The ninth edition of the Silesian Science Festival Katowice will open with a unique special show – Night at the City of Science. The key element of the event will be the performance ‘EXPERYMENT’, inspired by the famous prison experiment conducted in 1971 by Prof. Philip Zimbardo and a group of psychologists from Stanford University. When the line between the audience and the artists disappears, and we become the experiment participants, we will have to look into the darkest corners of the human psyche and confront our knowledge about ourselves.
The special performance will take place on 6 December (Saturday) at 7 p.m. at the Rawa Valley Stage at the International Congress Centre in Katowice.
Please note! The event has a limited number of places – advance registration is required.
Time for ‘EXPERYMENT’
Are humans inherently good? Where does evil come from? To what extent do our social status and position influence how we treat people who are less fortunate than us? How well do we really know ourselves, and can we predict our behaviour when we are given a specific role to play – that of perpetrator or victim?
These and many other questions are addressed in the play ‘EXPERYMENT’ directed by Piotr Jankowski. The performance, which draws on the tradition of alternative theatre, addresses the issue of morality in a person forced to function in an oppressive reality – a project that was only meant to examine the psychological effects of simulating prison life gets out of control, revealing a crisis of humanity and the terrifying (and often repressed) truth about human nature.
The mysteries of the human psyche at the 9th ŚFN Katowice
‘EXPERYMENT’ will showcase the struggles of five guards watching over eight prisoners who, in front of the audience, will have to adapt to a new situation, including building prison bars with their own hands and wearing tunics with numbers replacing their real identities. How will an individual behave when forced to function in an imposed social situation? When the guards’ actions become increasingly oppressive, the prisoners take matters into their own hands. Who will dare to end the experiment?
The director combines the results of Prof. Zimbardo’s prison experiment with Mario Giordano’s novel Black Box and its stage adaptation by Claude Girardi. The result is sure to stay with the audience for a long time; it is a suspenseful spectacle in which the boundary between fiction and reality disappears, asking universal questions about the nature of good and evil, forcing both the audience and the artists to confront the dark side of our psyche. Excellent acting combined with austere set design and a terrifying musical and sound layer make this a performance you cannot miss!
After the performance, we invite you to a meeting with director Piotr Jankowski, Mariola Paruzel-Czachura, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., Prof. Marcin Zajenkowski and Rafał Cekiery, PhD, Assoc. Prof. who will discuss the limits and ethics of research in psychological sciences. The meeting will be moderated by Marcin Moroń, PhD.
Cast and creators of ‘EXPERYMENT’
We will be introduced to the world of complex prison relationships by students of the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk and the Danuta Baduszkowa State Post-Secondary Vocal and Acting School in Gdynia, including: Sandra Bożewicz, Aleksandra Dziewit, Marta Jankowska, Marek Jankowski, Piotr Jankowski, Tomasz Jastrząb, Anita Kostyńska, Karol Lendzion, Karol Lewko, Klara Majchrzak, Mateusz Miernik, Julia Ostaszewska, Jan Popis, Ewelina Stańczyk, Konrad Stein and Ringo Todorovic.
Other contributors:
Directing and musical concept: Piotr Jankowski
Set design: Robert Rumas
Costumes: Katarzyna Zawistowska
Music: Mikołaj Trzaska
Film and video projections: SOCOlab
Poster: Dorota Nieznalska
Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes
The Baltic Sea Cultural Center is a partner of the event.
The 9th Silesian Science Festival Katowice will take place on 6–8 December at the International Congress Centre.
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