Domestic garden greenhouses emerge from the need to grow one's own plants, fruit, and vegetables. It is about the certainty that they will grow under natural and optimal conditions. The purpose of a greenhouse is not only to create suitable conditions, but also to protect plants from adverse weather elements. Thanks to hothouse conditions, one can cultivate high-quality plants, as well as species that would not thrive in an unregulated climate. Gardening as a hobby positively influences the gardener's personality, developing qualities such as patience, care, and attentiveness. It also allows one to find peace. A garden greenhouse can likewise be a wonderful pretext for gatherings with family and friends in the heart of nature.

Hothouse conditions are, in other words, an environment free from tensions, troubles, and difficulties, enabling conflict-free development that often also fosters delicacy. Analogously, the structure of "Cieplarnia" [Hothouse], which was built by Piotr Kopik and Natan Kryszk within the space of Galeria Pracownia Wschodnia, created a dedicated artistic microclimate that became a laboratory of actions and thoughts concerning care, free collaboration, and the practice of relationships under unique conditions. The invited artists freely made the space their own and entered into a relationship with the existing structure, supplementing, intersecting, building around, and hanging their objects.

The primary impulse for working on the "Cieplarnia" project was the experience of the threat of losing Pracownia Wschodnia. Together, we want to reflect on how to create places that will act as artistic greenhouses, where ideas of unconstrained creativity, exchange, dialogue, freedom, and non-hierarchy can be nurtured safely. Can they be protected from sudden shifts in political and business conditions? Is it at all possible to create ideal circumstances for the emergence and development of art? Can content and ideas regarding the tensions of the outside world be developed within isolated, hothouse conditions?

In a symbolic way, the exhibition extended an invitation to a new chapter of Pracownia Wschodnia, which at the end of 2023 almost vanished from the cultural map of Warsaw. The district initially did not wish to renew the lease; however, thanks to the efforts and commitment of a great many people from diverse backgrounds and the local community, the matter was resolved successfully for the artists. December 2024 marks the first year of the lease extension, ensuring that the studio on Plac Hallera will remain open to art and to the public for years to come.

The project CIEPLARNIA was part of FRINGE Warszawa 2024. The FRINGE community operates across independent spaces and pop-ups, bringing together projects created within small artistic communities.

The FRINGE Warszawa 2024 edition was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Cultural Promotion Fund.

Curator: Eleonora Bojanowska

Poster: Piotr Kopik

Print: Łukasz Zembaty / P.H.U. Sitex

Supporting institutions

• Staromiejski Dom Kultury
• Instytut Adama Mickiewicza

Media partners

• Bęc Zmiana
• Magazyn KMAG
• Magazyn MINT
• Magazyn MOST
• Magazyn SZUM