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JAROSLAW FRET ANAMNESIS OF ART, ANAMNESIS IN ART ANAMNESIS (written with capital letters) is the title of a triptych — a threepart performance “on the road to the theater,” which is not so much “only” a reading of past records, or also a voice of the present, but rather an attempt to build up fields of memory thanks to the shared presence of actors and spectators. Its stage hic et nunc is to combine all of our effort together — anamnesis, recollection, an attempt to represent but also be part of the performance, as well as creating layers of active humanity, which we subconsciously pass to each other with and without cultural identity or belonging. Witnessing does not only mean to communicate issues based on facts, registers, records, but also, having the power of incorporation, opposing the passivity of modern times, the passivity of voyeurism. In the case of being a spectator/witness, it means having the power to oppose the universal, widespread pornography of the media. The three-part performance, which comprises the following sections: “Medeas. On Getting Across”, then “Armine, Sister” (the second part of the triptych, which we devoted to the now fully EU recognized Genocide of the Armenians of 1915) and “Moirai” (the third part, dedicated to the Desaparecidos), explores the subject of witness-action, trying to restore to theater art its ethical dimension, not just constituting a new aesthetic form. When we think about the theater “which does present,” we mean the medium which, in recalling those who have passed, is feeding our humanity. It feeds on my voice, my breath and the breath of everyone gathered in one space of the spectacle. In Anamnesis we call on the absent presence of refugees who want to change or even save their lives by reaching the shores of Europe. We call on those who die without names, without trace, sporadically appearing in messages and the media as numbers, imprecise estimates. We ask the question if it is possible for the theater to call them unnamed, or rather, is it possible to hear their silence through the theater. Anamnesis (äv&uvnois) is, according to dictionary definitions: memory or memory of the past, reminiscence. This is also a Platonic reminder to yourself of what you once met while staying in the world of ideas, actually the way cognition works through reminding, independent from sensual experience. Anamnesis in medicine is part of the diagnosis, the history of the disease recorded in documents but above all in the body of the patient (body confession). Finally, in the Christian liturgy, anamnesis is part of the Eucharistic prayer with the memory of death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In our work we want to propose yet another definition of anamnesis: Anamnesis in Art - anamnesis as the power of building a field of memory that + 222 ¢
