Urban Greenery

Woźnica’s installation in one of the large rooms was a fragile and extremely poetic intervention in the very substance of the Pharmacy building. The sinks, holes in the floor and cracked tiles became beds of plants. It seemed as if nature reclaimed the building after people had left. However, there was a certain contradiction in the labs – the luscious plants were in stark contrast with the cool space of the lab which detested randomness, where there seemed to be no room for casual substances or plant seeds carried by the wind. The lab seemed to be created to follow the principles of hygiene, disinfection and asepsis.
Based on the contrast between nature and culture, Woźnica’s work reminded us of the inevitability of natural processes, which apply to any human creation, even those as complex as a city or a chemical laboratory. The artist highlighted that it was not necessary to fully separate the spaces intentionally shaped by people and the seemingly random and unstoppable nature, which invades any cracks in carefully ordered spaces. The return of plants to the pharmaceutical lab could also be interpreted in the context of natural medicine, understood both literally and metaphorically.

> Antoni Burzyński

 

photo: Peter Kreibich