Meeting around the premiere of ‘The Art of Protest’ at the Teatr Współczesny (Szczecin)

Experiences of protest are preserved in memory: both collective and individual. Protest banners and leaflets are stored in boxes and folders. Like in a theatre warehouse, these accumulated artefacts and emotions can be retrieved and reactivated. Archives of protest are created with the future in mind, but also to capture a moment of intensity that inevitably cools over time.
This workshop (16 February, 2026) invited participants to reflect on the forms, meanings, and afterlives of protest gatherings and their documentation. It explored how ephemeral acts of dissent can be preserved, reinterpreted, and re-used—both in artistic practice and in social research.
The session was led by Prof. Inga Iwasiów and Prof. Maciej Kowalewskibringing together perspectives from cultural studies, sociology, and engaged scholarship.
The meeting formed part of the contextual programme accompanying the premiere of The Art of Protest at the TEATR WSPÓŁCZESNY in Szczecin

(Photos: Teatr Współczesny)