Always Someone Else Dies

Czaro Malinkiewicz, Marek Wodzisławski, Mikołaj Sobotka, Nebula Puff [C], Zuza Piekoszewska-Smith ​

The future lies in the bones. It is upon them, understood as both organic building blocks and carriers of meaning, that the biological and cultural condition of humanity rests. They form the most enduring part of the human body – the only remaining fragment after death, which is part of the process of becoming human, transforming the body through various metamorphoses.

The development of increasingly sophisticated technologies allows us to imagine that what is dead will increasingly and on a larger scale become a useful organic material, blurring the boundaries between the living and the dead. Ewa Domańska writes that after the death of the human body, it transforms into something non-human. The remains, as organic collective subjects, reveal a multi-species identity and the communality of biological matter. The ontology of the dead body points to the ability to connect and create new forms of kinship based on a common substance. It is both a real, material, and dynamic existence, as well as a process of constant transformation, revealing the inorganic potential for change.

After death, the body transforms into the Other. A materialistic understanding of life and death has led to the perception of dead bodies as organic remnants belonging to Nature. In this context, ideas emerged about using the body as fertilizer, as well as practices of “cleansing” spaces of the deceased – removing bodies in defense of the health of the living. The remains gain value because of what can be done with them or what they can be used for – both in a symbolic and material sense. What is dead begins to play a key role in sustaining earthly existence. To live means to enter into relationships and retain the potential for transformation: reshaping oneself and the surrounding environment.

Artists reveal ways of thinking based on impressions generated by the inanimate body and their impact on reality. They bring reflections on the dead body, which allow insight into the reality of the living. Operating within the categories of strangeness or adaptation, they creatively find their limitations in order to free themselves from them. Objects elude binary divisions, appearing as something unclear and undefined. They point to visuality, combining traces of primitiveness, decay, and horror as aesthetic conventions. Referring to the ontology of the dead body, they reveal the processes brought about by death and uncover possibilities for future biological diversification.

The exhibition manifests life inherent in matter. It uses what is dead to explore the real. It reaches for the death of bodies as a specific state, which proves visually compelling, allowing a transition from aesthetic reflection to ontological contemplation. Dead bodies cause the blurring of boundaries between culture and nature, becoming an inseparable part of the process of world-making. The remains become a being – a kind of meta-community, which, in the eco-necro sense, itself possesses the agency.

Unclear visual entanglements make breaches, addressing many threads at once, reflecting the multidimensional structure of contemporary reality. The exhibition creates an ambiguous story about the corpse as a symbol of absence and a harbinger of impending decay. Engraved ornaments, sweaty fabrics, and rippling folds of skin disintegrate in the hands, scattering the dust of things and events, revealing the presence of another life.

*E. Domańska, Necros: Introduction to the Ontology of the Dead Body, Warsaw 2017, p. 45.
**Ibid., p. 129.

Curator and author of the text: Kamil Gustaw Mizgala

Visual identity: Nebula Puff [C]

Czaro Malinkiewicz (b. 1999)
Graduate of experimental film (Academy of Art in Szczecin), currently a student of intermedia (University of the Arts in Poznań). In his artistic practice, he examines what is dusty and deeply hidden in attics. His main areas of interest include pop culture, cinematography, the role of props, the history of horror, conspiracy theories, and the relationship between a phenomenon and its documentation. He mainly works with silicone and waste materials, creating camp, unconventional objects and short video works.

Zuza Piekoszewska-Smith (b. 1996)
Represented by Łęctwo Gallery in Poznań. Her practice evokes the sense of passing, which never ends with death, as well as memories and echoes of past fundamental energies. She has exhibited her works, among others, at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, the Museum of Art in Łódź, and abroad. She lives and works in Poznań.

Mikołaj Sobotka (b. 1997)
Lives and works in Warsaw, where in 2024 he defended his master's degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Faculty of Graphic Arts. His work includes sculpture and graphic design, but the artist does not limit himself to these forms. He works with a complex visual code that merges various cultural phenomena. In 2024, he participated in several exhibitions, including "Blisko Ciemności 2/NearDark 2" at Łęctwo Gallery during Warsaw Gallery Weekend and "All My Brothers I’ve Ever Killed" at Jak Zapomnieć Gallery.

Marek Wodzisławski (b. 1985)
Lives and works in Katowice. A graduate of painting at the Katowice Academy of Fine Arts, currently a PhD student at the Department of Intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. He is interested in transgenre narratives, the materiality of life, post-evolution, and prosthetic extensions of the body. He creates installations, video works, photography, and experiments with biological media. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Poland and abroad.

Nebula Puff [C] (Klaudia Jeleńska) (b. 2002)
An interdisciplinary artist whose work encompasses video, lettering, 3D modeling, virtual environments, game engineering, audiovisual installations, sculpture, drawing, and painting. She creates visions of alternative realities, using new technologies to expand and transform perceptions of the world. She explores landscapes of the future and dreamlike states, questioning the divide between the real and the virtual worlds.