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The research team

Joanna Soćko, PhD, University of Silesia in Katowice
Joanna Zdzienicka-Obałek, PhD, Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice
Agnieszka Czardybon, Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice
Paweł Szeibel, PhD, Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice

Since 2022, our team has been developing creative methods suitable for studying local non-human relationships in the context of ongoing climate change and related environmental and social transformations. Together, we have formed a collective of employees and students from the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Silesia and the Faculty of Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, united by an interest in expanding knowledge about the local environment and exploring ways to apply this knowledge in creative literary and artistic endeavors.

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Joanna Soćko, PhD

A literary scholar interested in topics within environmental humanities, including nature writing, plant studies, artistic ritual practices and other contemporary manifestations of postsecularity. A graduate of the Interdisciplinary Individual Studies in the Humanities at the University of Silesia, she currently holds the position of assistant professor at the Institute of Literary Studies of the University of Silesia. She is the author of the book (Meta)Physical Poetry. Matter in the Works of R.S. Thomas (IBL 2017), a subjective slow travel guide to Katowice and its surroundings (Pascal 2018), as well as academic articles (https://us.edu.pl/instytut/il/osoby/joanna-socko/) and several reports published in Tygodnik Powszechny.

joanna.socko@us.edu.pl

Joanna Zdzienicka-Obałek, PhD

An interdisciplinary artist working across various media, she creates objects and installations, developing her own methods for constructing images in the broadest sense. She places significant emphasis on time and its shaping phenomena, such as memory and its accompanying processes, like accumulation mechanisms. Her work frequently explores and emphasizes the process of creation itself, often incorporating elements of nature and intertwining them with these themes.
She has been awarded the Grand Prix in the “Best Diplomas of Polish Academies of Fine Arts” competition (Gdańsk 2009) and was a finalist in both the “Talents of Trójka” (2011) and the Strabag Art Award (2014). She has initiated numerous workshops in collaboration with cultural institutions, including CSW Kronika in Bytom and BWA in Katowice. She is also the author of several solo exhibitions, including Closer at CSW Kronika, The End of the Albatross Union at BWA in Katowice, and Archive at CS Zamek Sielecki. In addition, she co-runs the interdisciplinary art studio at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice.

jzdzienicka@asp.katowice.pl

Agnieszka Czardybon

Since 2006 professionally connected with the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice. A long-time coordinator of international exchanges, since 2020 she has been in charge of the research and cooperation department responsible for supporting artistic projects from the formal and organisational side. Involved in both international undertakings of the university and local cultural and environmental initiatives. Active participant and coordinator of undertakings implemented by the Consortium Academic Katowice – City of Science.

agnieszka.czardybon@asp.katowice.pl

 

Paweł Szeibel, PhD

He creates paintings, workshops, social actions and installations in urban spaces. In art, he reaches into areas reserved for botanists and gardeners. Experimentation plays an important role in his work, as does openness to unexpected effects of work-in-progress. He obtained his diploma with honours in 2008 from the Faculty of Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Katowice. In 2016, he was awarded the Doctor of Arts degree. The originator of workshops carried out with the WRO Art Centre, Medialab Katowice, the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle and the BWA Gallery of Contemporary Art in Katowice. Holder of a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Marshall of the Silesian Province.

pszeibel@asp.katowice.pl

The project is co-financed from the state budget funds granted by the Minister of Education and Science under the „Science for Society II”