WAJDA AFTER IMAGES Intermedial Art, Political Aesthetics, and the Afterlives of Cinema
An International Symposium on the Centenary of Andrzej Wajda’s Birth (Nov 21-22)
Overview
Marking the centenary of Andrzej Wajda’s birth, this international symposium invites participants to reconsider Wajda not only as one of the defining figures of Polish and European cinema, but also as an intermedial artist whose work unfolds across film, literature, theatre, visual art, political history, and archival practice.
Wajda’s films are deeply rooted in literary adaptation, painterly composition, scenographic imagination, and the transformation of historical experience into visual and performative forms. His artistic language negotiates the relationships between word and image, stage and screen, documentary and fiction, as well as individual memory and collective history. Rather than approaching Wajda solely within the boundaries of film history, the symposium situates his work within broader discussions of artistic form, political aesthetics, cultural memory, and the circulation of images across media.
The title Wajda After Images refers both to the enduring power of Wajda’s images beyond their original historical moment and to the afterlives of cinema itself—its transformations across theatre, visual art, exhibition practice, television, digital media, video games, and contemporary forms of memory culture.
The symposium welcomes papers that address Wajda’s work directly, as well as proposals that use his cinema as a point of departure for broader reflections on Polish, European, Japanese, and global visual culture. We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches that examine cinema in relation to other media, institutions, archives, and political histories.
Call for Papers
Submission deadline: 23 August 2026
Notification of acceptance: Late August / Early September 2026
To apply, please send submissions to:
pachciarek [at] aoni.waseda.jp *Please replace [at] with @.
Subject line: Wajda After Images CFP – [Surname]
Please submit the following materials:
- paper title
- abstract (250–300 words)
- short biographical note (100–150 words)
- institutional affiliation (if applicable)
- contact email
- optional indication of the thematic area to which your paper relates
Presentations should be 20 minutes, followed by discussion.
The symposium welcomes proposals from scholars working in film studies, theatre studies, literature, art history, media studies, Slavic studies, Japanese studies, cultural studies, history, museum studies, game studies, and related disciplines.
We also welcome proposals from curators, archivists, artists, translators, filmmakers, and other cultural practitioners whose work engages with Andrzej Wajda’s legacy or with broader questions of cinema, intermediality, visual culture, cultural memory, and political aesthetics.
Archival / Exhibition Component
Alongside the academic programme, the symposium will feature a modest display of selected archival materials related to Andrzej Wajda’s work. The display will highlight the material and intermedial dimensions of his artistic practice.
Venue
Okuma Auditorium – Main Auditorium, Waseda Campus, Waseda University (In-person)
Prospected Audience
Students, Graduate students, Faculty members, Research members
Language
English
Organizer
Waseda Institute for Advanced Studies (WIAS)
Co-organizer
Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology (Kraków)
Polish Institute in Tokyo (Embassy of the Republic of Poland)
Support
National Film Archive of Japan (NFAJ)
The Japanese Society for Slavic and East European Studies (JSSSLL)
Media Partner
Culture.pl
Funding
This symposium forms part of the international project Wajda After Images, commemorating the centenary of Andrzej Wajda’s birth. The project includes an international symposium and an accompanying exhibition in Japan.
The project is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland under the Inspiring Culture 2026–2027 programme.
Convenor
PACHCIAREK Pawel (Assistant Professor, WIAS)
