Performance “Grief//bot” | Poland
Creators: Teatr Kombinat
Direction: Katarzyna Baraniecka
Text: Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkało
Choreography: Jarosław Staniek
Music: Maciej Henel-Celis
Stage design, costumes: Anna Adasiak
Doll design and construction: Aleksandra Stawik
Bot design: David Sypniewski
Lighting: Robert Baliński
Sound design: Jarosław Mizera
Video: Adrian Jackowski
Poster: Paweł Stasiewicz
Cast: Paweł Palcat
Premiere: February 20, 2026
Date: August 23, 2026 | Sunday
Time: 6 pm
Place: Room A_22, Art Factory in Łódź, 3 Tymienieckiego Street
Tickets: 25 PLN - industry | 40 PLN - early bird | 50 PLN - reduced | 70 PLN - regular
Early bird tickets: on sale from June 23, 2026 until July 7, 2026 or until they are sold out | via biletomat.pl portal | online payment
Regular and reduced tickets: on sale from July 8, 2026 until they are sold out | via biletomat.pl portal | online payment
Industry tickets: for cultural workers, on sale one hour before the selected event, at the Festival Office | cash or contactless card payment | booking: from June 23, 2026, by mail:biuro@retroperspektywy.com
Duration: 60
Age restrictions: 13+
Language: Polish
After the performance, around 7 pm, we invite the viewers to a meeting and discussion with the artists.
The discussion will take place in the Glass Hall of the Art Factory in Łódź.
The discussion will be led by Tomasz Domagała.
The discussion will be held in Polish.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PERFORMANCE
A mourning bot based on the biography and data of singer Natasza Czarmińska.
Who is this “revived” digital deceased, and what is their purpose? Do they help us cope with grief? To settle matters we were unable to resolve with the deceased - because we didn’t have time, or perhaps because we lacked the strength, honesty, or courage? Because we feared it would permanently bury our relationship? Will creating an avatar of a deceased person allow us to ask questions we never asked? Will it bring relief? Ease our longing? Or is it a mistake? Perhaps an illusion we crave like children, and artificial intelligence will deceive us, only to later use the images of the deceased to recommend products?
“Grief//bot” - a performance featuring an AI avatar - is an unprecedented, innovative, interdisciplinary artistic and research project that combines dramatic theatre, puppet theatre, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Here, a human actor meets a digital actor/avatar on stage. The project explores new media as a tool for artistic expression and as a subject of cultural and existential reflection.
During the performance, we create a bot that uses data from a real-life deceased person - Natasza Czarmińska, a well-known singer and numerologist who, toward the end of her life, was associated with the Antrovis sect. She was the mother of AI designer David Sypniewski. The play’s script is inspired by her story.
The starting point is the moment when the protagonist finds himself in a room with his mother’s corpse, a death he cannot come to terms with. In addition to the actor (played by the wonderful Paweł Palcat) and a puppet, the performance also features an avatar, which makes the performance partially improvised and interactive (allowing the audience to converse with the avatar); as a result, no two performances are the same.
The main themes of the performance are coping with grief after the death of a loved one, the relationship between body and soul, digital immortality, and the limits and ethical dimensions of using new technologies in the process of coping with grief.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Katarzyna Baraniecka - actress, director, theatre educator and community organiser. A graduate of the Academy of Theatre Arts in Wrocław and a postgraduate programme in Theatre Education at the University of Warsaw. In addition to her work as an actress, she has also directed and produced numerous projects. In 2014, she founded the alternative Kombinat Theatre in Wrocław, which she continues to run to this day. She also pursues social and educational projects with great passion, working with amateur actors using a workshop-based approach.
David Sypniewski - a lecturer at SWPS University in Warsaw. He teaches courses on Social Robotics, Creative Coding and Artificial Intelligence in Art and Creative Practices. He is the founder and head of the Open Artificial Intelligence Studio at the Faculty of Design at SWPS University. He is a member of the HumanTech Centre and co-organiser of the HumanTech Summit conference and the accompanying hackathon. He is working on a PhD on the automation of wayfinding design in refugee centres. He specialises in the design of interactive experiences and visualisations. He is an anti-discrimination trainer. He describes himself as a social activist.
Paweł Palcat - a multi-award-winning actor and director. An actor at the Modrzejewska Theatre since 2005; previously an actor at the off-theatre Zakład Krawiecki in Wrocław. He has received scholarships from the Mayor of Wrocław and the Marshal of Lower Silesia. He has appeared in productions directed by Lech Raczak, Przemysław Wojcieszek, Jacek Głomb, Paweł Kamza, Piotr Cieplak, Ondrej Spišák, Agata Duda-Gracz and others. Since 2017, he has been a lecturer at the Wrocław branch of the Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków, where he was awarded a PhD in 2023.
