location
Gdańsk Centre for Contemporary Art, Strajku Dokerów 5, Gdańsk
duration
22.05.2026–10.01.2027
curated by
Natalia Budnik, Aneta Lehmann
featuring
Michalina Bigaj, Aleksandra Cacha, Centrala (Małgorzata Kuciewicz, Simone De Iacobis), Piotr Jurek, Mateusz Salwa, SLA (Stig L. Andersson, Kristoffer Holm Pedersen, Cecilie Overgaard Rasmussen), Marta Urbańska
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Where does the common ground lie?
Who does the park belong to?
When does greenery become soft?
What does the mist obscure?
Can nature be designed?
A surface is a plane of encounter. We move across it and pause upon it to form a relationship—with a place or with another person. At times, it is cobblestone; at others, waterlogged soil or a frozen canal. The surface shapes our behaviour and determines whether the ground can become shared. How, then, should public spaces be designed? How are we to think about them today, when ecological fragility and communal scarcity form their context? What is a contemporary urban park—and what might it yet become?
In architectural drawings, the surface is an abstract plane. As plans are realized, surfaces multiply, acquire tangible mass, become textured, and begin to generate places. Architecture swells, gains layers. Vegetation branches out and climbs, not always according to the plan. New surfaces emerge: for human feet, for insects, for animals. Streets, squares and parks, ponds. Within these spaces, everyday life unfolds.
In the white interior of the former bathhouse in Nowy Port, let us try to imagine—perhaps even test—urban and ecological potentials. Beyond the Surface becomes a site where small yet consequential events can take place. Through artistic gestures that enter into dialogue with the architecture, the exhibition evokes sensations of landscape. Michalina Bigaj’s textile sculpture yields to movements of air and works with the wandering sun. Her works from the Disingenuous Nature series, in turn, pose questions about the boundaries of naturalness. Aleksandra Cacha’s olfactory compositions introduce an experience of temporal sequence and the changing of the seasons into the interior.
Drawing on their ongoing research into water, the design collective Centrala expands the spectrum through which mist can be perceived—as both an atmospheric and a linguistic phenomenon. In a text by Mateusz Salwa, the notion of landscape becomes an activity, and the district turns into a field of discovery. Marta Urbańska, meanwhile, outlines an image of what constitutes the everyday life of an urban community, encouraging an active engagement with the works on display.
Themes closely tied to architecture are also present within the exhibition space. A video prepared by the Copenhagen-based landscape studio SLA presents possibilities for designing nature in urban conditions. What takes place high above the surface, and what kinds of relationships architecture can form with its surroundings, is continually articulated by the interior of the building designed by Jacek Dominiczak.
Beyond the Surface, however, extends further. In the area surrounding the former bathhouse, a communal Harbour Table created by Piotr Jurek will appear, alongside performative installations by Natalia Budnik—Park in Motion and Garden in the Mist.
Consider the whole as a surface for spending time: for sitting down, looking around, resting, or working. Inside and outside.
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visual identity
Marta Urbańska
interior architecture
Jacek Dominiczak
coordination and production
Daniel Burdalski, Beata Filipowicz, Piotr Grdeń, Dominika Jastrzębska, Zbigniew Wymysłowski
production cooperation
Wojciech Ruminski
accessibility
Anna Manthey
communication and promotion
Sara Rokicka, Julia Salińska
education
Katarzyna Dobrońska, Izabela Wieczorek
educational booklet design
Ania Piwnicka
editing
Beata Duszyńska, Helena Marzec-Gołąb
cooperation
Julia Cyrzan, Kaszkarot Interior Design, NaTkaninie, Sztukmistrz Konrad Siedlecki
accountancy
Grażyna Konieczna, Dorota Sadowska
visitors are welcomed by
Marta Jaśkowska
site security
Jerzy Arsoba, Piotr Woźniak
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honorary patronage
Narodowy Instytut Architektury i Urbanistyki
partners
Gdański Zarząd Zieleni, Dekoma, Flora Bolszewo, 7 Dla Ogrodu
media partners
Architektura-Murator, Mint Magazine, NN6T, Magazyn SZUM, HUS Magazine, Radio Gdańsk, Sztuka Krajobrazu, Radio MORS
