A Tribute to Nature. Folding and Layering

authors/supervisors: Elżbieta Pakuła-Kwak, Joanna Łapińska, authors: Martyna Bielak, Łukasz Pilecki

The installation comes from the area of exploring the relationship between nature, architecture and art. Architecture is understood as the totality of phenomena associated with the cohabitation of human beings, animals and plants. Nature accepts and gives the possibility of existence to human beings, animals and plants. Art reveals all the connections between architecture and nature – people, animals and plants.

The concept crystallises as a multi-layered matter referring to phenomena of layering, overlapping, interpenetration (folding and layering); networking, simultaneity, displacement, juxtaposition, fluidity. The changing configurations of these phenomena create new networks of associations.

The installation is a common space for the artistic and design activities of lecturers, WAW graduates and students.

1st Studio of Interior Design; Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków prof. dr hab. Elżbieta Pakuła-Kwak and dr Joanna Łapińska – moderators Martyna Bielak, Łukasz Pilecki – students of the 1st Studio of Interior Design

The installation ‘A Tribute to Nature’ was realised in the 1st Studio of Interior Design, whose specific activities stem from research work that opens up new insights into the designer-organised slice of the human and non-human world.

Our research is a vision developed by a team of lecturers and students of the Studio; it is an experiment in which nothing is excluded; it offers tactile proximity and direct ‘use’ of a slice of space to be imbued with spiritual dimensions and design responsibility in a relatively short period of time. The process of becoming, of the emergence of new ideas and solutions, requires the selection of one and the exclusion of many possibilities; it requires negotiation and agreement with other participants in the quest.

Research assignments combine individual and collaborative activities, which usually result in art installations that are an integral part of the design process at the Studio. Conducted by multiple authors together and yet separately, they become spaces of multiple readings; an in-between experience – a space in-between; a deliberate deferral – a space of experimentation in a tightly focused design activity; multiplying the number of connections and inter-relationships, shattered and merged through the collaboration of all participants.

Constans

author: Małgorzata Zbroińska-Piątek

Description of the project:

The work is an authorial manifesto about the role of light as the building block of the space in which we exist and which we create. The installation is intended to make the viewer realise that what cannot be touched constitutes an uninterrupted reality. Just as the changing angle of incidence of light continuously modifies the space of the presented image, so do the cycle of day and night, the seasons, i.e. the ever-present variability, affect the perception of any space, regardless of its scale.

The composition of the spatial collage becomes a landscape of constant transformation, in which all that was added with light, as it were, is matched in importance by what was created as an ongoing and physically present arrangement of elements.

Małgorzata Zbroińska-Piątek

Graduate of the Faculty of Interior Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, assistant professor. She runs the 3rd Studio of Interior Design. Interior designer, Doctor Of Fine Arts. She worked with interdisciplinary teams of designers in the conception and realisation of objects that were submitted for international competitions. Passionate about drawing and collage in the broadest sense. Participant in exhibitions in Poland and abroad, winner of the 3rd ARTIJA International Art Biennial in Serbia (2022).

Participant in the ‘Synthesis’ series of group exhibitions (Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań).

‘Cosmos’ solo exhibition (2023), Galeria w Przyziemiu, Kraków

Individual exhibition ‘Silence’ (2021), Strefa Gallery, Interior Design Department, Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków

Participation in the group exhibition IN WAW - W PRZESTRZENI in the ASP Gallery at ul. Basztowa in Kraków (2021)

Participation in the group exhibition INTERDYSCYPLINARNI_kadra_WE ARE THE FUTURE as part of the VI International Interior Design Biennial inAW 2020, Wyspiański Pavilion Gallery, Kraków (2020)

2018-10 Participation in the group exhibition ‘Young Academy’ on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (2018)

Limits Of Memory

author: Aleksandra Kwiecień

Art installation ‘Limits of Memory’ is an identity exemplification of the figure of home, one's own place and the road to it. It reflects my constant search between the present and the past. In the installation, I use photographs from my places and the installation itself is located in a space that is, for me, an Augé’s ‘non-place’. An anonymous place, a public space. In it I defy and embrace my place. I define them as vertical planes, analogous in appearance to tilted windows or doors. They invite into the identity space of ‘my home’.

Aleksandra Kwiecień

Born in Radom, she studied at the Faculty of Interior Design and Industrial Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław from 1991 to 1997. She obtained her diploma in 1997 in the studio of Workstation Design under prof. Wilhelm Semaniszyn. Annexe in painting under prof. Marian Wołczuk. Area of creative activity: interior architecture, design, collage, drawing, spatial activities. Since 2002, she has been affiliated with the Faculty of Art at the University of Humanities and Technology in Radom, and is currently employed in the Department of Interior Design and Fashion Design at the Faculty of Art at the University of Radom.

2024 – doctoral thesis with distinction entitled ‘Personal Space, the Search for One’s Own Identity in Art’, supervisor dr. hab. Andrzej Brzegowy

Participation in numerous group exhibitions in Poland and abroad, two solo exhibitions.

MEATRE MEASURE 412 x piece

authors: Agata Cieślik, Ania Dudek, Emila Lubańska, Julia Korzec, Julia Trzepizur, Magdalena Kędzior, Ola Lewandowska, Stanislava Danylenko

supervisors: Patrycja Ochman-Tarka, Małgorzata Zbroińska-Piątek

A project for a spatial art installation dealing with themes of dialogue and discussion and different power arrangements and positions in widely interpreted contexts.

The form of the installation, built from the basic tool of every designer, the metre measure, enters into a dialogue with the visitor. The path of the labyrinth encourages them to find their own path, perspective or point of view of the space of exploration of the Common Space, in which the thicket of metre measure shapes the space around us. The varying intensity of the rhythm influences the visitor and encourages them to enter into dialogue with the installation.

The ASP WAW Study Group is an initiative established at the Faculty of Interior Design of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. It brings together eight people whose common motivation is a passion for interior architecture, art and a variety of artistic activities. The team thus creates an inspiring environment conducive to creative development and the exchange of ideas. The aim of the WAW ASP Study Group is not only to deepen theoretical knowledge, but also to explore various aspects of interior design and creation in practice, promoting innovation and originality in the approach to art and architecture. Recent completed projects of two art installations presented at the Open Eyes Art. Festival in October 2021: JAREMA: DISCUSSION and COLOR CHALLENGE 4 SOLAR DECATHLON.

Common space for exchanging views

author: Natalia Kliśko-Walczak

A space shaped by old furniture destined for disposal. Tables and chairs become modules that form structures reminiscent of organic forms. The aim is to promote sustainability through the re-use of existing furniture and encourage reflection on the relationship between human and nature. The space created is intended to provoke an exchange of views on various topics.

Two forms of concept presentation: a static visualisation on a board and a 360 panorama (virtual space) allow to experience the space in different ways.

Natalia Kliśko-Walczak

Interior designer, artist, environmentalist and lecturer. Head of the Studio of Ecological Design at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznań. She designs residential and public interiors. By creating, she crosses the boundaries between architecture, art and ecology. Her designs win awards in international competitions. She conducts research in the field of ecological design, which result in eco-structures created from natural materials and waste. She places ecological tissues in spaces inspired by the natural environment.

The compositions are presented at exhibitions in Poland and abroad.

Time fields. Fields of thought II

author: Monika Wanyura-Kurosad

Art installation in the form of a triptych. Work inspired by the spaces of memory, the passing of time, the coexistence of past, present and future in a single, unifying form. The space is filled with words, images, thoughts. It is a conglomeration of shimmering and fluid impressions that we carry with us through life.

Installation, triptych. Technique: digital graphics, acrylic, glitter, steel, wood.

Monika Wanyura-Kurosad

Graphic designer, set designer. Graduate with honours of the Faculty of Graphic Arts in Katowice, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. She works in the Department of Set Design at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. She works in printmaking, drawing, set design, installation and book art. Her work is inspired by poetry, the spaces of memory and time, the experience of a metaphorical journey through life. She creates multi-element drawings with open compositions, installations, objects. Light and interpenetrating spatial structures are an important issue in digital graphics.

She presented her works at more than 120 exhibitions in Belgium, Spain, Japan, Canada, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, USA, Italy. Her works can be found in the collections of the National Museum in Kraków, the Silesian Museum, the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, the Osten Museum of Drawing in Skopje, the Art Museum Cluj-Napoca, Brita Prinz ARTE.

Set designer and film interior decorator. She cocreated TV theatre productions, feature series, docudrama films and theatre productions.

Winner of the Lorenzo il Magnifico Award – Installation Art at the Florence Biennale, 2023; Golden Osten Award at the Osten Biennial of Drawing Skopje 2022; Special Award at the Osten Biennial of Drawing Skopje 2020; Honorary Mention at the International Biennial of Digital Graphics - Gdynia 2012; Award of Honour at MATRICES 2010 International Exhibition of Small Form Electrographic Art, Hungary 2010.

Earth Womb

author: Dena Haden

This installation explores the opportunity of "place" as presented with possibility. EarthWomb (Florence) is one of four large scale weavings in a series that embodies life and the land, weaving parts of the actual materials found on site to create a vessel that hangs and gently implies weaving back into the ground. These vessels activate the concept of ‘Genius Loci,’ evoking the spirit of a place that led this piece to come into form; to reconceive and gestate that which is before us and give back to mother earth with gratitude for that which she has given to us; in a constant state of renewal and appreciation.

Dena Haden

Dena Haden is an installation and fiber artist from New Bedford, MA USA. Through the intentional act of collecting, growing and building organic materials, Haden creates moments in time to honor nature. Her works are built in a very slow meditative process allowing each piece to unfold; embodying an open vessel to hold space, light, and moments of healing and what that expression might look like in a physical form. She received her BFA from UMass Dartmouth and her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. She has an extensive exhibition record with solo and group exhibitions in Boston, Philadelphia, and around the Northeast of the United States. Haden has also exhibited internationally in Europe; Italy, Turkey and Japan. She was recently enrolled in a residency at Arrowmont in Tennessee, Baroque Blue Residency in Nardo, Italy and is currently working as an artist in residence at Maria Mitchell on Nantucket, MA as well as the Primo Piano Projects in Lecce, Italy.

Process | short film about art on the move

authors: Jolanta Kwarciak, Aneta Lehmann, Martyna Rajewska, Magdalena Sadłowska

‘Process’ is a short film showing the journey of paintings by painter Magdalena Sadłowska. The objects are in constant transit between the artist’s studio in Gdańsk, her home, warehouses and galleries: spaces of coexistence, movement, giving and receiving.

In the film, we present what is not seen as content per se: the sequence of activities necessary for the work to be hang in the gallery. An easel in the studio, a workbench. Cardboard, foil, tape, box. Transfer – by stairs, lift, ramp. And finally to the boot, on the back seat. Sometimes in the train compartment. Someone’s hands will grab, carry, hang or place. Someone will redescribe, put into context. Someone will visit, circle, stop by. The film is an excuse to look at art as a thing, and look at its journey as sharing.

The process will be accompanied by an image-artefact, which in this situation will only become a component of the transfer.

Martyna Rajewska

Architect, lecturer, together with Professor Jacek Dominiczak, she runs the Studio of Urban Interior Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. In 2016, she graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, was a scholarship holder at Escola Superior de Artes e Design in Portugal and studied Social Design at the Design Academy Eindhoven. She worked in architectural studios in Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands and has collaborated with Inside Outside – Petra Blaisse on projects such as the retrospective exhibition of the office for GTA Zurich and at Triennale di Milano, the LocHal library project in Tilburg and the Mingei Museum in San Diego. Currently, together with Jolanta Kwarciak, she runs the NeON collective, working on projects in the field of architecture/interior architecture and art exhibition. She is concerned with the performative side of architecture and its position in the daily rhythms of its users. For her, well-designed architecture is a ‘new eyes’ tool, new habits of living are encouraged by new experiences constructed in designed spaces.

Jolanta Kwarciak

Interior designer, together with dr hab. Katarzyna Radecka, she runs the Interior Design Studio at the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the Koszalin University of Technology. In 2014, she graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. Her diploma project Old Military Installation in Babie Doły was awarded the Grand Prize in the Best Diploma in Interior Design competition of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk at the Gdynia Design Days festival. Her further consideration of post-functional architecture resulted in a doctoral thesis defended in 2024 entitled. ‘Renewed Imagination. Post-Functional Architecture Laboratory’. Between 2013 and 2015, she was an assistant on projects by artist Katarzyna Krakowiak. She is the author and co-author of numerous architecture and design projects, including the Play Department at the European Solidarity Centre in collaboration with Grupa Smacznego. Currently, together with Martyna Rajewska, she runs the NeON collective, which deals with projects in the field of architecture/interior architecture and art exhibition. She is a certified drone pilot. She looks for unusual landscapes in the ‘ordinary’ everyday, capturing them in a non-obvious way. She likes to play with fresh perspectives. This fresh perspective translates into the elaboration and development of a new language in her design endeavours.

Magdalena Sadłowska

Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. Assistant at the Faculty of Architecture and Design of the Koszalin University of Technology. She uses various media in her artistic work: painting, drawing, object, installation. From 2016 to 2021, she was a resident at the Artists’ Colony - Dolne Miasto in Gdańsk. Winner of a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. She participated in numerous exhibitions and art reviews, including solo exhibitions: ‘Nowe kroje’, Krupa Gallery, Wrocław; ,’Easy steps to safe’, LKW Gallery, Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art; ‘Ćwiczka-ćwicząca’, Artists’ Colony – Dolne Miasto, Gdańsk an collective exhibitions: ‘ŚLAD’, Art Factory in Łódź; Triennial of Drawing, BWA Wrocław; Gdańsk Biennial of Art, Gdańsk City Gallery; in the nationwide W. Fangor Competition of Painting in Gdańsk, where she was awarded the Prize of the Dean of the Faculty of Painting.

Aneta Lehmann

Graduate of Cultural Studies and Interior Design. In practice, she focuses primarily on the planning and production of cultural events, architectural education and research into the urban fabric. Assistant at the City Architecture Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. She has been working and collaborating with Tricity cultural institutions since 2011. She was associated with the European Solidarity Centre from 2020 to 2023. She currently works in the Gdynia Design Centre. She cocreated the first editions of the architecture and city festival Open House Gdynia. In 2017, she joined the Open House Gdańsk team, where she is currently curator. She gained architectural experience in several studios, including Kowalczyk-Gajda Design Studio and 4Rooms Studio.

Svetovits 4

author: Marta Weronika Węcławska-Lipowicz

Four forms of 160-cm upright columns topped by cubic illuminated cubes with the author's hand-drawn facial features at the height of the faces of those viewing the portraits. The work is part of an experience with different drawing media giving them new value. In this case, this media is opal plexiglass. The luminous ‘Svetovits’, looking in the four directions of the world, are arranged in the shape of a cross to emphasise the quadrilateral directions.

prof. dr hab. Marta Weronika Węcławska-Lipowicz

Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, now the University of Arts in Poznań. In 1990, she defended her master's degree in interior design and drawing and was employed at her home faculty. Since 2003, she has led the directional studio of Interior Design II at the Faculty of Interior Design and Set Design. She is the supervisor of many bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral theses. She was awarded the title of Professor of Art in 2021.

Her field of creative interest includes space design, especially in cultural contexts related to the adaptation of historically and semantically influenced interiors, furniture design, exhibition design and drawing as a related field, also strongly related to observation, interpretation and capturing space in the frame, using similar tools in the recording of ideas, transferring thoughts onto the sheet by hand. She is the author of a number of interior designs, pieces of furniture and exhibitions.

photos: Marek Błażucki