The exhibition Przeciw(stawanie). Pękająca cisza ciałem, presented at Galeria Turnus, was accompanied by an extensive program of performances and discussion sessions that developed the exhibition’s key themes: the body understood as process, a space of experience and relationality, a field of social tensions, and also a site of resistance and agency.
Opening Performance
The program opened with the performance Chimera. Symfonia Oddechowa by Dobrawa Borkała, presented during the exhibition’s vernissage. The artist was accompanied by Muszla Rosada and Zosza as co-breathing participants. The performance explored breathing as a primal rhythm of life and an act of continuous becoming—a constant exchange between body and environment, between the intimate and the collective. Shared respiration created a temporary, relational body and opened the exhibition to the experience of co-sensing.
Talks and Discussion Sessions
One of the first sessions was the conversation Ciało jako architektura traumy, featuring Magda Buczek, Monika Mamzeta, and Marta Romankiv. The discussion addressed the body as a carrier of memory, extreme experiences, and violence, as well as artistic strategies for working with trauma. The participants explored reclaiming the female body from the dominance of the male gaze and art that does not shy away from confronting wounds and tensions inscribed in corporeality.
Another session, titled Uśmiechnij się ładnie — a conversation about hidden violence in aestheticization—was held with Magdalena Babicz, Dorota Kozieradzka, and Agata Cieślak, moderated by Malwina Bątruk. The discussion focused on social and cultural mechanisms of aestheticizing the female body—from the lolitization of girlhood to norms imposed on adult women. Participants analyzed how aesthetic expectations regulate women’s behavior, expression, and presence in public space, and how symbolic violence is often masked under the narrative of “taking care of appearance.”
Performative Works
As part of the exhibition, the performance Bajki by Ewelina Węgiel was presented. The work drew on whispered stories inspired by Eastern European folklore—narratives passed down outside official channels, circulating among women, generations, and bodies. The performance took place in a state of semi-sleep, accompanied by accordion sounds, creating an intimate space for attentive listening. Simultaneously, the gallery space hosted Węgiel’s work Ognisko — a textile made from reclaimed materials and earth, symbolically evoking the communal act of storytelling around a fire.
Closing and a Hydrofeminist Perspective
The exhibition concluded with a closing event combined with a discussion of Astrida Neimanis’ book Ciała wodne. Posthumanistyczna fenomenologia feministyczna. Ewelina Jarosz participated in the conversation, moderated by Malwina Bątruk. The discussion focused on the possibilities of applying academic tools and language in artistic practices and on a hydrofeminist understanding of the body as a space of flows, relations, and environmental connections. The “hydro-community” perspective proposed by Neimanis opened new interpretive contexts for the exhibition, shifting thinking about the body beyond individualism and anthropocentrism.
The events accompanying Przeciw(stawanie). Pękająca cisza ciałem created a space for attentive conversations, performative experiences, and collective reflection on the body beyond imposed norms and simplified narratives. The program highlighted the importance of dialogue and co-presence in developing a language for speaking about the body as process, relation, and a site of resistance.
