Agnieszka “binia

Pandemic Carnaval

You waited an entire year for this event. It’s not an exaggeration or excessive coquetry to admit it. After all, this several-day-long world-class event is a recognisable regional brand both in Poland and abroad. Lublin ingeniously captures the spirit of Carnaval, when festival events animate the city’s squares, streets, districts and unobvious places. Every year brings incredible energy, a boom of ideas positively contributing to the development of this initiative. The world no longer imagines life without Carnaval Sztukmistrzów, it’s our alter ego that provides a relief from everyday life, it’s our joy of life rediscovered over and over again every year.

Because of the pandemic, this year’s edition was on the ropes, which is all the more reason why the Organisers deserve praise and applause for coming up with a way to outplay the restrictions and thereby prevent breaking the continuity of Carnaval, a key event for a group of people associated with broadly defined topics of contemporary circus, theatre, dance or performing arts as well as for the yearning audience.

This machine can no longer be stopped; at Carnaval, Lublin is swept into a frenzy of fun, laughter, admiration, emotions and delight. As spectators, consumers of events we want to be bombarded with impressions, we want to lose ourselves in joy and fun. Imagine a place in the world filled with uninhibited joy, where our hidden “I” rules and demands the existence of such an island of happiness, a space that invites us to a wonderful fairy tale. Carnaval Sztukmistrzów is our most beautiful micro-homeland, a habitat of artists, freaks, clowns, misfits, that has been drifting on its ocean of happiness without interruption for the last 11 years.

This year’s edition had to suppress a little of its artistic lust, to roll up and put away the repository of ideas threatened with the Damocles sword by the spectre of the epidemic and the many restrictions that followed it. This year’s edition did not change how the city vibrates, but it planted the seed of a new idea that combines art with safety requirements. “The Polish Incident” is a nod towards domestic Artists. Initially, the Incident was meant to be just a small part of Carnaval, hence a contest for the production and realisation of a show was announced. This is a treat for those who have nowhere to go with their ideas, hide the things they write in their drawers, have ready projects but don’t have the space to fulfill them or are wonderful talents that only need a small spark to emerge with their artistic products.

“The Polish Incident” turned out to be a double bull’s eye! Firstly, the programme of this year’s Festival was possible to compose from Polish productions and secondly, this year’s edition revealed the enormous potential of domestic artists.

The festival’s events were focused at several points around the city and instead of buskers in the streets, they performed on stage. There was no shortage of Carnaval’s “usual suspects” (Pan Ząbek,

Pandemic Carnaval

Agnieszka “binia” Bińczycka kuglarstwo.pl

Marcin Ex Styczyński), but it was a great pleasure to see Dominika Osam-Gyaabin, Kari Panska, Krzysztof Kostera or the winners of the last edition of “Poland’s Got Talent” – Marysia i Julian. A mixture of talents and personalities and this year’s need to compress all street performers into one space made it possible to create a circus variety show.

Every day in several venues we could see contemporary circus shows that were astounding in their richness of form, ideas on using circus skills and props, plot concept and production: among them were solo shows, Kamil Malecki’s “Veggie”, Tomasz Piotrowski’s “Rabbit in HumanLand”, duos: Warzące Ciała’s “Death and Laughter”, “The Kings of Entertainment” performed by Marcin Lipski and Milosz Budka or large-format productions, such as “H2Oooops” by Tres de la Nada”, “The Lion Man” directed by Michał Walczak, “The Fool’s Epitaph” by Kolektyw Kejos, “VII” performed by Ale Circus Dance Company and the acrobatic dance show “Prometheus”. The event was accompanied by a circus poster exhibition and, like every year, Urban Highline Festival. The event culminated in a concert performed by the bands: Dziady Kazimierskie & Rury Wydechowe and a meeting with the artists that summarised this year’s edition.

Thirteen years have passed since Carnaval Szukmistrzów’s first edition. Few people still remember the small blue circus tent that was the centrepiece of the first Carnaval in Błonia near the Lublin Castle, shows in po Farze Square, or guests from Germany – excellent champions of social circus, artists, and animators – Udo and Ilia. Starting from small audiences (initially consisting of caravaners or children linked to the circus pedagogy environment), the festival gradually grew larger, gaining the trust of audiences that over time it lured and enticed.

I trust that “The Polish Incident” will become a permanent point on the map of future events of the festival. The Polish circus environment needs motivation and a place to present their productions, while artistic maturity and years of experiences show that after many years of sowing seeds, the time has come to “harvest the crops” and present them to wide audiences.

** And so, year after year, thanks to the Festival, Lublin plays out the journey of the Magician that goes full circle and takes him on many adventures to carry him back to Grodzka Gate.