23 October 2021 – 30 January 2022
Curators of the exhibition: Olga Budzan, Marta Derejczyk
The present exhibition is devoted to fixers, the people whose activity exemplifies various historical and current aspects of repairing and mending.
It demonstrates that the approach to using things in the rural and urban communities of the past may provide inspiration for contemporary advocates and practitioners of the idea of zero waste. Today, recycling and upcycling are popular design trends. It is not a passing fashion but a responsible reaction to pressing environmental concerns about the condition of planet Earth.
In the past, the self-sufficiency of rural communities was based on practical knowledge of materials, like wood, metal or clay. Things were self-made and fixed when needed. The exhibition’s title also pertains to “fixers” as individuals capable of seeing in objects a potential extending beyond their original function. Repairing is a technical activity which has both physical and metaphysical, symbolical dimension. The exhibition demonstrates both traditional methods of repairing and attempts at manipulating the object’s history or identity.