2024
installation, steel

Kacper Tomaszewski’s installation is inspired by a decoration that once adorned the building at 7 Góralska Street. The bas-relief depicted the asterism of the Plough, part of the Ursa Major constellation. Originally placed on the block’s gable wall, it disappeared from the estate due to thermal retrofitting measures. The artist spent considerable time gathering information about the ornamentation, navigating the diverging memories of local residents. Only upon finding archival photographic documentation could he confirm that the bas-relief indeed existed and was not simply one of Niedźwiednik’s urban legends.

Tomaszewski’s installation is a spatial interpretation of the Ursa Major constellation. The subtly elongated shapes of the stars echo the form of the previous wall decoration, which has not survived to this day, evoking a “park of stars” open to direct experience and interaction. Some stars are movable, rotating in response to wind or touch. With its dynamic nature, the work appears poised to lift off and ascend skyward. Shadows cast by elements of Ursa Major fall on the building’s gable wall, where the original ornamentation was once displayed. The installation opens up a magical space that invites visitors to uncover Niedźwiednik’s secrets. Tomaszewski’s interactive work, set within the space, changes its appearance depending on the viewer’s position: each step around it reveals new dimensions of this cosmic narrative.

KACPER TOMASZEWSKI (b. 1999) is a visual artist and graduate of the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He works with objects, installations, paintings, and photography. A member of the Institute of the Good Death, he is interested in interspecies relations and social behaviours. His main sources of inspiration are a love of dogs and an exploration of his own childlike qualities. Tomaszewski’s solo exhibitions include Sleep, Doggy, Sleep… (Promocyjna Gallery, Warsaw 2024), Trace (Marszałkowska 18 Gallery, Warsaw, 2023), Lodge (Galleri Blunk, Norway, 2022), and Boots (Brzozowa Gallery, Warsaw, 2019).