Polish language edition, Dust jacket back and front

It was the rather unusual dust jacket of this book which first grabbed my attention at an antique book fair in Vienna some time ago.
Laboratorium Grotowskiego (Grotowski’s Laboratory) celebrates the work of Polish theater director Jerzy Grotowsi, an inventor of experimental theatre concepts.
The book is divided into two chapters: The first, and larger, by author Tadeusz Burzynski deals with the Grotowski Laboratory stage work, and the second is ‘beyond theatre’ by Zbigniew Osinski, exploring Grotowski’s theoretical and teaching work (staging, choreography etc.) at the Institut Laboratorium Grotowski.

Wonderfully illustrated in deep gravure printing with theatre and stage photographs, mixed with images of ephemera from various performances and projects. The general mood of this book is rather dark – just as I remember the late seventies in Vienna and the communist cities of Eastern Europe. The images mirror Grotowski’s productions perfectly, very physical and energetic. Some of the images remind me of the energy of Daido Moriyama’s first book にっぽん劇場写真帖 – Nippon Gekijo Shashincho (Japan: A photo theater) from 1968. There is a strong visual homogeneity through this book, despite the fact that the photographs were taken by several different photographers. Looking at these images stimulates your imagination and makes you wonder what the hell is going on. A Polish photobook definitely worth looking for.

The book was published in the following language editions:

Polish: Laboratorium Grotowskiego published by Wydawnictwo Interpress Warszawa 1978

French: Le laboratoire de Grotowski publised by Interpress Warsaw 1979

German: Das Theater Grotowskis publised by Verlag Interpress Warszawa (Warsaw) 1979

English: Grotowski’s Laboratory publised by Interpress Warsaw 1979

Hard cover with dust jacket

App. 21.1 x 24.0 cm

152 pages

Cover back and front

German language edition, Dust jacket back and front

English language edition, Dust jacket back and front

French language edition, Dust jacket back and front