The 23rd Sacrum Profanum: 6-11 November 2025 

Sacrum Profanum continues to build bridges between aesthetics, art disciplines and communities, focusing on the meaning and different interpretations of the festival's name. This year, the events places a particular focus on improvisation, collaboration, using intuition, acting with intent, interaction with the work and inspiration. We are envisaging activities combining music with theatre, performance, literature and art, which extend into the public space (site-specific projects) as well as a community concert. Instead of events or concerts, we want to createexperiences that cross the boundaries of music. We focus on nature, memory, presence, self-care and - above all - time. 

We partner with MOCAK and the Eufonie Festival (National Centre for Culture) to once again use Konrad Smoleński's acclaimed sound installationEVERYTHING WAS FOREVER UNTIL IT WAS NO MORE, which represented Poland at the Venice Biennial in 2013. We are going to do it in a sustainable manner, guided by the idea of artistic ecology and the restoration of important existing works. Smoleński’s piece consists of two bronze bells, the ringing of which is recorded and processed electronically and then played back through walls of loudspeakers. An important element of the installation is the vibrating floor, which also provides a stage for concerts that interact with the installation. Breaking down stereotypes and expectations, the artist creates a sphere of experience for the invited musicians and audiences. The boundaries between the music stage and the art space are blurred.  

INSTAIMPROVISATIONS is the main concert series of this year's edition, which will interact with Smoleński's installation in the form of improvisations. Among the artists and composers attending the festival, we select a pair of artists for each day who had never worked with each other before and invite them to improvise in the interior and interfere with Smoleński's sound piece. Among them are Polish saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski, French reel-to-reel artist Jérôme Noetinger, American drummer Marshall Trammell, British turntablist Mariam Rezaei, Danish cellist Jakob Kullberg, British saxophonist Cath Roberts, French guitarist Guilhem Lacroux, Norwegian singer and composer Maja Ratkje and French hurdy-gurdy player Yann Gourdon. All of them use delays and sound processing, which are key elements in Smoleński’s installation, on a daily basis.  

The Warsaw display of the installation was subtitled Time Test, a reference to the idea of the illusory nature of time, hearkening back to the Venice display. Sacrum Profanum approaches the time theme from a different angle - its elusiveness and ephemeral nature, which is particularly relevant in the context of improvisation, another of the festival's main focuses. These are impromptu encounters, guided by intuition, in which the musicians are deeply immersed in the here and now. Likewise, the audience can potentially miss a flash of genius, a unique understanding and connection in the music due to losing focus for just a second. Transience is inherent in this field of art and the festival's activities. By entering in „a debate” with time, we look for more permanent forms of sound presentation. 

The festival is all about collaboration. In conjunction with the UK-based hcmf// festival, we are launching the Across the North Sea  project, which will enable us to explore each other's electronic music scenes and refer to the legacy of famous electroacoustic music studios together with contemporary artists. As part of the exchange, Cath Roberts and Mariam Rezaei will play their solo sets in Krakow, while audiences in Huddersfield will have an opportunity to listen to Martyna Basta and Aleksandra Słyż. The initiative is supported by the British Council in Poland as part of UK/Poland Season 2025. Support for our other activities was also provided by the French Institute and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Poland. We do not hesitate to announce the festival with a concert by Hańba!with10:10. Songs of the Warsaw Autumn. We showcase the commonality of ideas with the Warsaw-based festival, as well as with the band itself and the Nowa Huta Cultural Centre, the organisers of the event. The Manggha Museum and Oto Foundation will wait for audiences with a chamber music concert by Aleksandra Słyż written to the haiku by Czesław Miłosz. 

Sinfonietta Cracovia will play at the end of the festival. During our years-long collaboration, the ensemble's repertoire has expanded to include numerous contemporary compositions. This time it will be complemented by nature-inspired drone-ambient pieces by Eva-Maria Houben and Marek Pospieszalski. The name of the latter artist is worth keeping in mind, as he is this year's festival artist in residence. He is currently having his beautiful flight, and we want him to soar high! We will hear him during an InstaImprovisation with Guilhem Lacroux and an Konrad Smoleński’s installation and as half of the Malediwy duo alongside Qba Janicki. Their concert will be a battle - a format well known from hip-hop culture or poetry slams, this time in the context of experimental improvisation. Malediwy will face off against Colin Webster and Borja Díaz. The alternative scene is also represented by the French band La Baracande, associated with the La Nòvia collective. Offering a new take on the Lamentations tradition, the band will play a mix of raunchy rock, obsessed blues, free jazz and tarantella in new interpretations of folk songs preserved thanks to the 1950s and 1960s recordings of the repertoire of the lace maker Virginie Granouillet. Poetry will play an important role during the festival. In addition to texts by Grzegorz Uzdański written for Hańba, Czesław Miłosz's haiku in the piece by Słyż, poems by Ezra Pound sung by Kullberg, the programme features Shakespeare's sonnets, which are the foundation of Mai Ratkje and Stian Westerhus's twisted songs, this time with acoustic instrumentation.  

We also undertake various educational and artistic activities. The SP4Kids format is back in style with a family show Frajda Granda Bzikby Aniela Kokosza, Paulina Giwer-Kowalewska and Agnieszka Dubilewicz to music by Hania Rani. The three artists build and explore a multi-sensory world in a free, open and inclusive manner. This is a wordless performance for children aged 3 and over and their guardians. We want the young talents to check out not just concerts, but also to the Experiment! musical workshops.Jędrzej Siwek will host yet another edition of these excellent classes. The Krakow instalment of the Music Research Strategies project will be developed in collaboration with percussion students at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music Krakow under the lead of Dr. Aleksander Wnuk. Together with drummer, researcher, composer and improviser Marshall Trammell, they will develop an anti-memorial ritual of group improvisation around a collectively selected socio-political theme. We will organisemasterclasses with cellist Jakob Kullberg. We are delighted to be working with the local contemporary music community - not only with the Academy of Music, but also with Sinfonietta Cracovia and the Krakow Improvisers Orchestra. 

We continue to experiment with the concert form - once again, several of them will have a rather unusual form. For several years, we have been organising the festival during the Independence Day weekend, offering everybody an alternative way to spend this time. We want to continue this tradition and join in the Independence Day celebrations. It is also our independence - let us enjoy it together. Freedom is an inherent feature of independence. In art, it is all about original expression and a lack of censorship. It is also about being open to experimentation and improvisation. Join us for a unique concert by the Krakow Improvisers Orchestra and take part in the Independent Music March in the very heart of Krakow! Another special event is the Genesis by the Krakus’ Mound and on Krakow's Błonia Meadows - a performance by the Swiss ensemble Alponom playing alphorns. The ensemble will perform at sunset, sunrise, sunset and sunrise with a four-part composition by Stephen O'Malley, an American guitarist, metal musician and composer. The piece was originally intended to be performed around the megalithic menhirs at Carnac. It is a site-specific event, an attempt to harmonise music with the natural cycle of the day and nature as well as the sounds of the environment.  

After last year's memorable evening with Marin Formenti at Hevre, this year you can join us at the Kazimierz club for a House Party with Sacrum Profanum. This time, we have three sets with piano at the centre - no divisions, let’s come together and hang out. We will make sure to provide comfortable seating while you make sure you get into the mood. Enjoy! Martyna Zakrzewska will play John Cage'sSonatas and Interludes, a recorded improvisation in which the sound of the piano is explored with screws, bolts, pieces of plastic and rubber. The performance will be recorded live by cameras positioned around the piano and the video will be processed by Aleksandra Ołdak, forming an almost installation-like space. Jakob Kullberg will make his return. This time we will hear his songs in a new rendition for a vocalist, cello and piano by Canadian experimental pianist Matt Choboter. The cello will again be played on the knee, like the guitar. Kullberg seems to have found his niche at the intersection of pop, jazz, folk, free improvisation and contemporary music. With his pleasant voice, he will sing songs based on the poems by Ezra Pound and brothers Peter and Michael Gizzi. Finally, Jérôme Noetinger and Andrzej Karalow will present an electro-acoustic improvisation. The duo's music, full of shimmering sounds and ephemeral expression, combines subtle phrasing and harmonic piano playing with magnetic and electronic manipulations on tape.  

Physical Culture, a series of events combining recreational and sporting activities with music, also continues this year. We are back with Peter Peszat'sCardio - a workout session with a professional trainer, or perhaps a concert of contemporary music with a flutist improvising with extended techniques. The Kwartludium concert will feature three new compositions, written by Anna Sowa, Magdalena Gorwa and Adam Porębski. They were inspired respectively by the physical education classes, yoga and tranquillity, as well as the musical and sound aspects of billiards. We will also return to Box of Boxing by Dominik Strycharski, who approached his piece from the perspective of the boxingring. The ring will be also used as the stage by Kwartludium, and the audience will get an opportunity to join in the games, activities, exercises... You can see for yourself.  

See you there! 

 
Krzysztof Pietraszewski 
Sacrum Profanum Artistic Director