Inspired and provoked by the title character in Werner Herzog’s film, "Fitzcarraldo", two artists and a curator decided to revisit his mad plan of bringing opera to the tropics. In an attempt to undercut Fitzcarraldo’s colonial romanticism, they decide to confront a set of particular historical and sociopolitical realities by staging "Halka", considered to be Poland’s “national opera,” in the seemingly unlikely locale of Cazale, Haiti, a village inhabited by the descendants of Polish soldiers who fought for the Haitian Revolution in the early 1800s.

On February 7, 2015, a one-time-only performance of "Halka" was presented to a rapt local audience on a winding dirt road. A collaboration between Polish and Haitian performers, the event was filmed in one take to be presented later as a large-scale projected panorama in the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

The Polish Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition—la Biennale di Venezia May 9–November 22, 2015

Halka/Haiti 18°48’05”N 72°23’01”W C.T. Jasper & Joanna Malinowska

Curated by Magdalena Moskalewicz

Polish Pavilion Commissioner: Hanna Wróblewska
Deputy Commissioner: Joanna Waśko

Exhibition organized by Zachęta—National Gallery of Art
www.zacheta.art.pl

Polish participation in the 56th International Art Exhibition in Venice was made possible through the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. Collaboration: Culture.pl