Ludomir Franczak (POL)

The title WALDEN refers to a pond in the middle of a forest at which Henry David Thoreau built his cabin, into which he moved on July 4, 1845 and in which he lived alone for the next two years. In the performance it becomes a symbol of a place of seclusion, an escape from the burdens of reality, a place where one can think in peace and test a new model of life. The performance, based on the novel by Henry Thoreau and also referring to his treatise on Civil Disobedience, is inspired by the convention of nineteenth-century box theater and expanded by a performative plan. It operates with modern means thus crossing the borders of theater, visual and sound arts. Ludomir Franczak is a multidisciplinary artist, an author, a curator and cultural activist whose art is shown in galleries, on public places, and at Polish as well as international festivals. He creates complex projects using visual arts, history, and literature, and his main interests are memory and identity.