Stanisław Bulder: Behold My Body

As a child, you do not grasp the weight of ritual. You repeat gestures whose meaning you cannot yet name. Before you understand them, they begin to shape you. You do not realize that these gestures are inscribed in your body. Even in adulthood, you may not perceive how deeply they have settled within it. Only after years will you discover that you have adopted an entire worldview along with them.

The performance moves from the intimate history of one body to the collective experience of society. It examines how power systems shape not only individual behavior, but also the way people perceive themselves, their community, and the possible order of the world. Stanisław Bulder returns to his bodily archive and asks what it remembers - and discovers that it remembers surprisingly much.

The performance was created as part of the international project "Based on a True Story", which connects three Central European organizations: ARCHA+ (Czech Republic), Komuna Warszawa (Poland), and Projekt Batyskaf (Slovakia). The project is overseen by curators Adam Dragun (SK/CZ) and Olga Ciężkowska (PL) and focuses on contemporary theatre and performative practices working with documentary and research-based approaches.

The project is funded by the European Union. The views expressed represent the positions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the House of Foreign Cooperation; neither the European Union nor the grant provider bear responsibility for them.