Karolina Grzywnowicz, Distillates, photo by Grzegorz Welnicki
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Listen to podcast: Kitchen Conversations with Karolina Grzywnowicz

The 40th episode of Kitchen Conversations features a notable Polish visual artist, researcher and activist, currently based in Berlin – Karolina Grzywnowicz.

Since the launch of her first major art project – ‘Weeds’ dedicated to a set of flora, revealing the re-settling history of a large group of people living in south east of Poland – Karolina has been working with plants in social and political context. Her methodology involves working with specialists across various disciplines such as botanists, soil researchers, hydrologists and local people to allow space for interaction and exchange of knowledge.

Karolina Grzywnowicz, Weed, photo by Michał Ramus
Karolina Grzywnowicz, Weed, photo by Michał Ramus
Karolina Grzywnowicz, Weed, Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, photo by Michał Matejko
Karolina Grzywnowicz, Weed, Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, photo by Michał Matejko
Karolina Grzywnowicz, Weed, photo by Michał Ramus
Karolina Grzywnowicz, Weed, photo by Michał Ramus

Her recent project ‘Distillates’ explores the politics of planting pine three and eucalyptus, as an intended gesture to camouflage violence, change landscape and colonise land and its people. The project consists of three case studies, conducted in Poland and Palestine, as well as a self-made essential oil created out of pine trees growing in the former site of the Sobibor extermination camp.

During Warsaw Gallery Weekend 2022, Karolina showed ‘Distillates’ as an olfactory installation at the Jednostka Gallery, for which she received a Special Prize of the Warsaw Gallery Weekend and ING Polish Art Foundation. Most recently she has also been selected for the CEC Artslink International Fellowship Program, where she will continue working on a new project about scents as a tool for resistance and healing.

Karolina Grzywnowicz, Distillates, photo by Grzegorz Welnicki
Distillates, Karolina Grzywnowicz, photo by Kuba Rudziński
Distillates, Karolina Grzywnowicz, photo by Kuba Rudziński
Distillates, Karolina Grzywnowicz, photo by Kuba Rudziński
Distillates, pines in Sobibor, Karolina Grzywnowicz, photo by Kuba Rudziński
Distillates, pines in Sobibor, Karolina Grzywnowicz, photo by Kuba Rudziński
Pine distillation from sobibor,, Karolina Grzywnowicz, photo by Kuba Rudziński
Distillates, pines in Sobibor, Karolina Grzywnowicz, photo by Kuba Rudziński

Listen to Karolina Grzywnowicz speak about her practice in relation to plants and activism:

Distillates, Karolina Grzywnowicz, photo by Grzegorz Welnicki
Distillates, Karolina Grzywnowicz, photo by Grzegorz Welnicki

Kitchen Conversations is an independent podcast platform produced by the artist Patrycja Rozwora (since May 2020). To support further development of the projects become a patron via patreon.com/kitchenconversations.

About The Author

Patrycja
Rozwora

Artist and writer. Studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Critical Studies Department at the Sandberg Institute. Her ongoing research relates the post-Soviet countries. In 2020, she launched a podcast series called ‘Kitchen Conversations.’

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