Grzegorz Reske new Artistic Director SPRING
From 1 June 2021 Grzegorz Reske will be the new Artistic Director of SPRING. Reske (Lublin, 1980) works as a curator, producer and dramaturg in Warsaw. In the course of his career, he has been actively involved in various local and international projects with a focus on the development of independent performing arts.
Over the past ten days, SPRING Performing Arts Festival took place as a test event, after two (partially) cancelled festival editions. Reske was introduced on the closing night of the festival, on Saturday 29 May before the start of Florentina Holzinger’s TANZ.
SPRING’s Board of Supervisors is pleased to announce Reske as the successor to Rainer Hofmann, who has been with the festival for almost a decade. Tanja Mlaker, Chair of SPRING’s Board of Supervisors: ‘With the appointment of Reske, a new phase begins for SPRING. The Board of Supervisors is convinced that with his extensive knowledge and network, he will strengthen and deepen SPRING’s position as an international festival that is very much alive and involved. The foundations laid by Rainer Hofmann form a firm basis for the future, while the current times bring with them a host of new questions and challenges.’
Reske is honoured to have been appointed: ‘For years, SPRING has been a benchmark for me in my work as a curator. It is a blueprint for a cutting-edge institution that reimagines what art can do within a society. SPRING is a finely tuned organism born from observing the needs and expectations of audiences, communities, and artists, which leads them into fruitful mutual encounters.’
From 2013-2017, Grzegorz Reske and Marta Keil ran the Konfrontacje Teatralne Festival in Lublin, embedding the festival in year-round educational and research activities to support the development of young artists. The festival’s mentoring role and support with the production and internationalisation of their work has made it one of the most acclaimed and influential performing arts events in the region.
Both independently and with Marta Keil (as curatorial duo ResKeil), he has worked with a range of cultural institutions in Poland. Since 2018, together with four other artists, Keil and Reske have been running InSzPer – Performing Arts Institute – aiming to support the development and international practices of independent arts in Warsaw. InSzPer activities include the Moving Borders project in partnership with Spring Festival. Since 2017 Reske has been a Board Member of IETM – the International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts in Brussels.
Photo: Marta Keil