Six Verbs Movement is a creative experiment and an ongoing artistic research project which takes place in the public space of Lublin and brings together six artists who work in different media such as performance, theater, dance, visual arts and music; to create a temporary intervention in the public space of the city.

The movement appears in its ambiguous meaning, both as a change in the body’s position and as a group that operates together to obtain a common goal. As the familiar transforms to the mysterious, the movement aims to return to places it has never seen, to challenge the present by developing a new way of observation on the past, bringing it back, both to the public discussion and to the geographical center of the city where there is still a big mystery behind the empty spaces and underneath the concrete.

Using different verbs of movement (to walk, to stand, to sit, to lie, to sleep, to die) as a starting point for their work, the artists investigate both the physical and metaphorical meaning of the verbs and their wide range of appearance in different social and historical contexts which are related to the past, present and future of Lublin – where different religious, political and artistic streams and movement emerged along the years.

Today, twenty five years after the political transition, Poland continues to draw serious conclusions from its past. Whereas, on the one hand the country is on the verge of a conservative turn and on the other hand there is a noticeable rise of interest in Jewish culture and the memory of Polish Jews, it is important to take an action, to confront the historical and cultural heritage, to enter the black holes which exist in the collective memory and to generate a laboratory of critical and political thoughts using visual and performative art as a factory of scenarios that can re-work reality.

In order to create moments which exist in between past and present, the Movement uses the contemporary presence, space and memory among other social and artistic tools such as civic activism and theatrical language of texts, visuals and sounds which will be performed in different spaces around the city, such as abandoned buildings, empty stores and storages and central places which are completely exposed to the public. Through these public interventions, the Movement will examine its effects and ramifications both on the people of Lublin and its public space.

Yael Vishnizki Levi