English (United Kingdom) 
Polski (PL) 
The 21st Toruń Festival of Science and Art, which is one of the events accompanying the World Copernican Congress, is fast approaching. The program of this year’s edition, whose main theme is „Five Centuries After Copernicus”, will feature about 100 events. The festival will run from April 22nd to 24th.
It has become a tradition that every year Toruń becomes the capital of science and art for a few days. Researchers and students from Nicolaus Copernicus University, as well as employees of local cultural and scientific institutions, present their achievements in an accessible and attractive way, and introduce the disciplines they are involved in and current research topics. This scientific festival is also an opportunity to visit places that are not usually accessible, such as laboratories, museum storerooms, artists’ studios, and the backyards of companies and institutions.
What, where, when?
The 21st Toruń Science and Art Festival will begin on Saturday, April 22 and will last until Monday, April 24. The full program of the event is available on the festival’s website. On Friday, April 14 at 3 pm, electronic registrations for the events began.
Participation in all festival events is free, but registration is required for some of them, especially those with limited space such as workshops, intimate shows, and meetings. Registration will be available through the festival website.
During the preparations for last year’s jubilee 20th edition of the Toruń Science and Art Festival, the Program Council conducted consultations and commissioned survey research among event organizers, taking into account the opinions of the audience. Based on the results collected, a unique formula for the festival was developed, consisting of thematic blocks that, in order to avoid scattering, are focused in several zones. This will also be the case this year.
Festival map
The 21st Festival will be located in five zones: the academic campus in Bielany (Monday, April 24), Podgórze (Saturday, April 22), the Old Town (Saturday, April 22), the Faculty of Fine Arts (Saturday and Monday, April 22 and 24), and the Młyn Wiedzy i Kultury (Mill of Knowledge and Culture) (Sunday, April 23), whose hosts are the Center of Modernity „Młyn Wiedzy” and the Provincial Center of Culture Animation.
Within each zone, thematic blocks will be presented – each of them will include events related to the discussed topics and format.
What can we expect then?
On Saturday, in the first zone, i.e. in the Old Town, we have a „Popular Science Picnic” ahead of us, during which both younger and older people will be able to experiment with science. We invite you to the „Cave of Wisdom” for a series of lectures on many different and interesting research topics. We will look for scientific news and curiosities in the „Medicine and our Life” block. We will also visit the Regional Museum, which is responsible for the „Museum Secrets” block, and the Gallery and Center for Children's Artistic Creation will invite the youngest to the „Tails under the Stars” block. Historians traditionally provide a strong festival accent and have prepared „A Good History!”. Thanks to their creativity and ingenuity, we will be transported, among others, to a medieval street, exactly the one that Nicolaus Copernicus could have walked. The Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz will take us on a „Musical Orbit” – they have prepared a concert of early music and a musical morning for the whole family.
On Saturday, it is also worth going to the other side of the Vistula River – the Artus Court Cultural Center invites you to the „Cultural Left Bank – Suburban Cosmos” block. It has a range of workshops for children, whole families, and older audiences.
„Into the depths of art” is a proposal from the Faculty of Fine Arts of UMK. We will be able to take advantage of workshops, including graphics, drawing, and conservation, for two days – on Saturday and Monday (April 22 and 24).
Sunday belongs entirely to our partners – the Center of Modernity Młyn Wiedzy, which traditionally invites you to a great scientific picnic, and the Voivodeship Center for Cultural Animation and its great initiative – the Culture Clinic, which is so praised by the organizers:
This time, the medical council invites patients to the newly opened outpatient clinic at Kościuszki Street 75–77. It will provide cultural saturation control examinations, cultural brain X-rays, and referrals to creative offices. The diagnosis will take the form of a performative walk during which the creative staff will apply, among others, theater, film, music, photographic, and plastic therapies. A distinguished group of professors has ruled that it will help all sufferers by offering exclusive ways of cultural therapy. Who among us does not struggle with temporary lack of creativity and imagination deficits? Who is not troubled by concentration problems and self-doubt? And finally – who does not have lapses of brilliance? If you see the above deficiencies in yourself, the Culture Clinic will fill those holes with shock therapy, regenerate your body, and calm your spirit. We will vaccinate you with culture.
Monday, April 24, is a day worth going to the academic town on Bielany. Scientists with the "Action-Education" block will be waiting here mainly for students, while whole families are welcome at the "Scientific Picnic Miasteczko" block. Lawyers have prepared a series of lectures and meetings dedicated to Copernicus, and the lectures from the "Inner Constellation" block also promise to be interesting.
But that’s not all. Festival guests can also expect a trip to the Astronomical Observatory in Piwnice.
The program also includes accompanying events, including the premiere screening of „Here is the Cosmos” at the Planetarium (Saturday, April 22nd) and the 9th Run with a Book „Szymborska Gardens”. Registrations for the latter event have already begun – interested parties have until Wednesday, April 19th.
The event will take place in a forest near the academic campus in Toruń Bielany, near the Copernican Integration Center of UMK. For those interested, there is also a guided tour of the community garden located within this new university facility. Participants can take part in the main race as well as the relay.
Copernicus’ festival
The popular science festival traditionally has its own theme or motto, related to current research topics and events around the world. In previous years, these have included time and space, energy, and the Vistula River. This year’s theme is related to Nicolaus Copernicus.
It couldn’t be otherwise – the Senate of the Republic of Poland, wanting to commemorate the eminent scholar, established 2023 as the Year of Nicolaus Copernicus, in the 550th anniversary of the birth of the great astronomer and at the same time – patron of our University.
The outstanding astronomer, creator of the heliocentric theory, mathematician, lawyer, doctor, economist, theologian – Nicolaus Copernicus was well-educated in many areas of science and life. During the festival, we will explore what science looks like „Five centuries after Copernicus”, and of course, there will be events related to the life and times of the great astronomer.
Among the nearly 100 events that are included in the program, many of them relate in an extremely attractive way to the main theme – we will find them in almost all blocks and zones of the festival. This is the case, for example, with the „Cave of Wisdom” block, where we can expect a series of short popular science lectures, and there are also activities prepared by chemists – children will think about what young Copernicus did when it rained. High school students will try to create a cinematic cosmos, and then take a closer look at the earth’s hydrosphere through the eyes of a satellite. People of all ages can participate in a quiz tournament called „Logic at Copernicus”, planned in the format of a television quiz show called „Bet on a Million”. We will get to know Copernicus as a lawyer, chemists will refer to the work „On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres”, and mathematicians will examine the Gothic ornaments hidden in the facade of the astronomer's house. Young people will design a large-format template with Copernicus’ image in the street art style, and families will participate in a field game, searching for Copernicus’ lost manuscript. Astronomers will tell us about new planets – together we will wonder if Copernicus would have liked them.
It will also be possible to „travel back in time” – with archaeologists, we will learn about medieval craftsmen and warriors, and with historians, we will walk down streets from centuries ago. We will also attend a concert – listening to music known and loved in Copernicus’ time.
The program and forms of communication, as in the past 20 editions, will be rich and diverse. We guarantee that regardless of age, everyone will find something interesting for themselves.
Musical opening
At the very end, we mention the beginning. The opening of the Toruń Festival of Science and Art will be a true musical feast. On Saturday, April 22nd at 6pm, in the Aula UMK at Gagarina 11 street, we will see „Die Fledermaus”.
The full-scale operetta performance was prepared by students of the vocal-acting and instrumental faculties of the Feliks Nowowiejski Music Academy in Bydgoszcz. The young musicians were supported by experienced producers – Grzegorz Boniecki (Warsaw Chamber Opera) was responsible for directing, and Piotr Wajrak (Opera Nova) was in charge of musical direction.
„Die Fledermaus” can be seen by anyone interested. Admission is free, without registration, but the number of seats is limited.
Johann Strauss’ work is considered a model of its genre, mainly due to the wonderful music – we will hear waltzes, polkas, and arias, and the amazing overture will make us want to dance. Another huge advantage is the funny and interesting libretto – we guarantee that this story will captivate the audience.
NCU News Portal Editorial Board
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Source: https://portal.umk.pl
