Joanna Rajkowska, solo exhibition, Rhizopolis, Zachęta National Gallery, Warsaw, Poland, until 6 June 2021

Rhizopolis introduces us to the world of a hypothetical future of humanity on planet Earth after the anticipated great catastrophe that will end the current human era. It offers us the opportunity to envision our own survival scenarios, in preparation for the collapse of the world as we know it.

 

Rhizopolis is a set design built for a futuristic film. Its scenario, outlined by Rajkowska, is a proposal for  radical dependence, in which nature, previously dominated by humans, transpires to be a sanctuary in  its unshakeable persistence, providing what is necessary to sustain human life. When we visit the  exhibition, we enter an area of both artistic installation and set design for a film in which we ourselves  act, and to which we may one day find ourselves writing sequels. 

 

‘You don’t scare people with graphs of increased CO₂ emissions, but you open up a space into which people can enter, helpless against the experience of this supposedly hypothetical, yet so very real dependence, through the absolute truth they cannot escape. The concept of Rhizopolis is not a fantasy. It is an organic truth about the interconnectedness of beings, the greatest beneficiary of which is undoubtedly humanity. Humanity, experiencing the drama of loneliness.’

Joanna Rajkowska in conversation with Urszula Zajączkowska, Warsaw University of Life Sciences.

 

Go here to see  Joanna Rakowska, Meet me in Zachęta, a special presentation of the video series, Reservations by Katarzyna Janowska

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