocal answers, but a rich overview of this diverse art of the authorship of the outstanding personality of a multi-epochal artist. The dissertation reminds about this unique creation, it describes its precisely, contextualizes and reinterprets.

Przemiany funkcjonalno-przestrzenne Starego Miasta w Mysłowicach w latach 1913–2013

Author(s): Weronika Dragan / Language(s): Polish

The scope of research in the book is the oldest part of Mysłowice, i.e. the Old Town, which, constitutes at the same time the historical core of the town. In the area of the Old Town two parts can be distinguished: the one with preserved medieval urban layout and the other, the so-called new town – which developed in the 19th century with the impact from the train station.The book presents the changes in space and in function that occurred within the Mysłowice Old Town between 1913 and 2013. The lower end of the time range was included in the period referred to as the “golden years” of Mysłowice, dating back to the years 1862–1915. At that time, the town gained its momentum of development, when, next to the dynamic development of the mining and metallurgy industries, as well as spatial expansion, also the gateway function of the town strengthened due to its location on the border of three countries: Prussia, Russia and Austria. Unfortunately, the outbreak of World War I and, consequently, the shift of the state border to the west produced a situation that from the beginning of the 1920s, caused Mysłowice to take a negative path of development – today the town is almost unknown to the general public awareness.Despite the well-developed research on functional and spatial structures of towns located in the Katowice region, there is a clear shortage of such studies for Mysłowice. The literature on the town under examination lacks comparative studies. This proves that the present study is complementary and enriches the field with its dynamic approach and the comparative and explanatory analysis of the town’s evolution. It also allows for an entirely fresh look at the research problem – namely from the geographical and historical points of view. Additionally, this work provides valuable information on urban planning and spatial development of the Old Town district, and points to the determinants of the development of modern functional and spatial structures of the studied area.The book is theoretical and empirical in its character, which is also reflected in its layout. The first chapter contains the methodological and theoretical principles of the conducted research. Theoretical concepts explaining the functional and spatial structures of the towns were arranged in chronological order of their creation, which, in turn, allowed for obtaining a complete picture of the studied subject. The second chapter, on the other hand, presents a historical outline of the town’s development and the location of Mysłowice against the backdrop of the processes shaping other centres of the present Katowiceconurbation.The next two chapters relate to the empirical studies on restoring the functional and spatial arrangement of 1913 and 2013, and to determining the conditions affecting the development or regression of Mysłowice. Firstly, a reconstruction of the spatial arrangement and institutional base for 1913 was made, and the town's role at that time was presented, as well as its international links. The whole of the analysis was closed with an attempt to clarify the nature of the spatial and functional arrangement of the town based on the concept of gatewaytowns.The fourth chapter is devoted to contemporary research on the spatial and functional arrangement of the Old Town in Mysłowice, as well as the degree of degradation of the Old Town district and the processes of its regeneration and renewal. In explaining the recourse of the research area, a reference was made to the concept of dissipative structures in relation to the functions of Mysłowice.The last chapter presents the dynamics of functional and spatial transformations. At this stage of the study, a comparative analysis was conducted for the two selected years, and an attempt was made to explain the resulting direction of transformations. On this basis, the transformations of spatial development, the transportation system and distribution of functions in the Old Town were described. What is more, generalizations were made in the form of a scheme of conditions, urban transformations from the Middle Ages to modern times and the evolution of the importance of Mysłowice. In addition, the end result of the conducted research was the model of functional and spatial structure transformations and functions of the Old Town, also relating to the whole process of spatial evolution and showing the sinusoidal character of urban transformations. The author used a variety of methods that allowed for both the recreation of the two functional and spatial systems as well as to indicate transformations. The study included two types of research, namely the query of archival (cartographic and written) materials and an urban inventory. The result was the creation of an institutional base for two selected research periods (1913 and 2013), which were used for the reconstruction of the functional and spatial plan of the Old Town. In addition, during the compilation of empirical data, a series of statistical methods were applied that later allowed for the comparison of results for the two years, including Zioło’s synthetic index, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and Doi’s method, etc. However, in the interpretation of cartographic materials, the method of town plan analysis developed by Conzen was used, which was conducted based on the sequence of chronologically listed plans of Mysłowice.The book uses both sources typical for historical research (diaries, newspapers), geographical research (cartographic materials) and urban research (sketches and urban planning documentation). In addition, iconographic sources proved to be helpful allowing for, among others visualizing the content of the literature and town plans. Cartographic materials consisted of archival plans and maps of Mysłowice, both large and small-scale, dating from the 19th, 20th and 21st century. The written materials, in turn, comprised mainly address books (Adressbuch) of Mysłowice from 1901–1914, as well as The Official List of Telephone Network Subscribers of 1929. These materials were used to reconstruct the institutional base for 1913. Moreover, other written sources used in the study were historical monographs devoted to the town, the press, and even literary passages, for example Pamiętniki (Diaries) by Kraszewski.The particularity of the research on spatial functionalism refers in the present study to the level of individual buildings, or parcels, of the Old Town district of Mysłowice. Such a approach was possible thanks to obtaining access to the abovementioned historical source materials, as well as detailed field studies undertaken in 2013. Each of the disciplines referenced to in this study provides a different perspective on the town. The geographical perspective refers to the attributes of space and relationships, the economic approach – to functional values, the historical view – to aspects of spatial transformations over time (historical dynamism), and the urban approach – to planning practicality. The conducted research and explanations refer to the evolutionary approach and also to the system approach by showing the transformations of the Old Town against the background of the whole urban centre. The basic theory, applied in the research, were the principles of the genetic and functional approach relating to the evolutionary research conduct. Moreover, in order to offer a fuller understanding of the direction of the ongoing changes of urban space, a reference was made to the theory of dependency on the path of development, which allowed for explaining, in general terms, the direction of the economic and spatial evolution of the town. In turn, the difference between the two distinguished stages under examination required the use of another two theoretical approaches: the gateway cities concept (for 1913) and the notion of dissipative structures (for 2013). The preparation of models referring to the applied theoreticaldepictions after each stage of the research constituted a specific form of a summary and systematizing the ongoing changes. The book is one of the few studies combining various kinds of cartographic, written and material sources. This necessitated using methods that had to conform to the research relating to the past as well as the present.The book presents a study based on two time frames “taken” from the course of the historical evolution of the town, therefore they could constitute a prelude to further, much more in-depth analyses. Moreover, such research can be conducted for other towns of the Katowice conurbation and even of the Upper Silesia region. This would allow for a comparative analysis of inner-city changes taking place in various urban centres and a determination of the trajectory of future changes. On the other hand, the studies on space and economy of the Old Town could be helpful in developing local regeneration programmes, zoning plans for the Old Town district and a study of conditions and directions of spatial development.

Przestrzenie muzyczne w polskim teatrze współczesnym

Author(s): Magdalena Figzał / Language(s): Polish

The main aim of the book Musical Spaces in Contemporary Polish Theatre is to present the various functions of music in Polish dramatic theatre and also to demonstrate the ways in which contemporary Polish theatre directors ‘shape’ the sound layer in their performances. Concurrently, the author discusses two methodologies which can be used to analyse and describe theatre music. These two complementary methodologies are the semiotics and the performative aesthetics.The monograph explores the numerous relationships between music and other elements of the mise-en-scene, including scenography, actor’s body (acting and movement) and stage lighting. However, the main focus is the relation between music and theatrical fiction. The particular chapters are connected to each other by the ‘musical space’ category which should be defined as a specific way of shaping the sound landscape in a performance.The subject of the publication involves a variety of theoretical issues such as perception of music in dramatic theatre, classification of the theatre sounds, types of musical meanings, and also the influence of technology on the sound production. All these questions are considered with regard to particular Polish performances which have been produced in the last 25 years – especially the works of Jerzy Jarocki, Jerzy Grzegorzewski, Krystian Lupa, Andrzej Dziuk,Krzysztof Warlikowski and Jan Klata.