As we move along the city streets we rarely experience moments that allow us to break away from the monotonous rhythm of everyday life. Being part of the disorder created by people who are always in a rush we do not perceive the harmony, the order or the colours which surround us. It is not so difficult to become lost in a big city. The protagonists of my tale are dancers from Warsaw who were asked to find themselves in the spaces I had suggested. Using mainly improvisation we sought the har- mony of the body and space. In these photographs the dancers, whom we identify with movement and dynamics, are only one of the elements of the image and in their stillness they seem to overcome the chaos. As in the case of dance improvisation, also here the inspirations stemmed from diverse sources. This is expressed by the colour in the photographs appearing in different variations. It sometimes happens that we can find rhythm inside ourselves. At other times we need a stimulus, an impulse from the outside. The photographs show both strategies. Flow is a state of being winged, of an unobstructed current of good energy. It is sometimes worth the while to stop for a minute and feel it.
Marta Ankiersztejn, majored in Theatre Studies at the Aleksander Zelwerowicz State Theatre Academy in Warsaw. She also completed a three-year photography course at the Association of Polish Photography Artists with the defence of her diploma and an exhibition at the Association’s Stara Galeria. A two-time laureate of the photography competition Dance – energy of body and imagination accompanied by an exhibition during the International Dance Theatres Festival in Lublin. A regular contributor to the monthly magazine “Teatr”and the web portal “Teatralia”. She collaborates with a wide number of institutions, including the Institute of Music and Dance, the Theatre Institute and the Body/Mind Foundation, as well as Teatr Polski, Teatr Dramatyczny and Teatr Studio in Warsaw and Teatr Polski in Bydgoszcz. In 2012 she received the Capital City of Warsaw Artistic Grant. Marta Ankiersztejn records major theatre and dance festivals, for instance the Warsaw Theatre Meetings or the Body/Mind International Contemporary Dance Festival.
Jakub Wittchen’s exhibition is a walk with a performer through his/her hometown, a coffee break, visit at his/her place, a long planned appointment, a talk, making friends, shake of hands. The set for each photo has been chosen by artist him/herself. It shows artists off the stage, in places they usually like to be, places that describe them sometimes more, sometimes less directly. First part of the exhibition was presented during Malta Festival 2010.
“Working on the series I discover again and again how open and nice are dance artists I picture. I would even say that dance people are the most positive group of people I have ever met. Exposition is a showing of the cycle that is under ongoing construction – it’s a kind of a document that, let’s hope, will grow with every year.”
Jakub Wittchen, photographer, founder and owner of Master-Art Photo Agency. He makes his living with commercial photography. Capturing movement and also theatre has been his passion since many years. Jakub lives in Poznań and follows Old Brewery New Dance program almost from the beginning. He also collaborates with Music and Dance Institute in Warsaw and as a freelancer did shoot for Polski Theatre in Poznań, Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Theatre Institute in Warsaw among others. He’s an author of pictures for Anna Królica’s “Sketches on Polish Dance” (2011) and for a book on Poznań based Biuro Podróży Theatre.