As part of cooperation with the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, we have supported another artistic event with our fabrics, namely the exhibition “Everyday Forms of Resistance”, which opened on 23 July 2021. Spring and Jason fabrics were used to create an installation by Karolina Grzywnowicz called “Bedtime”.
The exhibition Everyday Forms of Resistance tells viewers about the ways of dealing with situations like armed conflicts or natural disasters. Returning to nature, preparing meals together, telling stories – in a situation of constant danger, virtually every gesture can be a manifestation of strength that allows you to survive and preserve the meaning of life. In this project, resistance is understood as endurance, hospitality, small everyday gestures, and rituals: preparing meals, growing plants, singing songs, rebuilding destroyed houses.
The project, curated by Ika Sienkiewicz-Nowacka, is the result of many years of work by Palestinian artists – Jumana Emil Abboud, Noor Abed, Ahmad Alaqra, Mirna Bamieh, Forensic Architecture, Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti from the DAAR collective, Jumana Manny, Mahommad Saleh – as well as the outcome artistic residencies, travels, research and work with local communities undertaken in the last four years by female artists from Poland: Karolina Grzywnowicz, Joanna Rajkowska, Jaśmina Wójcik and Marta Wódz.
Aida, Dheisheh, Fawwar, al-Arrub, Balata, Jalazone, Qalandyia - these are Palestinian camps where Karolina Grzywnowicz collected lullabies lying at the heart of the “Bedtime” installation. The artist recorded songs sung by the camp residents (mainly women) in spite of the two techniques of power: cultural uprooting and sleep deprivation. These songs are calm, full of tenderness, but at the same time constitute an act of subversion, a gesture of resistance, which can entail punishment.
The collection includes songs from various regions and times - both new and traditional lullabies, as well as creative modifications of the two categories. The protest is encrypted not only in the very fact of singing them, but also in the recurring motifs they contain.
Karolina Grzywnowicz's installation in the Ujazdowski Castle takes the form of a symbolic tent. Over 100 metres of navy-blue Spring Navy velvet has created an intimate space, where you can sit on large cushions, made especially for this occasion by Miuki from Dekoma Spring and Jason fabrics, and listen to refugee songs in contemplation.
These velvet fabrics were selected for the project because of their haptic properties, softness associated with a sense of security, and sound absorption. In the case of Spring, the double width turned out to be an advantage, as it allowed sewing richly draped, 5-metre-high curtains closing the installation space.
Fabrics used in the project:
Jason is a knitted velour decorative fabric with a subtle gloss. Its smoothness and elegance make the fabric suitable for universal use in modern- as well as classic-style interiors. It is available in 45 colours, from warm shades of beige and brown through both pastel and saturated shades of pink and azur, to grey, very fashionable colour this season. The fabric is in line with this year’s trend Virtual. High resistance to abrasion (70 000 Martindale cycles) is an additional asset of the fabric. Spring (280 cm) is similar to Jason.
Pleasant to the touch, Spring is a knitted velour fabric with a noble gloss. Its 2.8-metre width makes it a perfect solution for an impressive window decoration or exceptionally noble bedspread. The fabric is a universal base for use in interior design. It is available in a wide range of 32 colours: shades of commercial grey, violet, pink and also azure. Jason (140 cm) is similar to Spring. We suggest to use the lining when sewing window decorations.
Photographs of the "Everyday Forms of Resistance" exhibition - Piotr Bekas
Photographs of the "Bedtime" installation - Michał Matejko
The exhibition runs until 27 November 2021.
More information at www.u-jazdowski.pl
