The Grotowski Centre and Institute (since 1989)

The Grotowski Institute in Wrocław is a municipal arts institution committed to documenting and disseminating knowledge about Jerzy Grotowski and his Laboratory Theatre as well as hosting events corresponding to the ideas laid down by Grotowski’s creative practice.

After the dissolution of the Laboratory Theatre, between 1985 and 1989 its spaces were used by the Second Wrocław Studio, run by Zbigniew Cynkutis. On 29 December 1989, the Governor of Wrocław issued an order to found the Cen­tre for Study of Jerzy Grotowski’s Work and for Theatrical and Cultural Research, an arts and research centre for documenting and studying the work of Jerzy Grotowski and the Laboratory Theatre. The centre was inaugurated on 1 January 1990. Its first director was Zbigniew Osiński, who was followed in that role by Stanisław Krotoski (from 1991‒2004) and Jarosław Fret (since 2004).

In 28 December 2006, the Centre was renamed the Grotowski Institute. The new name harks back to the work of the Laboratory Theatre between 1965 and 1984, when the company name included the words ‘Institute for Studies of the Acting Method’, which in 1970 were abridged to the ‘Actor’s Institute’. The home of the Institute, located in Przejście Żelaźnicze, houses the Laboratory Theatre Space, the Ludwik Flaszen Archive and the Reading Room, as well as the In­stitute office. The Institute’s other locations include the Na Grobli Studio, the Bakery and the forest base in Brzez­inka near Oleśnica.

The Grotowski Institute runs artistic, research and education projects, host­ing theatre performances, artist residencies, festivals, concerts, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. It invites prominent theatre makers from all over the world and supports young artists. The Institute regularly holds the Open University of Research and Non-fiction Theatre programmes as well as hosting theatre workshops, including Teatr ZAR’s performances and training sessions of studios working under the Institute’s umbrella.

The Grotowski Institute’s publishing spans a wide range of topics. Since 2005, the Institute has released more than forty titles. In addition, it is the publisher of the Polish theatre journal Didaskalia (since 2007) and the online research journal Performer (since 2011) as well as co-publisher of the English-language journal Polish Theatre Perspectives. A collaborative initiative of the Grotowski Institute, Odin Teatret (Denmark) and Theatre Arts Researching the Foundations (Malta), Icarus Publishing Enterprise commissions and publishes English trans­lations of works exploring the laboratory theatre tradition. The Institute also oper­ates Grotowski.net, a web site devoted to the founder of the Laboratory Theatre.