B61 Institute
Instytut B61 is an international art group belonging to the art and science trend. It was founded in 2009 in Toruń by the astronomer, curator and populariser of science Jan Świerkowski, supported by the Platon Foundation named after Kuba Rumiński. The B61 Institute is also the name of a fictional research facility where the action of artistic activities takes place. The Institute carries out art and science projects, mainly in the field of astronomy, in the form of immersive site-specific performances on the border of theatre, multimedia, happenings, concerts, field games and installation art.
History
The B61 Institute was established in 2009 as an initiative of a group of students of the Faculty of Astronomy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University and artists from Toruń. They wanted to create an alternative, interdisciplinary multimedia show, combining scientific issues with art. The first premiere took place in 2009, as part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, in the historic Fort I Fortress Toruń, and its theme was the phenomenon of the evolution of stars. To date, there have been 15 premieres of performances and two international interdisciplinary art projects. The projects were presented in Poland and abroad, e.g. in Estonia, India and PortugalThe Team
The roles of fictional engineers of the B61 Institute are played by actual scientists and artists: actors, musicians, performers, happeners, multimedia artists, dancers, etc. The leader of the B61 Institute, the director and the author of the script is Jan Świerkowski, a Polish astronomer, science promoter and curator of projects combining science and art. In 2018, he was honoured for his activities at the B61 Institute with the title of Science Populariser 2017 in the animator category by the Polish Press Agency and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.The permanent research staff of the B61 Institute consists of: Łukasz Ignasiński, Maciej Cegłowski, Dominik Smużny, Stefan Kornacki, Radosław Smużny, Mariusz Lubomski, Krystian Wieczyński, Paweł Tchórzewski, Krzysztof Wachowiak, and the Laxmi Bomb group. The B61 Institute was cooperated with, inter alia, Tomasz Stańko, Stanisław Tym, Michał Urbaniak, LUC, Katarzyna Groniec, SOFA, Organek, Kim Nowak, Łąki Łan, Eldo, Kortez, Antoni Gralak, Natu, Pinnawela, Łona, Bogdan Hołownia and Mazzoll, Organek, LUC, Kortez, Maja Kleszcz, Domowe Melodie.