As the founders themselves write, “Komuna/Warszawa (Commune/Warsaw) is the heir and successor of Komuna Otwock (Otwock Commune)”, an independent art and theatre group founded in 1989 by Grzegorz Laszuk and Paul Stankiewicz. Komuna Otwock, that was supposed to be an “anarchist community of activities”, carried out interdisciplinary activities beyond the sphere of art. Apart from performances, happenings and actions, the group also held social and ecological campaigns, organized workshops, concerts, exhibitions, lectures and published books. Their actions were organized in collaboration with, among others, Amnesty International and the Club of Gaya. The group’s activities were focused on Otwock, consistent with the principle expressed by members of Komuna about the locality of projects – in opposition to the centralist tendencies of the anarchist movement. Komuna Otwock’s performances and theatre projects were energetic multimedia shows with a characteristic style and reference, among others, to the tradition of art theatre. They combine diverse, live music with videos and acting. Komuna Otwock has performed for many years at the most important festivals which present off-theatre such as Cracow’s Reminiscencje or Warsaw’s Rozdroże and also at MALTA in Poznań.
In 2009 the founders of Komuna Otwock concluded that their formula is exhausted so they ended their activity and founded Komuna/Warszawa in its place. According to the opinions of its members: “Komuna Warszawa will perform more or less the same activities as Komuna Otwock, but under a different name.” Currently, the group is working on the interdisciplinary project Perform.