A T-shirt with the right slogan, symbol, or photo can communicate our views, demonstrate opposition, or express identity. By wearing such a T-shirt, we can affirm ideas, insult, call for unity on a specific issue, or attack without uttering a single word. This is quite powerful for a cotton T-shirt—seemingly one of the most neutral items of clothing.

Shirtshow is a new work by Agata Siniarska, a Polish choreographer working in Berlin, whose performance null&void was well-received by the audience at last year's Divine Comedy. It's a precise choreography for two performers and several dozen T-shirts that become actors: they communicate, disturb, manifest, and disrupt the peace. In the background: the question of the power of political slogans, slogans, and gestures today, and how we can resist the symbolic and real violence they generate. The creators of the shirtshow reflect on the mechanisms that govern the public sphere and confront audiences with the situation where the concept of freedom of speech begins to be used to sanction the appearance of hateful, exclusionary content in public space.

The shirtshow premiered as part of this year‘s Łódź of Many Cultures Festival and was one of the opening events of the International Triennial of Textiles.

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The performance was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund, a grant from the City of Łódź and funds from the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.

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