The scenography in Protest Kielecki is an active participant in the story, guiding the viewer through different times and histories of the city. The performance takes place in several spaces, each reflecting a different era and perspective. The contemporary workshop for flippers is a model apartment with a plastic, exaggerated aesthetic, symbolizing superficiality and the consumerist world. The scene of the city hall and council meetings of the 1990s shows communist-era tables with green tablecloths and cluttered shelves with indexes, creating an atmosphere of bureaucratic chaos. The most visually powerful image is the reconstructed skeleton of a burnt-down cottage from the mid-1940s, recreated with the utmost attention to detail – furniture, knick-knacks, pictures of saints. Architecture becomes the central symbol of the performance – a witness to the dramas of people who lost or benefited from social changes.
Each space in the performance – from the plastic apartment to the councilors’ office – builds contrasts between eras and the different experiences of the inhabitants. The materials, colors, and meticulous details of the set design reinforce the emotional message and add individual character to each scene. The set design not only tells a story, but also becomes a platform for questions: Is it better to have or to be? How did the political transformation take place in Kielce? Who gained and who lost?
