Pranie muzgó

Welcome to the Post-Truth Institute! Post-truth is not just a social or political problem. This is a deeply personal problem for each and every one of us. We can all experience misinformation at some point in our lives. In a moment we will connect the apparatus and try to understand what is happening in the mind of a man whose views have become radicalized. We will measure the pulse, the conductivity of the skin, the movements of the pupils and the electrical impulses that flow through the brain.

In war, all information is a weapon. The new forms of propaganda and influence that we have seen since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine are eroding public trust, threatening chaos and destabilization. Pranie Muzgó presents a simulation of the activities of a research institute that could be created to counter the phenomena of hybrid war in Poland.

The actresses of the Jaracz Theater play the roles of researchers, and on the stage they are accompanied by Yuliya Kovalchuk, a neuroscientist and performer from Ukraine. The show draws on the achievements of neuropolitics - a developing scientific discipline that explores the biological basis of human political activity. Using a committed and critical approach to media messages, Pranie muzgó proposes theater as a kind of antidote to misinformation, feelings of confusion and excess stimuli. Is it possible to remain free in a world where we are manipulated from all sides? What can be the active role of art in times of crisis of democracy and post-truth? How can civil society and human ties be protected from falling apart?

Prane Muzgó grows out of the long-term artistic and activist practice of Magda Szpecht, winner of Kamyk Puzyna in 2025, awarded for combining theatrical creativity with cyberactivist, information, documentation, educational and artistic activities for the benefit of a struggling Ukraine. The show was created in an interdisciplinary creative team, and Janek Simon, an acclaimed visual artist, is responsible for its space and technological solutions.

In the course of the performance, the participation of the spectator is possible.

Sensitive content:

vulgarismin the play, content related to Russian political propaganda and political materials is presented in a critical way.

The play presents Wisława Szymborska's poem “Children of the Era” from the 1986 volume “People on the Bridge” - with the permission of the Wisława Szymborska Foundation, translated into Ukrainian by Hryhori Kochur. In the process of working on the script we used: conversations with Adam Sokołowski (“Disinformation Podkast”), articles by Anna Mieri Oko.press (Oko.press) and the book “The Ideological Brain. How Rigid Beliefs Harm Our Minds & Bodies — And Why It Matters”, written by Ukrainian scientist Leor Zmigrod, published in 2026 by Penguin Publishing House.

Substantive consultation on disinformation - Adam Sokołowski