Grzegorz Ziółkowski

Biography

Grzegorz Ziółkowski is Professor of Theatre and Performance at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. He authored A Cruel Theatre of Self-Immolations: Contemporary Suicide Protests by Fire and Their Resonances in Culture (Routledge, 2020). The Polish edition of the volume (2018) was granted The Kotarbiński Award in 2019. He wrote monographs on Jerzy Grotowski (2007) and Peter Brook (2000) and translated their works into Polish. He co-edited special issues of Polish Theatre Perspectives (Voices from Within, 2015, with Paul Allain), Performance Research (On Performatics, 2008, with Richard Gough), and Contemporary Theatre Review (Polish Theatre After 1989, 2005, with Paul Allain). He co-edited (with Paul Allain and Georges Banu) Peter Brook’s anthology With Grotowski: Theatre is Just a Form (2009). From 2004–09 he was Programme Director of the Grotowski Centre and later the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław where he developed, among others, its publication activities, co-created the artisanal course for actors Atelier (2007–09), and co-programmed the Grotowski UNESCO Year 2009. He has led acting work sessions internationally (in Armenia, Austria, Chile, England, Iran, Malta, Romania, Spain, and South Korea). From 2012–17 he directed the Studio (later Study) Rosa and the Acting Techniques Intensive Seminar ATIS in Poznań. In 2015–16 he directed the Study Rosa’s theatre exploration Feeling the Pulse and in its frame he published his artistic travelogue Dwugłos o ciszy (Duet on Silence, 2016) and reflections Texts From the Heart (2016). In Study Rosa he directed TAZM Silence of Light (2012–16) and HEART Silence of Polygon (2015–16). TAZM was based on Tahar Ben Jelloun’s novel This Blinding Absence of Light, a literary adaptation of an account by a person imprisoned for 18 years (from 1970s till the beginning of 1990s) in the darkness of Tazmamart – a dungeon in Morocco. HEART referred to the motives of Wajdi Mouwad’s drama Scorched which spoke about harmful influence of war on individual human fates. It was a performative gesture of compassion towards animals and people harmed by war and fanaticism.

Education

M.A. at the Warsaw State High Theatre School, 1993
Ph.D. at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 1999
Post Ph.D. at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 2007

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Acting techniques
Cultural performances
Martial arts

Personal Interests

Tai chi
Cantigas de amigo
Basketball

Websites

• Acting Techniques Intensive Seminar

• Grzegorz Ziółkowski

• Study ROSA

Books

Photos

Videos