The Impossible Theatre at Barbican Art Gallery: Polish Art's Physical Confrontation

The Barbican Art Gallery in London hosted 'The Impossible Theatre' from February 3 to April 17, 2006, an exhibition curated by Sabine Follie and Hanna Wroblewska, organized by Kunsthalle Wien in collaboration with the Barbican and Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw. The show juxtaposed works by five Polish artists: Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990), Pawel Althamer, Robert Kusmirowski, Katarzyna Kozyra, and Artur Zmijewski. It highlighted Kantor's para-theatrical actions and happenings from the 1960s, as well as his later 'Theatre of the Dead' featuring mannequins and deformed bodies. The exhibition also connected to the 4th Berlin Biennale 'Of Mice and Men,' which included Kantor, Althamer, and Kusmirowski. The display along the Barbican's curved space alternated confrontations between Kantor and his younger peers, though the critic noted an imbalance elevating Kantor as a master figure. The works, neither interactive nor socially engaged, placed marginalized humans at the center, questioning definitions of art and society.