About the exhibition
The "Printed Beasts" exhibition is an opportunity to view works created using traditional printmaking techniques. This art form utilises methods that allow for the reproduction of a given work, meaning that multiple copies can be obtained after appropriate technical preparation. The Relief Printing Student Science Club specialises in relief printing techniques, which include woodcut, linocut and plaster engraving. The name "relief printing" comes from the fact that the raised portions of the matrix are printed, while the cut-out portions remain blank in the print. In addition to the finished works, we also present sample matrixes. You can view them up close, touch them and compare them with the works on the walls.
As the artists underline:
All the works were created this winter, at the turn of 2025 and 2026. We were inspired by the collections of the University of Lodz Natural History Museum, which we had the opportunity to explore better during museum workshops led by Dr Marek Michalski in June 2025.
The artists sometimes directly reference the exhibits that have captured their interest, while in other cases the inspiration remains less obvious, with works teetering on the edge of representation and abstraction. Some artists see the exhibits as amusing mascots, while others realise that the museum is essentially a vast cemetery, composed primarily of potentially dangerous wild animals. Here, the illusion of control and domestication of the natural world confronts its primal wildness and untamed nature.
For Łódź residents, who remember its appearance before the expansion, the museum is a place whose aesthetic appeal and sense of mystery capture interest and spark the imagination even more than its scientific, functional purpose. The "Printed Beasts" exhibition is a perfect refelction of it.
Exhibition duration: 20 February to 12 April 2026
Source: Natural History Museum University of Lodz
Edit: Mateusz Kowalski (Promotion Centre, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz)
