Zofia Kierkuś

About

My curatorial practice emerges from the intersection of art and ecological studies, deeply influenced by my Eastern European background. I am interested in exploring the role of curatorial studies in the process of alternative knowledge creation. Expanding beyond what is traditionally understood as human culture, my research focuses on the role of peripheral sources of knowledge, such as those coming from Eastern thought, indigenous philosophy, and embodied learning. Engaging with the natural world and the ‘more-than-human’ how can we redefine our relationship with nature?

My process-driven practice is based on developing a continuously growing ‘ecology of practices’ in the field of post-anthropocentric studies. With the notion of ‘care’ at the core of my practice, I engage with an interdisciplinary network of practitioners to enhance the slow-paced emergence of contemporary thought. Forming long-term relationships with artists and partnerships with organisations, I am interested in restructuring systems in which learning processes emerge and develop. Shifting the focus from the competitive, commercially driven world of art, I aim to transform the approach to it towards a collective, relationship-based environment that allows space for the exchange of experiences and reflections.

I am motivated to initiate curatorial programs for alternative learning, structured around residencies, workshops, and research studies. Working with artists whose work bridges the gap between scientific knowledge and nature, through the use of technology and storytelling, I hope to demystify the Western-centric mode of learning through feeling from the inside. Situating ‘reciprocity’ at the centre, I would like my practice to emphasise the value of life and the constant reformation of societies and cultures.

In the Graduate Project ‘we are all chimeras, theorized and fabricated hybrids’ we investigated the curatorial role in defining future narratives. ‘We are all chimeras’ invited the audience to not only imagine alternative narratives of humans’ relationship with nature and technology, but also to actively shape them through a combination of interactive, embodied, and participatory methodologies. Working with interdisciplinary practitioners who situate their work between the fields of art and science we engaged in blurring the lines between culture and nature, emphasising the interdependence of our ecological existence. During the project we have worked with artists Laura Selby, Agnieszka Polska and Yuri Tuma in partnership with the OmVed Gardens and the Institute for Postnatural Studies.

Zofia Kierkuś is an art curator and a creative director, currently based in London. In 2022 she has graduated from the UAL Chelsea College of Arts in London, where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design.