In Poland, that is Everywhere: On the Fall and Future of the World is a reportage by Edwin Bendyk, whose author refuses to stay on the surface of things and attempts to trace back the sources – symptoms of the crisis that engulfs our collective imagination, but also its deep-rooted causes. Energy lies at the centre of Bendyk’s diagnoses as the foundation of reality and the main currency in our world.

EROEI, that is, the ratio of energy produced to energy invested in obtaining a given resource, clearly indicates that present-day methods of energy production are becoming less and less cost-effective. This inevitably leads to the Seneca effect, when the system is unable to sustain itself and begins to collapse. As Bendyk observed in an interview I had the pleasure to conduct, “thermodynamics is the metaphysics of everything.” We cannot escape the principles that govern reality, so if our thinking does not change, we are in for the eponymous “fall of the world.” But what can be done about it? And what does Poland have to do with all this?

In the prologue to his publication, Bendyk quotes Olga Tokarczuk’s claim that we must read not only to increase our knowledge but first and foremost to inspire our imagination. Literature, he argues, expands our horizons and invites us to reflect. Like Tomasz Stawiszyński, the author of Rules for a Time of Chaos, Bendyk also emphasises that reading as a mental activity literally transforms our brains since it facilitates new neural connections. It is the number of these connections that defines the limits of our cognitive ability.

Using these claims as the basis, I would like to go a step further and argue that broadly conceived art, in all its manifestations, can play the same stimulating role for our imagination. While the written word still holds a tremendous potential, other disciplines such as music and the theatre should by no means be underestimated. Though their language is different, they likewise help develop our imagination—which is what we need most in today’s world.

Based on this premise, I have decided to create a space in which several artistic disciplines (literature, music, and theatre) could form asynthesis, allowing the invited artists to take part in a joint creative process by co-authoring a performative audio drama. Rather than being a simple adaptation, this piece is my own reworking of ideas contained in Bendyk’s book. Translating a long and sometimes difficult reportage into the language of other arts may sound like a formidable task. All the same, is not art supposed to take up complex tasks and perform them, thanks to the use of metaphor, in a manner inaccessible to the scientific method?

Bendyk’s predictions concerning the future and possible hope can be found in the final chapters of his book. Rather than providing you with a spoiler, I prefer to let the artists speak, drawing on their imagination, intuition, and sensitivity. If there is a remedy, it should certainly be sought not only in objective data, but also in art.

Rafał Ryterski