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Authors
Laura Stašāne i Jana Jacuka
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When
July 1 – 6, 16:00 – 20:00
July 1, 8:00 pm – meeting with artists
July 3, 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm – testimony reading marathon
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Gdzie
Niekłańska Street 34/2 (private apartment, entrance from Walecznych Street)
Due to the Covid-19 situation, please download an entrance pass to help us improve our on-site service process.
The entrance pass is free of charge.
Entrance will be possible at any time during the hour from which the reservation was made.
There is no time limit for visiting the exhibition, you can stay as long as you like after entering.
Visitors without an entrance pass will also be able to enter the exhibition, however collecting the pass will prevent queuing.
Thank you!
About the project
The witnesses of domestic violence against women are not only the people directly involved in the drama. They are also the silent four walls and the everyday companions surrounding the situation – objects such as a toothbrush, kitchen cloth, shoes or a pillow.
Physical Evidence Museum is a very personal project of two Latvian artists Laura Stašāne and Jana Jacuka. The first Latvian part of the exhibition presented objects and stories entrusted to the artists by Latvian women who have experienced domestic violence. An important part of the project was a marathon of reading the testimonies of violence, in which besides the participants of the project also their friends, sisters, mothers and people offering them support took part. The reading and the exhibition was a symbolic act of breaking the silence around violence against women.
At the invitation of TR Warszawa, the artists are expanding the Physical Evidence Museum to include stories of women living in Poland. The Polish edition of the exhibition is supported by two organizations working against violence against women: Autonomia Foundation and Feminoteka Foundation. “You will never walk alone” – this is the slogan of the entire series of events focusing on women’s rights, which will be held at TR Warszawa in the 2020/2021 season. For us, as a public cultural institution, this slogan is a commitment: the mission of the theater is to provide space for dialogue and discussion on the most difficult issues. One of such topics is the problem of violence against women in families and relationships. We believe that the Physical Evidence Museum project will contribute to making the voice of women who have experienced violence heard.
The event is organized as part of the Baltic Transfer* Festival and accompanies the series You Will Never Walk Alone. Let’s talk about abortion at TR Warszawa.
Photo by courtesy of the artists (Laura Stašāne, Jana Jacuka)
Invitation from the artists
Welcome!
Our names are Laura Stašāne and Jana Jacuka. We live in the capital of Latvia, Riga, and we are the creators of the Physical Evidence Museum. It is an exhibition of things and everyday objects that have witnessed domestic violence against women and that we have collected with the help of many women from Latvia. In July, thanks to the invitation of TR Warsaw, we will be presenting the museum in Warsaw and we would be honored if we could enrich the museum’s collection with objects and stories from Poland.
If there is an item that you associate with domestic or relationship violence – emotional, physical, sexual or economic – please send it to us with your story and we will include it in the Museum collection. It may be something you want to get rid of or an item that was part of an act of violence but would never be considered as evidence by the police or a court of law, but it speaks for itself to you.
We believe that talking about your experiences is the first step to breaking free. Silence is not golden and has been for a very long time. Every person should feel that talking about the domestic violence they have experienced (regardless of when it happened) is acceptable. We should listen to ourselves more often.
Physical Evidence Museum will be operating in a private apartment in Warsaw between July 1 and 6, 2021 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. On July 3 from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. we invite you to take part in a public reading of the stories of violence entrusted to us. They will be read by individuals who have experienced violence themselves, their friends, sisters, mothers, and those offering support. Individual people will read stories submitted by other women.
Partners of the Polish version of the Museum are Autonomia Foundation in Krakow and Feminoteka Foundation in Warsaw. We are extremely excited and grateful to be able to work with these organisations and with TR Warszawa on this exhibition.
Pchysical Evidence Museum is a very personal project for us. Every object and story is extremely valuable to us. All stories remain anonymous.
We hope to hear from you!
Stay strong!
Laura & Jana
Creators
authors: Jana Jacuka, Laura Stašāne
set design: Katarzyna Minkowska, Marta Piotrowska
Museum staff: Izabella Dudziak, Kinga Bobkowska
Ledon/neon “nobody will believe you”: Zuzanna Janin
participants of the testimony reading marathon: Agnieszka, Aleksandra, Alina, Ana, Elżbieta, Izabella, Katarzyna, Kinga, Magda, Marta, Zofia, Zuzanna
technical department: Mariusz Basiak, Tomasz Ciężarek, Piotr Domiński, Piotr Gromek, Łukasz Jara, Sebastian Kuźma,Tadeusz Tomaszewski, Tomasz Trojanowski, Łukasz Winkowski
multimedia team: Marcin Metelski, Bartłomiej Zajder
administration department: Paweł Śmigielski
audience development department: Wiktoria Grochowska, Justyna Matyjaśkiewicz, Damian Piwowarczyk, Monika Pizło, Agnieszka Prokopczuk, Bartek Wlazło, Monika Zielińska
Press and media relations coordinator: Kaja Stępkowska
international projects team: Agata Kołacz
literary assistant: Jacek Telenga
production manager: Magda Igielska
production cooperation: Urszula Musiał-Kozłowska
Special thanks to Piotr Oliwer Dulinski, Anna Rochowska, Anna Szałas and the Theatre Academy in Warsaw
From partners
Autonomy works to ensure that every girl and woman is safe and courageous, can decide for herself, can develop and together with others influence the shape of the world. Our motto is: strength, courage, solidarity. Since 2007, we have continuously empowered women and girls, men, boys and communities to be empowered to stop violence and discrimination. “We see the Physical Evidence Museum as doing just that – breaking the silence around violence is one of the most powerful things any person can do. We are proud to support this socio-artistic event: bringing attention to the issue of accessibility of the project for people with disabilities, encouraging active participation in the project by donating our herstories and objects/witnesses.
For several years Feminoteka has been accompanying women in the process of healing after experiencing violence. We participate in this project so that the participants can look at the violent event through the eyes of the survivors, confront the objects – witnesses, hear testimonies and bring them out of the zone of silence and hiding. It is time for violence to stop being a shameful secret.
If you feel the need to talk, support or help in relation to your experiences, call one of the following helplines:
888 88 33 88 – Feminoteka Foundation’s anti-violence hotline (for women and girls over the age of 15) open Monday-Friday 11am-7pm
800 120 002 – Blue Line (open 24/7)
600 070 717 – hotline of the Women’s Rights Centre (open 24/7)
Partners of the Polish version of the Museum are Autonomia Foundation in Krakow and Feminoteka Foundation in Warsaw. The project was carried out by New Theatre Institute of Latvia with the financial support of “Magic Carpets” platform within the framework of “Creative Europe” programme. The premiere took place at the International Festival of Contemporary Theatre “Homo Novus” in Riga.
Baltic Transfer* Festival project is a joint initiative of Jaunimo Teatras (Vilnius), The New Theatre Institute (Riga), Vaba Lava (Tallinn) in cooperation with TR Warszawa.
Supported and financed by Baltic Culture Fund.