The theme of this year’s Malta is the spectator. However, we are not focusing on a sociological object of study, but on identifying the spectator within us and on the paradox in which the spectator is caught. The act of looking establishes a relationship with the world. Once we see something we cannot go back. Especially today, in the world in which we constantly and shamelessly learn about the suffering of others through images, looking is no longer innocent. It is connected to learning about what we are looking at and deciding what to do with this knowledge. More and more often, it seems that we cannot open our eyes any wider. We drift between roles of the actor, spectator, and witness. Sometimes it would be best to look away, to forget what we have seen. But it is this duality, the coexistence of empathy and shock, of commitment and distance, that makes us human.
Over the course of a fortnight in June, we want to show that our responsibility for the present can only be built through being mindful of the other, the stranger. This idea gave rise to Ksenofonia, an exceptional multimedia show in which we want to revisit events that belong to history but still affect us. We believe that the uprising of workers in Poznań in June 1956 is a testament to the universal struggle for freedom, equality and fraternity, a testimony of a purpose that does not expire, and in the current socio-political situation in Europe, continues to be quite dramatic. We will also explore conversation, which is an art because it opens people to the unknown.
With conversation, we can undergo an inner transformation, as proven by the projects of Lotte van den Berg. Our inner transformation is also the goal of Malta Festival, to which I warmly invite you.
MICHAŁ MERCZYŃSKI
Director Malta Festival Poznań