“Landscape Exercises” installation by Michalina Bigaj

Exhibition curators Natalia Budnik and Aneta Lehmann invited several artists and creative collectives to reflect on public space design: Michalina Bigaj, Aleksandra Cacha, Centrala (Małgorzata Kuciewicz, Simone De Iacobis), Piotr Jurek, Mateusz Salwa, SLA (Stig L. Andersson, Kristoffer Holm Pedersen, Cecilie Overgaard Rasmussen) and Marta Urbańska. In their concept, the titular surface has become a place of encounter, defining our behaviour and determining the very possibility of meeting in a given space.

As stated in the curatorial text: “How, then, should public spaces be designed? How are we to think about them today, when ecological fragility and communal scarcity form their context? What is a contemporary urban park and what might it become? In architectural drawings, the surface is an abstract plane. When plans turn into reality, surfaces multiply, acquire tangible mass, become textured, and begin to generate places. Architecture swells, gains layers. Vegetation branches out and climbs, not always according to the plan. New surfaces emerge: for human, insect and animal feet. Streets, squares and parks, ponds”.

A visit to the former bathhouse in Nowy Port can become an opportunity to reflect on urban nature, shared community and the possibilities of designing nature within urban settings. Through artistic and sensory gestures, the carefully designed exhibition evokes landscape impressions, encourages play and transforms into a “surface” for daily life: sitting, observing, resting or working.

Michalina Bigaj used the Hoshi fabric we supplied to the Gdańsk Centre for Contemporary Art as part of her installation “Landscape Exercises”. The artist rendered the movement of air, one of the fundamental ways we experience landscape, within an indoor setting. The textile installation remains in constant motion, gently vibrated by streams of air from fans, and responds to its surroundings, light and passing visitors. This stems from the fabric’s lightness and pliability, making it move effortlessly with the softest breath of air. The subtle, continuous movement mirrors natural processes: plant swaying, water ripples, drifting clouds and the shifting landscape. This effect is amplified by the deep green hue the artist chose to print on the white material, along with irregular spots of “moss” applied to the fabric.

Suspended from a long mobile rail, the curtain remains easily rearranged. The fact that the layout can be reconfigured throughout the exhibition serves as a reminder that space is never fixed – it happens in dialogue with the user and their decisions.