The competition for the design of the exhibition in the Polish Pavilion, which will be presented at the fifth edition of the London Design Biennale in 2025, has been resolved! The winning concept has been singled out of 17 submissions by the Competition’s Selection Committee. Poland will be represented by Jakub Gawkowski, Monika Rosińska, and Maciej Siud with a project entitled Record of Waiting.
Record of Waiting at London Design Biennale 2025
On 19 July 2024, the Competition Committee convened to assess each of the 17 submissions. After careful deliberation, the jury singled out Record of Waiting by a curatorial team consisting of Jakub Gawkowski, Monika Rosińska, and Maciej Siuda.
Record of Waiting is a work that, by depicting the creation of woodcarving ornaments as a method of measuring time, fits perfectly with the theme of the Biennale. It alludes to the well-known experience of waiting and encourages reflection on the surface of events. Also fascinating and little known is the scientific and historical context of the project and the language of ornament depicted in it – graphic, but also material and beautiful. At a time when having free time, or even boredom, is becoming a luxury for many, this gives us rich material for reflection. The work is very Polish, but also universal, which makes it a perfect fit for an international biennial – Victoria Broackes, director of the London Design Biennale and member of the Competition Committee, commented on the selected work.
Polish Pavilion, presented in the UK for the fifth time
This is the fourth time that the Adam Mickiewicz Institute has handled a competition for an exhibition or installation to be presented at the Polish Pavilion at the London Design Biennale. The project presented in 2023 was honored with the prestigious London Design Biennale Medal for the most outstanding work. The quest for a project that will hopefully have a chance to repeat last year’s success was undertaken by a jury consisting of:
- Olga Wysocka, director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and chairwoman of the commission,
- Victoria Broackes, director of the London Design Biennale,
- Ivan Blasi, curator of the Mies van der Rohe Award. Mies van der Rohe,
- Aleksandra Kędziorek, art historian, curator and editor,
- Barbara Krzeska, expert and manager at IAM,
- Anja Radović, program director of the Ljubljana Design Biennale,
- and Iwo Zmyślony, design anthropologist and lecturer.
The theme of the fifth edition of the London Design Biennale, to be held in 2025, is “Surface Reflections.” The theme inspires a search for answers to the question of how personal histories influence artists and their artistic projects.
The exhibition addresses a universal theme – the experience of time and waiting in relation to the art of woodcarving rooted in Polish highland tradition. It portrays the ornament as a record of time, both in a historical context of objects crafted by highlanders while grazing sheep and in the context of contemporary society and the attendant economics and politics of time. It is visually appealing and intelligible within the limits of brief contact which is typical of attending large-scale events such as the London Design Biennale. Simultaneously, the project is underpinned by extensive research that renders the project multi-layered and intellectually stimulating – commented Aleksandra Kędziorek, member of the Competition Committee.
Curatorial team of the Polish Pavilion at London Design Biennale 2025: Jakub Gawkowski, Monika Rosińska, Maciej Siuda
Jakub Gawkowski – publicist, art critic and curator affiliated with Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, graduate of Central European University in Budapest, curator and co-curator of several award-winning exhibitions. Fellow of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure and DAAD theMuseumsLab 2022 programme.
Monika Rosińska – sociologist and design researcher, author of books exploring interdisciplinary approaches to the study of design meanings and design practice. Winner of the Kulczyk Family Scholarship Fund for outstanding academic achievement, awarded by the UAM Foundation (2012). Co-initiator of the “NIEwidzidzilany DIZAJN” [INvisible DESIGN] conference.
Maciej Siuda – an architect and designer, graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at Wrocław University of Technology and a scholarship holder at Universidad Politecnica de Valencia. His graduate thesis, XYZ STRUCTURE, was presented, among others, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and his project DEVEBERE (cocreated with Rodrigo García González) was shown at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. He was a finalist of the international Archiprix competition at MIT in Boston. From 2008 to 2011 he worked as an architect in design offices in Spain and Japan. Since 2012, he has been running his own design studio, Maciej Siuda Pracownia. He carries out projects in Poland, Spain, Italy, Indonesia, Nairobi, and Haiti.
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute applauds the winning team!