ABSTRACT
By tracing the development of their performances one can see the creation and evolution of a particular aesthetic. The pattern of this growth is most visible in their first three works which are closely connected to each other and rooted in Expeditions. The first two performances were almost prototypes for the third, Avvakum-the piece that established Gardzienice internationally as a group that could create a substantial work of high and individual quality. Avvakum could stand on its own without being contextualised by a Gathering or Expedition, though it was often performed with a Gathering or as part of an Expedition. The fieldwork was at the core of the creative process which built Avvakum, but it did not depend on them for its presentation. Extending this detachment from their rural work, Gardzienice’s last piece Carmina Burana is almost divorced from Gatherings and Expeditions. Considering their performances in the context of their sources, their evolution and finally their presentation one can detect two phases which Avvakum bridges. The first phase refers more to carnival and village life and the second to literary sources and the international artistic circuit. The Romantic quest for rural inspiration and sources has been replaced by urban demands, and performance material has come increasingly from written rather than orally transmit ted sources. By taking this overview it can be judged how far Gardzienice have travelled from their initial aesthetic and principles-how the low has become dominated by the high, to use Bakhtin’s division.
