WK ESK | SZTUKA WIZUALNA | Istota Zmian

"The Essence of Change" is an interdisciplinary artistic project whose aim is to call for a change of perspective - the artists want to emphasize the need to move away from the anthropocentric way of perceiving the world, draw attention to our interdependence with nature and its inhabitants, and inspire absolute respect for it.

The project's message focuses on sentient beings beyond the human spectrum, draws attention to the fact that we are not the only form of life in the world, and mobilizes us to change our perception of the world, expand our awareness and empathy. "THE ESSENCE OF CHANGES" also raises purely human problems, such as the lack of adaptation of an individual or the phenomenon of social exclusion.

While visiting subsequent points on the Festival map, we encourage the recipient to stop and get acquainted with the individual "ESSENTS OF CHANGE" events:
1) "Remembering Places" - artistic VR installation by Mateusz Kokot. It is a game in the form of a journey through three audiovisual digital spaces reproduced using a head-mounted system /HMD/, used to participate in virtual reality using VR glasses. The author proposed a utopian vision of transforming a dead animal body into a landscape. "Remembering Places" is an example of a new approach to the human-animal relationship, as well as the topic of taming the subject of death itself.
When? June 22 and 23
Where? Festival club, Moat Zamku Lubomirski
What time? 14:00 - 20:00

2) "Ark/Optimization" - stop-motion animation by Małgorzata Gurowska. Currently, every third amphibian species, every fifth reptile species, every sixth bird species, and every fourth mammal species in the world are at risk of extinction. One example is the blue whale, which survived for millions of years until the 20th century, where whaling activities almost drove it to extinction. There have been five environmentally-caused mass extinctions in Earth's history, and the sixth is currently underway. This time, the main cause is human activity. The animation is a contemporary story in the form of a pictogram, where the mythical history of the Ark is confronted with the current one - the degradation of the natural environment.
When? June 21-23
Where? Zamkowa Street
What time? 21:00 - 23:00

3) "Locomotive/ IDEOLO" - an animation by Małgorzata Gurowska, an extension of her original book under the same title, which was repeatedly presented and awarded at international competitions. The animation has an open form, develops over time, subsequent wagons are attached to the titular train - current and universal, global and local topics, such as: refugees, social inequalities, hunting, industrial breeding, circus, smuggling of exotic animals.
When? June 21-23
Where? Zamkowa Street
What time? 21:00 - 23:00

4) "Rattus sapiens" - an exhibition of photographs by Maryia Karneyenko - a series of photographs presenting biological and psychological similarities between humans and rats, which were the basis for intense interest in rodents. Man engages rats in many areas of his activity, even using them during space flights. Many experiments are constantly carried out on rats: from cancer research to targeted pharmacological tests. Thanks to their unusual characteristics, rats have successfully spread throughout the planet, adapted to living alongside us and thrive in constant confrontation with us.
When? June 21-23
Where? Festival club, Moat Zamku Lubomirski
What time? 12:00 - 21:00

5) "It's hard to discover what we are like" - a street art project in which single photographs in various formats by Elwira Sztetner and short literary forms by Dariusz Gzyra will be placed in selected windows of buildings located on the streets in the city center. It will be a form of dialogue with a random passer-by, based on the complementary effect of words and images, in which each photo corresponds to a short text and each text is assigned a photo. The photos show ordinary, mass-produced children's toys - small, plastic animal figurines acting out scenes taken from the reality in which real animals are forced to live and are used to satisfy human needs. The texts encourage us to abandon the anthropocentric perspective and look with empathy at beings whose interests we usually ignore, even when we talk about broadly understood social justice.
On the first day of the festival (Friday, 4:00 p.m.) there will be a meeting with Elwira Sztetner and Dariusz Gzyra in the festival club.
When? June 21-23
Where? Shop windows on the streets in the center of Rzeszów

6) Locomotive/ IDEOLO - workshops by Małgorzata Gurowska - continuation of the book "Lokomotywa/ IDEOLO". Workshop participants will receive sheets with printed wagons just like in the book, but empty. Their task will be to complete them and create designs for subsequent book spreads. The work will be inspired by the socio-political and ecological issues discussed in the book. The aim of the workshop is to address current topics considered difficult or even uncomfortable, i.e. national identity, xenophobia, discrimination, racism, patriotism, but also the climate catastrophe and animal exploitation, to which the authors devote a lot of space in the book. Creating new book spreads and the accompanying conversation/discussion will expand or deepen these problems. The workshops promote an attitude of religious, ethnic and racial tolerance. The aim of the workshops is "intergenerational" - they are addressed to adults, youth and children.
When? June 23
What time? 17:00 - 19:00
Where? Festival club, Moat Zamku Lubomirski

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Project as part of the East of Culture European Stadium of Culture 2024 festival