Katarzyna Pagowska (PL)

In her motivation to the residency Katarzyna Pagowska writes that she would like to embrace the unique socio-geographical setting of the Blekinge archipelago and the traditions and identities of the islands. Katarzyna Pagowska would like to collaborate with local institutions and various communities in participatory projects during her stay in Blekinge.

- Could the Blekinge archipelago be seen as a litmus paper, a magnifying glass that reflects global challenges? What does it mean to be an islander in Blekinge in the face of the global shifts: climate change, coastal erosion, growing income gap, migrations? Constant transition of people: tourists, permanent residents commuting to work on the mainland, the new absent islanders – second-home owners, refugees, and foreign economic migrants.

The search for a utopian isle, a northern paradise untouched by global problems, an uncharted oasis, safe from disquiet times is deeply rooted in our culture and now has been gaining new connotations.

Various researchers believe that in order to decipher an archipelago we need to examine the relations within. No island is an isolated isle, they exist in relation to each other, in relation to the surrounding sea, in relation to the mainland. Is “island hopping” offered by the Blekinge tourist companies a metaphor of the archipelago, or are there other ways to navigate the complexity of such relations?

In collaboration with local institutions I would like to design a participatory program for various communities around the theme of the Blekinge archipelago that provides multifarious perspectives on the archipelago’s geographical, cultural, historical, and economic relations, and contributes to forming new valuable social bridges.
// Katarzyna Pagowska

Katarzyna Pagowska is a Warsaw based visual artist; her foremost artistic fields are performative actions, installation and photography. She often produces or places socially responsive works in public spaces. She has run art workshops with participants from various communities in UK, Poland, Germany and Sweden. Katarzyna has studied Philosophy at the Warsaw University (M.A.), Sculpture at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts (M.A.), and Fine Art at the Falmouth College of Fine Arts, (UK).

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#36 Katarzyna Pagowska och Taavi Suisalu, A.I.R. Blekinge 2019 Länk till annan webbplats.