About the exhibition
The exhibition explores the relationship between humans and the earth – living matter that resists the artist's manipulation. Even barren soil can regenerate and become a habitat for new life. It is this soil that reminds us of the cyclical nature of natural processes, of their fragility but also of the power of permanence.
The motif of litmus paper – a simple indicator of the condition of a substance – becomes a metaphor here for trying to discern the state of the soil. What does soil mean? What life lies dormant within it, and what processes remain invisible to the naked eye?
The artists use clay from various places – from the Świętokrzyskie Mountains to the island of Bornholm – treating it as a carrier of memory and various stories about matter.
The objects on display change over time, require care and respond to their surroundings. In this way, the exhibition at the University of Lodz Natural History Museum becomes not just a display but also a living process – a meeting of biology and art, exploring life in its most fundamental form.
The exhibition will be on view until 1 February 2026.
The exhibition was created in cooperation with the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław and the Natural History Museum of the University of Lodz.
Biographical notes
Aleksandra Pulińska graduated from the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts Łódź and completed inter-faculty studies at Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi in Istanbul. She is currently a doctoral student at the Academy of Art and Design Wrocław, where she is pursuing a project on "post-artifacts" – objects designed by the artist but transformed by other organisms as a new form of fusion of culture and nature. Her work combines a variety of media, including site-specific installation, video, paper and glass, while her practice explores the relationship between culture and nature, human responsibility and the limits of creativity.
Dominika Kulczyńska is an interdisciplinary artist and a ceramics designer. She is a graduate of the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław and the AFA School of Photography. Currently, she is a doctoral student at the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław, where she is pursuing a research and artistic project at the intersection of art, geology and biotechnology. She is the co-founder of the Zakwas Studio design cooperative, operating in the field of sustainable crafts. In her practice, she explores the relationships between humans, matter and the environment, with a particular interest in processes of transformation and coexistence. She creates sculptures, installations and objects from wild clays and mine waste, treating them as living matter capable of dialogue with other forms of life.
Source and graphics: Natural History Museum, University of Lodz
Edit: Mateusz Kowalski (Promotion Centre, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz)
