Golgota Picnic and the Framework of Public Discourse: Performing Democracy and Managing Social Indignation

Abstract

The article analyses the conflict concerning the performance of Rodrigo García’s play Golgota Picnic during the 2014 Malta Festival in Poznań as evidence of deeper social problems with the shape of public discourse in Poland. The author analyses the framework of public discourse with reference to the cultural disputes that frequently accompany specific cultural texts (exhibitions, plays, concerts). He makes use of the concepts of Chantal Mouffe to explore the ways in which Poles mobilise and clash over topics associated with cultural divisions, and how they use these disputes to perform democracy. The author argues that searching for new forms of articulation and performance of cultural disputes and social conflicts offers an opportunity to cultural institutions, which can not only use them to defend their independence, but can also enter the role of curators of social emotions and provide a framework for the emergence of a dispute.