Agnieszka Polska addresses topics related to the ecological crisis, environmental and humanitarian catastrophes. The Polish artist, awarded with the renowned National Gallery Prize (Berlin), is the author of hallucinogenic and hypnotic artworks, which propose immersive experiences, making us reflect on language, history, science and activate a critical awareness of the social and individual responsibility in a post-truth world.

Under an invitation from BoCA, Polska creates her first theatre piece, “The Talking Car”, with a mixed cast of Portuguese, Polish and American actors including Albano Jerónimo, Iris Cayatte and Vera Mantero, Bartosz Bielenia and Aaron Ronelle. On stage, we see a group of people trying to find a way out of a speeding vehicle. They are accompanied by singing, large-scale digital puppets, observing their struggles with tender curiosity. The performers inside the car, on their way to an ever-changing destination, explore a variety of roles, genres and emotional states. Atmospheric, repetitive music and hypnotic background animations enhance the melancholy of this immersive tale: a tale about one’s role in the complex system combining human and nonhuman agents and socio-technological infrastructures.