23. Survival

23rd Art Review Survival
3s/8h
18–22 June 2025 (Wednesday–Sunday)

former Forty Club and Castle in Leśnica
Plac Świętojański 1
54-017 Wrocław

Admission free

Opening hours:
12:00 PM – 12:00 AM on Wednesday
12:00 PM – 10:00 PM on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

curatorial team: Michał Bieniek, Daniel Brożek, Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz, Ewa Pluta

organizer: Art Transparent Foundation / www.arttransparent.org

general partner: OPT Zamek

With the beginning of the modern era, time became a class-based concept. In economies reliant on slave labor, time had multiple dimensions. Those working in bondage had none at all, while the aristocracy suffered from an excess of free time. It was only through workers’ movements that a revolution in the organization of the human day occurred. The theme of “3s/8h” evokes two units of time: 8 hours—as demanded by labor movements—represents the part of the day meant for rest and self-organization, while 3 seconds signifies the minimal engagement of the contemporary social media user.

Today, time is not only a material, limited resource. Its measurement also includes attention span, which has become a modern currency as well as a personal and neurological challenge. Meanwhile, unregulated working hours and flexible forms of employment contribute to a state of constant readiness and partial presence. Breaks from work have evolved into a vast market rather than remaining an important social, political, or private reservoir. This has given rise to phantom time, which—under the guise of freedom of choice and self-determination—dissolves into the scattered consumption of content and, consequently, into continuous overstimulation.

The psychological and social consequences of this phenomenon demand a reconsideration of how truly free time can be understood and used.