EXHIBITION: HORIZONS OF POST-GROWTH

Curatorial team: Michał Krzykawski, Ania Malinowska

Coordination: Eliza Urwanowicz-Rojecka

Horizons of Post-growth is another incarnation of the Post Growth project by DISNOVATION.ORG, showcasing the traps of expansive production and innovation. Although it is difficult to imagine a future without growth, it is even more difficult to imagine a future in which growth – a sign of evolution and progress – takes on opposite meanings to the ones that prevail. In the popular perception, growth is associated with dynamization, expansion, modernization, transformation, and development. Its content and associated practices are always followed by improvement and well-being. What if, nevertheless, it is otherwise?

The exhibition prompts such and similar questions, revealing the ambiguity of the concept of growth in light of escalating progress and energy crisis. In many ways, it questions the structures of lifestyles and standards of living, placing particular emphasis on their socioeconomic aspects. The exhibition shows growth in the context of climate paralysis, knowledge organization and industrial practices. Most importantly, however, it draws our attention to the mechanisms of growth and the relationship between the generation of energy and the effects of production broadly considered.

The exhibition consists of six installations visible in the gallery space, as well as several elements that are not directly part of the exhibition but are essential to its message, such as field research. This combination of different levels and dimensions highlights the severity of the problem and the role of art in the debate about the planet’s future. The central theme of the exhibition, “post-growth,” expresses a rejection of outdated and rigid forms of organizing life, including the culture of growth, work, and coexistence on both interpersonal and interspecies levels. The post-growth world aims to move away from equating progress with the exploitation of natural resources, machinery, and human energy. The exhibition illustrates the consequences of this exploitation, emphasizes the need for change, and suggests possible ways to achieve it.

The exhibition invites us to examine our shared future by analyzing the causes and consequences of growth crises. It also serves as a pretext for empirical reflection, provoking questions about how long we can continue economic growth.

Ania Malinowska & Michał Krzykawski

DISNOVATION.ORG are:

Maria Roszkowska – a Polish-French artist and critical designer. Her work investigates relations between humans and modern technology, with a focus on alternative forms and practices emerging at the peripheral zones of the mainstream discourses on technological innovation. Maria is also a freelance researcher. Her critical investigations have been reflected in several projects and books, including Don’t Brand My Public Space! (with EnsadLab Paris, 2010), The Pirate Book (2015), Realtime: Making Digital China (2019). 

Nicolas Maigret – an artist, curator, and educator. He works at the intersection of contemporary art, research, and hacking. His research and expertise have developed across many international fellowships hosted by the UCLouvain (2018), University of California, Irvine (2019), V2_, Rotterdam (2018-2020), and University of California, Berkeley (2024). Nicolas has been awarded the First Prize for Digital Arts from Arte Laguna (Venice 2016) and the Award for Artistic Technology Research (Vienna, 2015). His work has been presented, published and performed widely at cultural institutions around the world. 

Baruch Gottlieb – an artist and professor. He has worked as a professor of media art and sound art at Yonsei University Graduate School for Communication and Arts (South Korea). He has also lectured at UdK Berlin, BTU Cottbus, Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe, and FH Potsdam in media studies, philosophy of technology, aesthetics and ethics. Besides his continuing work as an artist, he works in the conception and direction of international symposia, festivals and workshops. Furthermore, he has been leading curatorial work for exhibitions at the institute for contemporary art West Den Haag in the Netherlands. He has published widely on media, philosophy, cybernetics, and economics. He works in the Telekommunisten artist collective.

Events accompanying the exhibition:

August 24, 2024 (Saturday), 12.00 – guided tour in Polish with the participation of the artist Maria Roszkowska (DISNOVATION.ORG) and the curatorial team: Anna Malinowska and Michał Krzykawski.

Place: Galeria Arsenał power plant, ul. Elektryczna 13 (entrance from ul. Świętojańska), Białystok

September 13 – 14, 2024 (Friday – Saturday) – international conference Diversity and Power in the 21st century. An event promoting issue 2/2004 of “Czas Kultury” – Scales of locality.

Further information: https://galeria-arsenal.pl/exhibition/disnovation-org-horizons-of-post-growth