Would You Lay Your Eggs Here?

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw will host its first curated exhibition co-created with an artist collective invited to this project. ZAKOLE is an artists’ initiative whose roots go directly to a wetland located within the city of Warsaw, i.e. the Wawer Bend.  Prepared by the collective, the exhibition is entitled “Would You Lay Your Eggs Here? Haunted Landscapes of an Urban Wetland.” It will be on display in Gallery A on the ground floor of the new building and available to visitors free of charge. The exhibition will be accompanied by various events organized at the Museum. 

In their works, artists explore the touchpoint between the city and the wetland; a place where nature and urban infrastructure intertwine to create tension, haunted visitations and interdependencies. The actions presented in Gallery A derive from fieldwork practices and direct experience of the site. In fact, the exhibition’s title question, „Would You Lay Your Eggs Here?”, was inspired by a discussion during a community-led inventory of amphibians conducted at the Wawer Bend, which is located just a few kilometers away from the city center.

A polyphonic tale of the phantoms haunting this urban wetland creates a space for encounters and relaxation, inviting one to delve into its nooks and crannies and to co-create its story.  “As we open ourselves up to the convolutedness of the wetland world, we will get to form, hum, read, weave, jump, listen, plan, negotiate, dream, and spin the past and future visions of this place,” encourage the artists from ZAKOLE. 

Instead of traditional artifacts, the exhibition will feature the so-called object-stories that evoke not only human but also more-than-human narratives, i.e. those of animals, plants, and the forces shaping the urban wetland.

Visitors will be able to experience a textile installation, video screenings and sculptures, as well as space-activating actions; all of them will bring the complexity of the city's wild areas closer, encouraging one to build a personal relationship with them.

Pieces of reeds and leaves, seeds, shells, small pebbles, polystyrene balls, bonded together into a silk-glued structure. Shell by shell, pebble by pebble, ball by ball: this is how the caddisfly larva builds its case, combining different orders and stories into one whole. It carries this collection with it all the time, slowly traversing boggy hollows. When it is ready to do so, it radically changes its identity, flying out of its safe haven and leaving behind this conglomerate of aquatic findings. 

[On the caddisfly and its case, or on what inspired a large-format textile installation presented in Gallery A]

The Wawer Bend is a vast area, just a few kilometers away from the center of Warsaw. It is covered with peatland, seasonally wet meadows, alder forest and reed beds, crisscrossed by canals and paths. What was once a bend of the Vistula River and its floodplains is now a mosaic of wetlands, former farm plots and orchards. It is surrounded by buildings and city streets.  The swamp and the city overlap here, with botanical matter intertwining with plastic bottles and debris; drainage canals intersecting with trodden roads. The Bend is subject to an ongoing change, with plants emerging and decomposing, animals building their burrows, lairs and dams. Here, time passes in tune with the seasons, but also in tune with the fast pace of life in the city. Wildlife conservationists describe the Wawer Bend as one of the most important refuges of Warsaw's biodiversity; a site that cools down the urban heat island, which benefits the entire agglomeration. But meanwhile, the area is located almost entirely on private land.

It has been five years since ZAKOLE started thematizing the Wawer Bend in its activities. The members of the collective explore the wetland through experimental methods: deep listening, multi-sensory observation, reading and imagining together, physical activities, conducting conversations with people connected to the site, as well as studying maps and other scientific and administrative documents.

A major theme accompanying the actions and advocacy work of ZAKOLE at the Warsaw Bend is the uncertain future of this urban wetland. Hence, visitors will be able to sign an open letter located in Gallery A; this document addresses the need to take collective responsibility for this unique wetland ecosystem, and to act in solidarity.

ZAKOLE is co-created by Zuzia Derlacz, Krysia Jędrzejewska-Szmek, Ola Knychalska, Olga Roszkowska, and Pola Salicka, with the support of Igor Stokfiszewski (Jasna 10). Their pursuits rely on establishing broad alliances and collaborations aimed at forming a community that cares for the Wawer Bend. As part of their collective practice, the artists seek different ways to experience the swamp and record its history, as well as to emphasize the role of similar places in other cities.

Read more on the ZAKOLE collective.