Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: art and memory of the Holocaust

Abstract

The article discusses the issues of art and memory after the Holocaust in the artistic works of Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: a theatre director and a culture animator. The focus is on the following two questions. The first one is about the context in which his “theatre of memory” is functioning, that is also about the cultural factors shaping the memory of people living in the realities of Lublin at the turn of the 20th/21st c. The second one pertains to the art and the artist’s condition: what language and means of expression does he use, and why does he do it at all, why has he decided to take responsibility for the city’s tragic history? The text consists of six parts. The first part describes the origin of the Theatre, the second one explains the notion of "islands of time” as an interpretation tool, the third part presents urban semiotics of Wladyslaw Panas, the fourth one provides a description of an “utopian” project: “Lublin. 43 thousands”, conceived here as a universal machine of memory, the fifth one concerns the mysteries and installations, understood as archaeology of memory, and the sixth part discusses the artist’s responsibility.