Call for papers: Polish Theatre Journal, Autumn 2018

The PTJ editors invite researchers and scholars to reflect on achievements of the Central and Eastern European avant-garde in the first half of the twentieth century, as well as potential and extant contemporary inspirations from the avant-garde, whether in artistic, social or organizational dimensions of theatre and theatrical practices. PTJ seeks articles spanning both the presentation of select achievements, projects and concepts of that historical avant-garde, and contemporary references to them. Aiming to present under-recognized achievements of largely but not exclusively the Polish avant-garde, we encourage proposals that reflect on contemporary theatre practices considered as developments from explorations by the avant-garde, in terms both of direct reference to concepts and practices of artists from a century ago and analogies between questions posed or answers posited by them.

Examples include the following issues:

– Reinterpretation of existing ways of understanding, presenting and evaluating avant-garde concepts from the perspective of contemporary methodology and theory

– Expanding analyses of avant-garde theatre to areas lying beyond strictly defined limits of theatre as institution and art form, including in particular performative dimensions of avant-garde visual arts, architecture and urban planning, drama and theatricality of music, spatialization of literature, etc.

– Experiments with theatrical space, especially the search for means of breaking down the theatre box and responding to ways of seeing the world as these are altered by technology

– Searching for new theatrical forms through appealing to new audiences with varied expectations and cultural habits and aptitudes

– Relations between the avant-garde and the mainstream in their respective institutional and artistic aspects

– Analogies and divergences between the avant-gardes of Central and Eastern Europe.

An abstract of a proposed text (abstract and text may be written in Polish or in English) of around 300 words should be sent to the editorial staff at [email protected] or uploaded to the website www.polishtheatrejournal.com (open-system journal). Deadline is January 31, 2018.

Full open call in English and in Polish.

Polish Theatre Journal is an online academic journal in Polish and English that examines contemporary Polish theatre, dance and performance art along with their broad ramifications published by the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute and the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw.