„Midnight Show”. A dream sound séance with Antonina Nowacka 

Midnight Show is a symbolic night screening carried out as part of the New Horizons International Film Festival. This year it will be held in the St. Mary Magdalene Church in Wrocław and will last several hours – from midnight until dawn.

It will be a dream-sound show, built live by the singer and composer, Antonina Nowacka, in cooperation with the invited artists: Paweł Kulczyński, Krzysztof Gil and Planeta. To better enjoy the show, there will be beds waiting for you in the Gothic cathedral. Visitors will be able to indulge in the state of half-sleep. 

Free admission after picking up the ticket at the festival box office or presenting the pass / accreditation. Festival ticket office opening hours:
– at the Nowe Horyzonty cinema from July 20, from 12:00-20:00
– at the DCF cinema from 22 July from 9:00 a.m. to starting the last session

Together with Antonina Nowacka and the invited artists: Paweł Kulczyński, Krzysztof Gil and Planeta, we will guide you through the night. This is what Antonina says about the state of half-sleep: It appears most often at the time of falling asleep, but also just before waking up, although I do not remember it well then. In this state, I still feel my body, but at the same time I am in a different place and I am experiencing timeless situations. It means that time does not matter anymore. Situations in this state are different, they may make no sense at all – just seemingly, because they all really have a deep meaning. They usually talk about important points that deserve special attention (it is a sort of dreaming attention – not factual). Sometimes these situations can be absolutely beautiful and their beauty does not require understanding. Sometimes they can be weird though. They tend to appear quickly and disappear really fast, and the most interesting thing about them is the moment of suspension because at the same time you are in both worlds – feeling sleepy and awake – and both these worlds manifest themselves in their entirety, symbolizing also their own denial. 

This year’s Midnight Show runs from midnight until dawn (5 am) and will take place inside a Gothic cathedral that has unique acoustic properties. It stands in the middle of the city and its sonic identity is built both by sounds intentionally placed in it and by city signals that reach its interior. In itself, it is also an instrument whose vibrations physically affect the human body. The composition created by Antonina Nowacka is designed especially for this unique place, but also with the audience in mind. We want this screening to take you to some other, less known, aesthetic registers. We would also like you to rest. 

Antonina Nowacka: Sound in its nature is a vibration that can introduce beings into various states. Sin waves flow into our brains and massage our nerve cells. Different waves – different brain cells. Ganglia can form unusual shapes and that’s when all these beautiful and absurd visions will get created. Dreamy and half-sleep visions. These two states are naturally created for each other and for massaging the ganglia with waves of timelessness as well as for suspension in a pleasant weightlessness.  

About the project: 

Midnight Show is an exhibition-experiment, a unique format invented by Stach Szabłowski and created as a result of cooperation between the art gallery (BWA Wrocław) and the film festival (New Horizons International Film Festival). Previous editions translated into the language of visual arts concepts related to the world of film, such as editing, audience studies, animism, light, and movement. Just like films, they had their own soundtracks, protagonists, or even special star presence. Through this format, we looked at various works of art – such as paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures, objects – the same way we watch films in the cinema. Within a strictly defined period of time, with the awareness of the beginning and the end. So far, the Midnight Show editions used to last one hour each night and take place in the Dizajn BWA Wrocław gallery as well as in the backyard at 46 Ruska Street. During the last three editions, the show dealt with invisibility, the medium of paper or neon. This year’s edition deals with the issue of hypnopedia, i.e. information provided to a dreaming person, usually by playing a sound recording during sleep. 

The New Horizons International Film Festival will be held on July 21-31, 2022 in Wrocław. The online edition of the festival will last a week longer, until August 7. [more on the site]