Tales from the Gate. The Memory Detector (PL)

The workshop section will focus on Tomasz Pietrasiewicz’s art installation “The Memory Detector”, developed in the context of the activities of The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin and its “House of Voices” initiative. The starting point would be the question about ways of working with a oral history archive beyond the traditional forms of documents, recordings and exhibitions. Participants would be invited to reflect on the witness’s voice, the practice of listening to accounts, extracting micro-histories from the Archive, and building an experience that allows one to enter into attentive and empathetic contact with the past.

In the context of the festival’s metaphor of a gate, “The Memory Detector” can be understood as a tool for passing through the archive of voices. The installation creates a situation of encounter with the accounts of witnesses to history: fragmentary, unpredictable, requiring attentiveness and a readiness to engage with another person’s memory. The workshop will combine a presentation of the installation with a discussion on the creative, educational and ethical use of oral history.

Led by: Łukasz Stypuła