The Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies at UC Berkeley is teaming with the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture and the San Francisco-Krakow Sister Cities Association to host a conversation with the poet and musician Grzegorz Kwiatkowski of the Polish indie band Trupa Trupa from Gdańsk on Friday, December 11, 2020 at 12 noon (Pacific Standard Time/California, USA).
Through music, poetry and simple prosaic engagement, Kwiatkowski works to warn Poles and other Europeans of the toxic consequences of hate speech, Holocaust denial, and other distortions of the past that were fostered under Communism, but which have had a tragic afterlife in democratic Eastern Europe.
Trupa Trupa works with international labels and concert agencies and performs at major festivals and world stages, receiving praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stones, The Guardian and Chicago Tribune, among many others. Their tracks are played by Iggy Pop on his BBC Radio 6 Music show and by Henry Rollins on his KCRW radio show. The Times of Israel wrote that “Trupa Trupa rages against populism, hatred, and Holocaust denial […] Trupa Trupa vocalist and songwriter, Grzegorz Kwiatkowski — shaped by his ancestors’ imprisonment at Stutthof concentration camp — speaks truth to power through punk poetry.”. Kwiatkowski has published seven books of poetry, and his poems have been published in many literary magazines: Modern Poetry in Translation, New Poetry in Translation, Poetry Wales, and others. Kwiatkowski’s poems explore not only the conflicted pasts of Central and South-Eastern Europe, but also the paradoxes of contemporary genocides, such as that in Rwanda. As the poet explains, “I’m intrigued by the combination of ethics and aesthetics in one person, one life, one story.”
Music and Poetry against Hatred: A Conversation with Grzegorz Kwiatkowski
Lecture | December 11 | 12-1:30 p.m. |
Location: 29 Croxton Avenue , Oakland, CA 94611
Speaker: Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, Musician, poet, member of Trupa Trupa
Sponsor: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)
