The scent of the beginning, the scent of the end
oryginal tittle: “Zapach początku, zapach końca”
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2021
Warsaw under Construction 12 – Something in common
Curator:
Kamil Pierwszy
Festival curators:
Natalia Sielewicz, Tomasz Fudala
Photo:
Piotr Szmyt
Sculpture:
Impulse (2016)
Epoksy resin, coffee grounds. Own technique
225 x 175 x 68 cm
An attempt to awaken the imagination through scent, which is not only something to be smelled, but also something that invites reflection on the world around us.
The Scent of Beginning, the Scent of End” is a story in which artists Ida Karkoszka, Jan Eustachy Wolski, Kamil Pierwszy, and Øleg&Kaśka refer to scent, not to detect it, but to stimulate the imagination. The sense of smell is often ignored in everyday life, noticed only when a scent bothers or disturbs us. When we sense its cause in the air, like the smell of something burnt or the stench of a dying animal. For the artists, these invisible particles reveal the complexity of the world and its fragile balance, which they wish to highlight through their works.
The exhibition The Scent of Beginning, the Scent of End is part of the 12th edition of the Warsaw Under Construction festival, which this year focuses on the notion of community – understood in the simplest and most direct terms as an exchange of practical skills and neighbourhood involvement, and defined by ideas of care, mindfulness, as well as interpersonal relations and environments that foster them. The festival, which has so far been dedicated to architecture and urban planning, this time shifts the focus from the streets and squares of Warsaw to social relations and the needs of residents, inviting smaller groups and micro-communities to collaborate on creating a programme of joint activities.
The festival raises questions: Can we lead a community life while maintaining privacy? How should we understand hospitality in the face of growing distrust, especially after the pandemic? What kinds of remedies are proposed by artists to deal with increasing social divisions? In a time of crisis, would it be worth sharing something more than just a staircase with our neighbours?
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“The festival poses questions: Can we lead a community life while maintaining privacy? How should we understand hospitality in the face of growing distrust, especially after the pandemic?”
The exhibition The Scent of Beginning, the Scent of End is part of this broader reflection, where through artistic practices, themes of community, social bonds, and coexistence are explored. In the context of the challenges of the modern world, such as the pandemic, which cut us off from many forms of participation and co-presence in the public sphere, building a consensus that allows us to live together may be one of the most important topics. As the organisers note, an answer to these challenges could be the active involvement of residents in shaping their environment, including self-organized co-housing for senior citizens.
The 12th edition of Warsaw Under Construction is a long-term process of learning and collaboration, a workshop for sharing experiences, which aims to help us see the new potential of the city revealed during the pandemic: SOMETHING IN COMMON.
Artists: Sara Alexandre, Marta Bartkowska, Józefina Bartyzel, Maria Beburia, Pamela Bożek, Paweł Brylski, Artur Celiński, Agnieszka Cieśla, Marta Czyż, Wojciech Dada, Aleksandra Dengo, Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska, Marianna Dobkowska, Rafał Dominik, Magdalena Drągowska, Michał Frydrych, Taras Gembik, Zuza Golińska, Katarzyna Górna, Anna Grajewska, Karolina Grzywnowicz, Rafał Jakubowicz, Aleksandra Kardach-Zbroja, Ida Karkoszka, Kacper Kępiński, Daniel Kotowski, Dominika Kowynia, Marta Krześlak, Kaja Kusztra, Kasper Lecnim, Michał Łukaszuk, Ewa Majewska, Martyna Miller, Julia Minasiewicz, Jan Możdżyński, Amy Muhoro i Weronika Wysocka, Noemi Ndoloka Mbezi, Margaret Ohia-Nowak, Oleg&Kaśka, Adriana Petriczko, Kamil Pierwszy (Galeria Serce i Śmierć Człowieka), Post Noviki, Marta Przasnek, Marta Przybył, Mariola Przyjemska , Alicja Rogalska, Jakub Rudziński, Irmina Rusicka, Daniel Rycharski, Tomasz Saciłowski, Beata Siemieniako, Marta Skowrońska-Markiewicz, Mikołaj Sobczak, Kacha Szaniawska, Jakub Szreder, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Marta Trakul-Masłowska, Agata Twardoch, Marta Udoh, Ogi Ugonoh, Jolanta Woch, Katarzyna Wojtczak, Jan Eustachy Wolski, Alicja Wysocka, Grupa Za* (Yura Biley, Vera Zalutskaya, Yulia Krivich), Weronika Zalewska, Jan Zygmuntowski, Artur Żmijewski, Paweł Żukowski.
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SCULPTURE 
Impulse
(2016)
225 x 175 x 68 cm
Epoksy resin, coffee grounds. Own technique