Coalition of Waters
Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Karolina Bielawska, Karolina Breguła, Dobrawa Borkała, Blanka Byrwa, Manthia Diawara, Gosia Golińska, Sylwia Górak, Hyerim Han, Ewelina Jarosz, Ranjit Kandalgaonkar, Kinga Kiełczyńska, Ru Kim, Yulia Krivich, Kelly Krugman, Elżbieta Kulka, Honorata Martin, Rupali Patil, Theresa Weber, Piotr Wyrzykowski
29.08–31.10.2025
Opening: 28.08.2025
Curatorial team: Agnieszka Kilian, Romuald Demidenko
BGSW:
BGSW / Baszta
al. F. Nullo 8, Słupsk
BGSW / Podgrodzie
ul. Partyzantów 31a, Słupsk
BGSW / Ustka
ul. Zaruskiego 1a
Opening program*:
28.08.2025 –
BGSW / Słupsk
17:00 – opening vol. 1 – BGSW / Podgrodzie
18:00 – opening vol. 2 – BGSW / Baszta
19:00 – opening vol. 3 – guided tour through the exhibition in public space (tbc)
BGSW / Ustka opening hours on the day of the opening: 16:00 – 20:00
30.08.2025 g. 16:00
BGSW / Ustka
Guided tour through the exhibition and meeting with artists
The Water Coalitions exhibition has roots in a specific place – right where the land meets the Baltic Sea. This sea is unique in that it transformed from a closed lake into an inland body of water with a narrow strait connecting it to the ocean. Its movements – opening, closing, flowing – provide a point of departure for a reflection on ways of coexisting, for observing practices that draw upon water and its properties, and building relationships between water, the body and community.
Water is an element, yet it is also a body, memory, and a space of mundane and political tensions. It is a medium of relationships; it is an object of rationing and a control tool. The lack of it, the rationing or seizure of it are forms of violence – water becomes an instrument of power.
The exhibition advocates a careful and tender approach to denigrated problems and phenomena that are pushed beyond the social discourse. Thinking with a “water body” fully reveals the interconnections – including flows, rhythms and cycles, menstrual ones included. The exhibition draws upon the cultural significance of water and the social ecologies which demonstrate that access to crucial resources or the lack of it leads to inequalities and exclusions. Not only a witness to violence, water is also an instrument of managing living things.
Water Coalitions search for alliances in difficult times, for togetherness, for alignments of all waters: those around us and those within our bodies. It attempts to build commonality driven by reciprocity and to rediscover relations with the “many,” to be seen as “one.” Édouard Glissant with his theory is a coalition partner in this exhibition – here, by the Baltic Sea, we can learn about the diversity of the world and life, and maintain a connection with ourselves.
[ short intro ]
Displayed in three different locations under the banner of the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, the exhibition contains works and activities by contemporary artists that address environmental issues.
It focuses on strategies for observing our immediate surroundings in the face of climate change, taking as its departure point the proximity of bodies of water: the River Słupia and the Baltic Sea. The reflection on water as a force that transcends borders, dissolves divisions and renders reality more symbiotic and relational has been inspired by Édouard Glissant’s thought and his concept of an interconnected whole-world (French: Tout-monde).
Water Coalitions attempt to capture the connections and simultaneous tensions, and advance a deeply ecological perspective that disagrees with the instrumentalising of aquatic and coastal biotopes, favouring coexistence – interspecies solidarity and translocal alliances.
Events surrounding the exhibition:
5.09.2025, 18:00
BGSW / Ustka
M jak Morze – opening of the post-plein-air exhibition of the Pomeranian Branch of the Association of Polish Maritime Artists in Ustka
13.09.2025, 15:00
BGSW / Baszta
Kelly Krugman: We are the water – sonic workshop
27.09.2025, 15:00
BGSW / Baszta
Ewelina Jarosz: Słonawe ciała wodne – performative reading
27.09.2025, 18:00
Dawny Dom Pogrzebowy Gminy Żydowskiej, ul. Kaszubska 6, Słupsk
Sylwia Górak: Śpiew syren – presentation of a sound work
24.10.2025, 18:00
BGSW / Baszta
Blanka Byrwa: Glonologia – workshop
Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund.
Honorary Patron: Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodship Mieczysław Struk, Mayor of the City of Ustka Jacek Maniszewski, President of the City of Słupsk Krystyna Danilecka-Wojewódzka
Media Patrons: Miej Miejsce, NN6T, Restart, Szum Magazine
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