Once upon a time...

Can you imagine a world without plants? Let's move for a moment to the near future. As a result of ongoing crimes against nature, plants have practically become extinct in 2040 - they have disappeared as a result of systemic neglect, ecocide is no longer just a symbolic concept. How would we live if we coexisted only with non-physical plant substitutes? Humanity has contributed to the extinction of hundreds of plant and animal species, destroying entire ecosystems. The endurance of plants, even succulents that store water in their bodies and are equipped with thorns, was unable to adapt to the new conditions in which excessive, saturated consumption and global overproduction were causing the deformation and destruction of their natural environment. The constant obsession with growth has left us in a state of emptiness. How do you feel walking on barren land? Will the plant hologram experience replace the real experience? In her work, Katarzyna Dębska creates a terrifying vision of the future of plants. Only theoretically for now. – Agata Ostrowska The films and photographs shown at the exhibition are part of a project in which I observe and collect impressions about the behavior of plants in the context of current overproduction and high consumption of natural resources, questioning the subjectivity of plants through photography, digital 3D scans, models and women's voices. During my few weeks in Athens in 2017 and 2021 (residency at EIGHT Critical Institute for Arts and Politics), I started taking photos and short videos on my phone of dry plants abandoned in the streets and in front of buildings. Later, while photographing mainly the night life of flora in various cities, the other side of what is easily seen in daylight, I wondered what it would be like to be trapped behind a fence, under concrete, deprived of the light needed for independent development. Plants placed in certain conditions because someone decided so, at the same time showed me their incredible determination and strength - they became a parable about inevitable symbiosis, the coexistence of different species. – Katarzyna Dębska