IMAGINE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

The group exhibition at Galeria Studio in Warsaw elaborated on the theme of visions of the future on several levels. It involved projects by a number of Czech, Polish and international artists. The exhibition encompassed two main levels, which at the same time reflected the spatial layout of Galeria Studio, divided into two floors, one above the other. One part dealt with the concept of returning to tradition and (our) nature, while the other part focused on techno-optimistic or dystopian ideas of the future, which might be associated with science-fiction. 

One part of the exhibition critically examined the aforementioned solar punk visions and ideas about the future, linking green living with state-of-the-art technology, science and “progress,” as well as various strategies for survival in a dystopian, even post-human world. The other part explored various strategies of degrowth, deceleration or sustainable living in harmony with nature.

Gabriela BK, 10_ft_under, 2023, Combined technique (concrete, iron, Phragmites Australis, Salix, glass, cork, wax, pitch, agar)

Ondřej Trhoň and Nela Pietrová, Cherry-coloured Dream, Interactive fiction (text game), Spatial installation; concrete blocks, metal, soil, potato plants, 2023.

In the front: BCAA system: No ~ one Is an Island, Video, 10’47”, 2019 [installation fragment], In the back: Diana Lelonek: The Ministry of Environment Building Overgrown by Central European Mixed Forest, Photograph, 2017. Courtesy of lokal_30.

The exhibition’s narrative traveled through time, but also beyond real time, to explore past and future utopias. The theme of escapism permeated the exhibition, set in separated geographical locations, dream realms, fictional scenarios and old utopian ideas. But its purpose is not to escape into the unreal. On the contrary, we hoped that by combining a number of various artworks and projects, hints of possibility will begin to emerge, from which a way out of today’s situation, which is oppressive on many levels, can slowly be carved. When it seems there is nowhere to run, we can try running into the future – and from there, start to reshape the present. 

Aside from contemporary artworks, the exhibition also featured several historical works from the Galeria Studio Collection, Miejska Galeria BWA in Bydgoszcz, the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery, and private collections. 

The exhibition is the fourth chapter of the Jindřich Chalupecký Society program line titled Islands: Possibilities of Togetherness and was organized within the international project Islands of Kinship: A Collective  Manual for Sustainable and Inclusive Art Institutions, co-funded by the European Union and Czech Ministry of Culture.

In the front: Superflux:The Seas Are No Longer Dying, 3 channel film, 2’49“, 2022. Produced in conversation with Safe Seaweed Coalition. In collaboration with Cream Projects and David Vélez, In the back from left to right: Leon Romanow: New Is Coming (III), Oil on canvas,1975. Galeria Studio Collection, Warsaw, Adela Souckova: Imperial Eagle as a Holy Ghost, Natural dye, pastel, charcoal on textile, 2022

Adela Souckova: Imperial Eagle as a Holy Ghost, Natural dye, pastel, charcoal on textile, 2022

Nam June Paik: Fluxus Island in Décollage Ocean, Print on paper, 1963. Courtesy of Peter Wenzel Collection.

BCAA system: No ~ one Is an Island, Video, 10’47”, 2019

In the front: Maja Smrekar: Survival Kit for the Anthropocene, Mixed-media installation and research project, 2014, In the back from left to right: Leon Romanow: In-Between (III), Oil on canvas, 1999, Courtesy of Galeria Miejska bwa in Bydgoszcz Collection, Seana Gavin: After the Floods, Hand cut paper collage on foam board, 2017, Tropical Planet, Hand cut paper collage on foam board, 2017

In the front: Kinga Kielczynska: Courtesy of Infinity (Voices), Video HD, binaural sound, 10”, 2021–22, In the back from left to right: Eva Jaroňová: Mycelium (from the series The World Passes Through Human), Watercolor on paper, 2021, Untitled (from the series The World Passes Through Human), Watercolor on paper, 2021, It Won’t Be Like This, Digital print on textile, 2023, Suzanne Treister, Selected works from the project TECHNOSHAMANIC SYSTEMS – New Cosmological Models for Survival, Digital printing on paper, 2020-ongoing. Courtesy the artist, Annely Juda Fine Art, London and P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York

From left to right: Milan Ressel, Situation 2016, Pencil on paper,1973.Courtesy of South Bohemian Gallery, Seana Gavin: Evergreen Metropolis, Hand cut paper collage on foam board, 2017.

From left to right: Gabriela BK, post_dirt: experimental tools for a post-civilisation collapse future, Vermipack, 2022. Combined technique (upcycled wine bag, Phragmites Australis, Juncus Conglomeratus, plastic, metal), 10_ft_under, 2023, Combined technique (concrete, iron, Phragmites Australis, Salix, glass, cork, wax, pitch, agar), Seana Gavin: Holiday Home, Hand cut paper collage on foam board, 2017

Joshua Citarella: Choose Your Future, Dye sublimation prints on dibond, single channel audio, 26’20”. 2021

Eva Jaroňová: Untitled (from the series Changing Perspectives), Watercolor on paper, 2019; Untit-led (from the series Changing Perspectives), Watercolor on paper, 2019; The Underwater World (from the series The World Passes Through Human), Watercolor on paper, 2021; Mycelium (from the series The World Passes Through Human), Watercolor on paper, 2021; Untitled (from the se-ries The World Passes Through Human), Watercolor on paper, 2021; It Won’t Be Like This, Digital print on textile, 2023.