The Twilight Walk

The Twilight Walk

Sunday, May 28^th 2023, 06:00-09:30 p.m.

Departing from: “Arsenal” Gallery in Białystok, Adama Mickiewicza 2

Knowledge corporeal develops through sharing space and time. It arises from a particular form of cognition, most frequently veiled by words – definitions, terms and names. This is why The Twilight Walk will be more than just a research activity with a focus on Zwierzyniecki Woods in Białystok; it will also be an attempt to adapt to our surroundings, and discover it with the use of new tools. Debating the future of urban green areas, we will ponder the sources of environmental protection, and the dilemmas it has been facing. We already know that redefining relations between the human and the more-than-human is essential – yet how does the act translate into the need to protect species and ecosystems? An ecosystem with fluid boundaries, stretched from palace gardens to garden allotments and Białystok’s suburbia, the Zwierzyniecki Woods are an excellent location to confront such questions. Its identity as former hunting grounds and urban space for rest and recreation today places it at the intersection of assorted policies and narratives. The Twilight Walk is also regenerative in nature, combining formats of hiking, working with the body, and working with text. We will be guided by mosses, mycelia and rhizomes – as bodies of a united, intermingled and expanding structure rather than particular species.

The Walk will be moderated by Krystyna Jędrzejewska-Szmek, visual artist and biologist, with interests centring around mutual connections and tensions in interspecies relations. Her practice is research-based. Inspired by science, she continues polemising with it. Explores critical studies of plants. Member of the ZAKOLE group, with a focus on seeking ways of narrating and experiencing marshland areas, and highlighting the perspective of beings inhabiting them (Zakole.pl). https://krystynaszmek.cargo.site/

Please wear comfortable footwear and warm clothes. Bring mosquito repellent and a mug (during the Walk, we will take a break to prepare an infusion).

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The Walk forms part of the project “An Interspecies Community. Nature as Białystok’s Neighbour”, delivered within the framework of a larger endeavour: “Happiness Study Lab – Life after Comfortocene”*.