S[t]imulation: Dialog-Wrocław 2025
The International Theatre Festival “Dialogue–Wrocław” was founded and directed by Krystyna Meissner, a remarkable theatre artist and visionary. In the program for its tenth and final edition in 2021, I predicted the twilight of dialogue. I was convinced that, after flourishing for twenty years, “Dialogue–Wrocław” had run its course. Across the world, genuine dialogue was muted. “What are poets for in a destitute time?” asked poet Friedrich Hölderlin in his elegy “Bread and Wine” (line 122).
Director Meissner, however, recognized the crucial need to uphold dialogue in challenging times. In her last will, she entrusted me with the mission of continuing the festival. To my delight, Olga Nowakowska, the curator of the last festival edition and Krystyna Meissner’s closest collaborator, agreed to accompany me on this challenging journey. “In a destitute time,” philosopher Martin Heidegger replied to Hölderlin, “the poet tracks down fugitive gods; during the Night of the World, he sings of what is sacred.”
I’ve decided to launch the renewed festival with an encounter between performing arts and science. This first edition of “Dialogue–Wrocław” in its new incarnation is called “S[t]imulations”. Why? Let me explain.
What, if anything, remains truly sacred today? What is most at risk once the gods have fled? The very existence of the world itself. Climate catastrophe, nuclear threats, the rise of hybrid warfare, and artificial intelligence taking control of people—these are the modern Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The world appears to be racing towards annihilation. New technologies, radical scientific theories, social media, and narcissistic politicians create alternative realities. We are told we have entered the age of post-truth. Anything goes…
Philip K. Dick, a classic science fiction writer, stated as early as 1977 at a conference in Metz that we live in a computer simulation. In his book “Reality Reloaded: The Scientific Case for a Simulated Universe” (2023), British physicist Melvin Vopson presents powerful scientific arguments in support of the simulation hypothesis. Vopson highlighted the crucial role of information in human life, nature, and the universe. In less than two and a half centuries, the number of information bits will exceed the number of elementary particles in the cosmos. In 2022, Vopson discovered that during the evolution of closed information systems, entropy does not increase, as the second law of thermodynamics would dictate, but decreases or remains unchanged, tending to achieve order in the system. From the perspective of the second law of infodynamics, proposed by Vopson, the laws of physics resemble construction rules of virtual worlds.
Professor Vopson will open the festival with a lecture called “The Shared Canvas of Science and Art”. At their core, simulations—whether crafted by artists or scientists—are not so different. Both are creative acts that stimulate new insights into reality while desperately producing traces of the world and our existence. The simulation hypothesis helps us understand why free will is an illusion. With each decision, we bring the world into being. We don’t choose worlds, we create them.
I’ve invited distinguished artists from across Asia and Europe to Wrocław to explore and gain a deeper understanding of their approaches to simulation. Their work, I believe, can help us confront the fundamental question of the nature of reality. Huang Yi from Taipei merges the human body in motion with cutting-edge technology. Yet in his work, algorithms and machines do not reduce humans to mere objects; instead, they empower artists with new dimensions of expression and presence.
Huang Yi will present fragments of two ongoing projects. Prominent Polish scientists have agreed to engage in a debate with the artist on the future of art in the age of technological revolution. What exactly do artists simulate in their works? And what do machines or artificial intelligence simulate?
The iconic Butoh theatre, Sankai Juku, is returning to Wrocław. At the Wrocław Opera, the artists will present “Totem”, the final masterpiece by Ushio Amagatsu (1948-2024), the company’s founder and chief choreographer. The Japanese performers masterfully meditate through movement, stimulating spiritual reality. Japanese total artist Ryoichi Kurokawa will arrive from Berlin to present a captivating digital theatre, simulating the soundscape of urban architecture.
Beijing-based choreographer Tao Ye will explore the limits of body expression without the use of technology, continuing the acrobatic traditions of Chinese theatre. Hong Kong’s GayBird will bring Wrocław’s Burgher Brewery to life with his visions and sounds. The Belgian ensemble Peeping Tom will take on the elusive and complex nature of time. Nice’s “Little Teatre at the End of the World” will push the boundaries of animation, distilling puppet theatre to its most minimal, essential form.
Polish companies will present equally fascinating simulation strategies. Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr will attempt to bring two writers to life on stage: one fictional (“Elizabeth Costello”, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski) and the other real (“Kofman”, directed by Katarzyna Kalwat). Belgian director Luk Perceval will challenge the outstanding artists of the Narodowy Stary Teatr in Cracow to experiment with the identities of their stage characters in a radical way. The Wroclaw Mime Theatre will showcase an innovative fusion of movement and dramatic narrative in a groundbreaking production directed by Małgorzata Wdowik. Director Marcin Wierzchowski will test reality as a simulation at the Capitol Musical Theatre.
For what exactly is “reality”? Master Zhuang, a Chinese thinker and Taoist who lived at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, once dreamed that he was a butterfly, a joyful one. He didn’t know at the time that he was Master Zhuang. Suddenly, he awoke, and now he was Master Zhuang. However, he wasn’t sure whether he was Master Zhuang dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Master Zhuang.
I wish to extend my sincere thanks to Dr Anna Gryszkiewicz for her expert support in selecting theatres from Asia. Above all, I would like to thank the Strefa Kultury Wroclaw team led by Olga Nowakowska for their professionalism and commitment to the festival.
Mirosław Kocur
Artistic Director
