"The Clothed Home: Tuning In To The Seasonal Imagination" opened Saturday at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale, which has "Earth" as its motto. The Polish exhibition evokes rituals of relationship with the natural world and reflection of the rhythm of seasonal changes.
Lisbon, November 07, 2022 - The exhibition 'The Clothed Home: Tuning In To the Seasonal Imagination' opened Saturday, November 5, at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale. "Terra", the motto of this year's Triennale, invites reflection on the challenges of modernity. "The Clothed Home" explores the ways in which textiles have been used to reflect the rhythm of seasonal changes in domestic interiors.
"The Clothed Home," an exhibition by artist Alicja Bielawska curated by Aleksandra Kedziorek, organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, is rooted in textile patterns from pre-era electricity Poland and evokes home rituals that allow one to cultivate a relationship with the natural world and react more carefully to its constant changes.
The idea of the Polish exhibition, created in 2021, shows surprising timeliness. More and more people are beginning to look for ways to adapt interiors to the approaching winter - not only in a decorative context, but also to provide additional insulation. Thus, attention is turning to seasonality, which until recently was considered a marginal part of life, but is now increasingly feeling its impact.
Rooted in ancient Polish textile traditions and domestic rituals, the exhibition seeks to re-establish and cultivate a more attentive relationship with the natural world and its continual changes. In the pre-electric era, before the accessibility of central heating and air conditioning made residents accustomed to outdoor conditions, houses functioned as resonators, helping them to feel the cyclical rhythm of the year.
Inspirations and solutions for homes can be found in the Polish textile tradition, which is explored and displayed by "The Clothed Home". The exhibition recalls how the homes of our ancestors were "dressed", using the traditions of Polish textile designs from before the age of electricity.
The creators of hand-woven kilims, wall and ceiling coverings, carpets, and other textiles used for interior design use the meaning and temperature of colors to recreate them. Thus, they indicate the rhythm that was once marked by the cycle of the seasons. Viewing these "dressed" rooms, executed by Alicja Bielawska, an artist who creates spatial works with fabrics, inspires one to re-tune the cycles of nature and to reflect on their place in the present.
Małgorzata Kuciewicz and Simone De Iacobis of the Centrala group - a Warsaw-based architecture and research studio dealing with reinterpretations and spatial interventions aimed at renewing the language of architecture - are responsible for the concept and design of the exhibition. The curator of the exhibition is Aleksandra Kędziorek, and the visual identity was designed by Anna Kulachek.
In the houses of pre-modern Poland, textiles were widely used as seasonal clothing for the architecture, helping to adapt the domestic spaces to the twelve phenological seasons characteristic of the Central European climatic zone.
The recurring appearance of textiles in home interiors has allowed residents to consciously participate in the cycles of nature - celebrating the passage of time, with an enhanced sense of immersion in the circadian rhythm and the sequence of light and dark.
Multisensory experience
Although not an illustration of a specific space in time, "The Clothed Home" exhibition offers visitors a multi-sensory experience.
Once inside the exhibition, visitors are guided through different textile fabrics. For example, hand-woven rugs, wall coverings, and kilims made by local artisans using traditional weaving techniques and natural yarns. The color palette is inspired by the observation of the Polish landscape throughout the year.
Orange and red textiles that are thick and woolly evoke the cool seasons, while light, fluttery fabrics in blue and green fabrics that yield and encourage air movement suggest the warm seasons. The exhibition highlights a variety of traditional weaving techniques, showing how these textiles are still relevant to contemporary trends in interior design.
"These days, when many of us are cooped up in centrally heated apartments and air-conditioned offices, we don't keep up with the nuances of nature's changing cycles. Contemporary design can help us tune into the seasons again," says curator Aleksandra Kędziorek.
The exhibition, organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, was presented at the Polish Pavilion at the London Design Biennale 2021, the National Museum in Krakow and the Design Biennale in Ljubljana 2022. It was selected for the Independent Projects program at the Architecture Triennale in Lisbon among 167 applications from around the world.
"The Clothed Home" is on display at Palácio Sinel de Cordes until December 5, from Tuesday to Sunday between 11am and 7pm. Admission is free.
Information in https://2022.trienaldelisboa.com/evento/the-clothed-home/.
About the Adam Mickiewicz Institute:
O Adam Mickiewicz Institute é uma instituição cultural polaca que tem como missão desenvolver e comunicar os elementos culturais da Polónia através da cooperação internacional e intercâmbio cultural. Durantes os últimos 20 anos, o instituto organizou mais de 6.000 eventos culturais com quase 55 milhões de participantes. O instituto organizou projetos em países como o Reino Unido, os EUA, Itália, Israel, Alemanha, Turquia, Brasil, o Benelux, Coreia do Sul, Japão e também na China, obtendo assim uma experiência única por trabalhar numa variedade de culturas, visões do mundo e tradições. As relações desenvolvidas, e que se mantiveram, ao longo dos anos com grandes instituições e festivais em todo o mundo permitiram que os artistas polacos participassem em projetos em 70 países dos cinco continentes.