Dry Leaves

Six hundred litres of pill blisters patiently gathered by the artist over the years and a simple neon that cast light on their shiny surface resulted in a sensual installation that emerged from the darkness on the last floor of the building. The blisters, colloquially known in Polish as leaves, created a rustling Surface that almost asked the visitors to step on it – it was like a soothing exercise… However, the strong white neon light, with the fragmented inscription I DON’T KNOW, reminded us of the real significance of the rustling plastic. Piotrowska made us think about health and medicine. We are helpless when confronted with the pharmaceutical industry, which often deceives us – we take pills hoping to be cured, or at least to feel better. Although we cannot be sure of the alleviating effect, we keep on swallowing ever more substances hailed as miraculous panacea, and we get lost in the vicious circle of uncertainty and hope. The economical form of the neon light accompanied by the prism of the patiently collected blisters only emphasised this bipolarity.

> Magdalena Zięba

photo: Justyna Fedec