Rewilding: the Breath of Creeping Shadows

Rewilding: the Breath of Creeping Shadows

Alexander Adamau, Krzysztof M. Bednarski, Alicja Biała, Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Magda Buczek, Monika Chlebek, Joanna Cisek, Martyna Czech, Katarzyna Feiglewicz, Cristina Ferreira-Szwarc, Bartłomiej Flis, Joanna Fluder, Agnieszka Kalinowska, Ida Karkoszka, Bartek Arobal Kociemba, Tomasz Kręcicki, Magda Król, Diana Lelonek, Kateryna Lysovenko, Michał Łuczak, Cecylia Malik, Marta Niedbał, Vasilisa Palianina, Viola Plaga-Głowacka, Joanna Rajkowska, Rafał Wilk, Liliana Zeic, Magdalena Zych

curator: Olga Mzhelskaya

In the face of the growing ecological crisis, the question resounds ever more clearly: how can we protect and restore nature without turning it into yet another object of human control? Contemporary media construct a hyperreal image of catastrophe — accessible, endlessly reproduced, and yet paradoxically distant. As philosopher Timothy Morton observes, global warming escapes the gaze: it cannot be truly “seen,” for it is dispersed everywhere — across space and time.

Ecologists, activists, and artists propose diverse strategies — from coexistence and regeneration to complete non-intervention — seeking ways to restore the planet’s capacity for self-regulation. At the same time, they attempt to break through dense political and informational narratives, to reach human sensitivity without being drowned in a flood of fears and slogans.

Art has long accompanied these explorations — not as a parallel path, but as one of the most perceptive tools for understanding reality. As early as the mid-20th century, artistic movements such as land art, arte povera, and ecological art responded to the ecological crisis with creative gestures that sought to rebuild the bond between humans and the surrounding world. Through their sensitivity and their ability to perceive what has not yet been named, artists have long captured phenomena that would only later enter public debate. In this sense, it is in art — in its intuition, imagination, and capacity to expand consciousness — that an essential part of the answer to contemporary ecological challenges resides.

In this context, rewilding — the practice of restoring wild life and self-regulating ecosystems — becomes a metaphor for a deeper process: the renunciation of power and control, and the attempt to hear the breath of the world beyond the human perspective. In the age of climate disasters and the loss of biodiversity, this gesture is no longer utopian or idealized, but ethically necessary and existentially meaningful.

The “wild” is not simply primordial nature, nor the opposite of culture. The wild retains the ability to be other — unpredictable, noncompliant with our logic. It becomes a form of resistance and a way of coexistence. As Donna Haraway wrote, to live is to leave traces in other lives. The wild is not something to be tamed or merely protected, but something with which we must enter into relationship. In this sense, rewilding is not a return to the past but an attempt at the future — one in which nature and humankind once again breathe together.

The rewilding movement is gaining strength worldwide — from the restoration of Scottish peatlands and Spanish meadows to ecosystem regeneration initiatives in Poland. This exhibition becomes part of that process and will conclude with the charity auction “The Art of Nature Conservation – 25 Years of WWF Polska.” The proceeds will be dedicated to purchasing land in the buffer zone of the Biebrza National Park, enabling the regeneration of peatlands and the expansion of areas for wild renewal.

The exhibition presents works by 28 artists from Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Denmark, and Portugal. Their projects reveal a diversity of strategies for addressing the climate crisis. The intergenerational composition of participants creates a space of encounter and exchange, showing that across different times and contexts, artists remain engaged in ecological processes — as their active participants and co-creators.

Rewilding: The Breath of Crawling Shadows speaks of recovering sensitivity and synchronizing with the rhythm of the Earth’s breath. The title of the exhibition refers to these rhythms — cosmic, such as the movement of the solar system and the cycle of day and night, and microcosmic — the movement of living matter unfolding above and beneath the surface. The exhibition invites reflection and action, encouraging the cultivation of empathy and a conscious relationship with the surrounding world.