Literature in the Visual Field. First Edition: Imponderabilia

The visual centre of the event will be Jarosław Solecki’s exhibition Imponderabilia, which refers to Marina Abramović and Ulay’s performance of the same title, first presented in Bologna in 1977. The two naked artists stood facing one another in the museum’s narrow entrance. To enter, visitors had to pass between their bodies and decide which artist to face. The entrance ceased to be a neutral passage and became an experience of proximity, physical presence, choice and the crossing of a boundary.

Jarosław Solecki translates these questions into sculpture, installation, video and sound. Rather than presenting objects to be viewed from a single, fixed position, he creates a spatial structure through which visitors must move. The meaning of the exhibition changes with their perspective, distance and bodily position.

Wood is the central material of the installation. Its weight, grain and accumulated history shape each artistic intervention. Acts of cutting, splitting and exposing the material’s internal structure draw attention to our relationship with nature, memory and the responsibility involved in transforming matter.

At the centre of Imponderabilia is the fissure, understood not only as a sign of rupture, loss or absence, but also as an opening and a place of transition. A division separates, yet it may also create the possibility of reconnection and reveal what was previously hidden.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a six-day literary programme featuring author events, presentations of poetry and prose, audiovisual forms, a pre-launch of They Live Far from Each Other by Katarzyna Zechenter and Mohan Sodhi, and a literary open mic. All events will take place within the installation, allowing literature to become an active part of the exhibition and to enter into dialogue with its space, images, materials and sound.

Programme

Sunday 16 August, 5pm: Opening of the Programme

Hosted by Joanna Ciechanowska and Justyna Gorzkowicz

Featuring Jakub Kurzyński, Alex Sławiński, Iza Smolarek and Marcin Czyż.

Monday 17 August, 6–9pm: Private View of Imponderabilia

Official opening by Joanna Ciechanowska and Justyna Gorzkowicz

The programme includes a meeting and Q&A with Jarosław Solecki, followed by the first activation of the video installation featuring texts and voices by Róża Wigeland, Nina Abyss and Andrzej Smoleń.

Tuesday 18 August, 6pm: Literary Evening

Hosted by Iza Smolarek

Featuring Anthony G. Smith, Joanna Dudzińska and Anna Maria Mickiewicz.

Wednesday 19 August, 6pm: Literary Evening

Hosted by Katarzyna Zechenter

Featuring Agnieszka Drury, Piotr Wesołowski, Gregory Spis and Adriana Kulig.

Thursday 20 August, 6–7pm: Pre-launch of They Live Far from Each Other

The event with Katarzyna Zechenter and Mohan Sodhi will be hosted by Monika Wiącek.

The collection will be published by the Union of Polish Writers Abroad, with the support of the Polish Cultural Institute in London.

Friday 21 August, 9am–5pm: Literary Open Mic

An open literary platform hosted by Justyna Gorzkowicz. Everyone is welcome to present one short original work.

Practical information

POSK Gallery
238–246 King Street
London W6 0RF

The exhibition will be open from Sunday 16 August to Friday 21 August 2026, daily from 9am to 9pm.

Admission to the exhibition and all accompanying events is free.

Organised by: the Union of Polish Writers Abroad, the Research Centre for Polish Exile Heritage and Blue Point Art.

The event is organised with the support of The Polonia Aid Foundation Trust (PAFT).

Media patrons: Biuletyn Polonistyczny and the Polish Society for Aesthetics.