What kind of form is it? Something between an exhibition and a concert, a musical guided tour and a theatrical workshop. “Performance” is a catch word that has saved many a curator from going into panic once they have realised that they “have no idea what that thing might be”. What, then, are we going to witness on 20 September at the Baj Theatre’s Puppet Gallery? I have long been looking for the right word to describe this experience. It incorporates both a sense of community and separateness, humour and relaxation, excess and simplicity. It involves improvisation as the “perfect now” and a sense of safety at the same time. This formula has already been well tested. Our “Smykowizje” mini-performance series for families with children aged 0–5, presented at the Ujazdowski Castle – Centre for Contemporary Art, gave us plenty of time to explore how one can “be legally up to mischief ” at an art gallery. One of the most radically free-style musical events for families that I have had the chance to participate in, it proved that rooting and fooling about in art can be great fun, that Mozart can sound great even when played back from a laptop, between Hindemith and Sciarrino as part of an installation. Children do not really care much about periods, styles, and precursors, while we adults also need contrasts, fun, stories, and someone close to us who gets immersed in the same “now” with us.

What projects can a contemporary music festival carry out with Poland’s oldest puppet theatre? I am going to let you in on part of the secret: There will be tales our grandparents told us (The SnowQueen and puppets by Marieta Golomehova), the legendary scenographer Jan Marcin Szancer (his part has not been precisely defined by the time of writing this text), contemporary puppets made by Michał Wyszkowski for Tale of the Sun, and something very old and new at the same time – dinosaurs printed on the dress of Mary, a character modelled on a 19th-century palaeontologist (designs by Agnieszka Wielewska). There will also be a cello, a violin, and a flute, each from a different tale but each as part of the same improvisation. Two puppeteers and a shared space, tenderly incorporating all of the audience’s ages and histories.

Anna Szawiel