A tribute to Jerzy Gurawski (1936–2022)

Jerzy Gurawski was a student in the Faculty of Architecture at the Kraków University of Technology working on his final diploma project in early 1958 when he attended a guest lecture by Jerzy Grotowski on the subject of old Hindu erotica. Discovering excitement and stimulation in each other’s company, they began an artistic collaboration which, for the next half dozen years, explored approaches to making theatre and performance that in turn have influenced and in many ways underpinned artistic practices for the last 60 years. The social and political context of this remarkable collaboration is much more than interesting biographical background. From 1953, Polish communism had undergone a gentle de-Stalinization that in some small but significant ways allowed theatre to struggle into popularity, although the stylistic dictum of Socialist Realism decreed by the Congress of Polish Writers’ Union of 1949 still determined representational approaches. However, for young people, theatre clubs served as a narcotic metaphor and opportunity for social, political and artistic rebellion. Most importantly, they could initiate provocative theatre work whose physical and spatial performance could not be readily censored by the state.